Monae Monday
Posted by Matthew in ladies, music
So sometimes we have musical acts come through and play at work. It breaks up the day nicely and there is usually pizza and beer. It's nice and who doesn't like free booze? Today a woman named Janelle Monae came to play. I had only read a small write up about her playing some festival in Norway a week before and found it a nice coincidence she was coming to play.
I almost missed it but realized that two of my favorite co-workers were missing and I decided to track them down. I found them already out on the patio waiting for the show to start.
Her band came out first, dressed kind of like Outkast doing a Hives impersonation which I found instantly endearing. The guitarist was rocking an Andre 3000 look with a wig cut into a bob style hair cut. Janelle came out a few minutes later, wide-eyed; brimming with spastic energy. She was a tiny girl with her hair fashioned into a big ol' pompadour atop her small frame. I think the pompadour was about the size of her whole head. You could almost sense how much fun she was about to have; staring into a crowd of working stiffs who probably came more for the free beer and pizza. But as she recited the introduction to her first song "Violet Stars Happy Hunting!" stating that she was " An alien from outer space, a cyber girl without a face.." everyone couldn't help but wait for her to really rip into it. I think it was then I fell for her. It doesn't hurt that she is a stone cold fox.
She proceeded to moon walk, dance into the crowd, and straight up put on a great show. I found it a bit odd that her songs tended to be over the 5 minute mark with no real big hooks. The songs were entirely entertaining but I feel that focusing her songs a bit more and shortening them would benefit her commercially. But as it is now ( Diddy just signed her along with Big Boi from Outkast acting as a producer as well) she is poised to be HUGE very soon.
I was trying to dissect her sound despite the fact that compartmentalizing artists really does take away from them as a whole. But ya know people like to be able to categorize things. It makes life easier most of the time. But you can definitely hear Outkast type beats ( makes sense seeing as the band is based out of Atlanta and she was originally signed by Big Boi's Purple Ribbon label), Afro-Punk, Hip Hop, Soul and vocal stylings that range from a Broadway type performance to Gwen Stefani to traditional R&B/Soul. Oh yeah and remember to throw all of this and stick it into a time machine about a 100 year from now.
Don't know what the hell I'm talking about? Well listen to the songs below and have yourself a gander. She is playing the Viper Room tomorrow night which I hope to go to.
Oh did I mention she has a futuristic android alter-ego named Cindi Mayweather?
Here is a track from her newest album and a video of her singing " Killing Me Softly"
