Janelle Monáe talks Prince, politics and Black Panther with Annie Mac

20 March 2018

It's been five years since her last album release (The Electric Lady dropped in 2013) but, as it turns out, Janelle Monáe has had the concept for Dirty Computer, her third studio album, in her mind since day one.

The singer-songwriter, musician and activist sat down with Annie Mac for a seriously in-depth discussion, covering everything from the inspiration behind her latest work to singing Michael Jackson in church and championing up-and-coming talent. Here's what you need to know...

Dirty Computer is Janelle's third studio album and she's so far released two tracks from the record: Django Jane and Make Me Feel.

"I actually had this concept and this title before I did The ArchAndroid, which is my first full length album, so I sort of knew I needed to make this album. I also knew that I needed to live more and I needed to have more conversations and dialogue with myself. In addition I knew that this album would take a lot more vulnerability, honesty and digging deep and I just don't think I was ready for that."

"Living over in America and feeling like the people that I love, and myself, were pushed to the margins of society by the leader of the free world and that particular regime.

"So I wanted to make an album for all the 'dirty computers' of the world. Those that are told they have bugs and viruses, that they need to fix themselves, that they need to clean themselves.

"Great art comes when we're all able to come together with our differences, wherever we're from, and I think that's where the magic happens.

"That's where the empathy happens. That's where you start understanding one another and through understanding you start liking each other, and through liking you start uniting with one another."

"My aunt had taken me to church and we would listen to Michael Jackson in the car before church. So we would listen to all this secular music before we would go and worship in this Baptist congregation and I just remember I passed a reverend preaching...

"He was getting all into it, he was sweating and wiping his forehead and people were falling out and passing out and feeling the Holy Ghost.

"And then, out of nowhere, I go 'just beat it, beat it, no one wants to be defeated!' and the pastor laughed and everybody in the congregation laughed.

"It was just one of those moments where as a child I didn't play by the rules. So I think maybe that says that I had my own way of expressing myself and embracing what made me unique at an early age, even if it made others uncomfortable."

"I'm really into this artist, her name is Sneaks, and she has this song called Hair Slick Back and I listen to it a lot. I think she just has swag... Not a lot of people know about her but I want people to know more about her because I think she has something cool going on."

"Prince growing up was always otherworldly to me, to the point where I was almost scared of him. When I would see his videos on TV they would make me very scared, mainly because I had never seen a black man express himself in the way that Prince did. And maybe it's because I was scared of myself, maybe it was something that I saw in him that I wasn't ready to tap into.

"I think it's that freedom that you got when you looked at him, when you listened to him... I think one of the most important things that I got from him, and the thing that sticks with me most, is to embrace your authenticity.

"I cannot tell you what that means to have his support. I still feel his spirit all around. I still hear his laughter. He was a very funny person, not a lot of people know that.

"I think he's inspired the world and will continue to inspire the world through his music."

"I feel blessed really to be creating music and putting out an album during the same time as Black Panther. Not a lot of people know this but Black Panther was filmed from Atlanta, so technically I'm from Wakanda!

"A lot of the cast are my friends and a lot of them came to Wondaland [studio] when I was making Dirty Computer and I gave them a preview of the album.

"Black Panther is through the lens of afro-futurism. It's telling our stories in the future, through our lens, and Dirty Computer is also telling our stories in the near-future, through the lens of a black woman.

"We get to define our world on our own terms and that's what Ryan Coogler did and that's what I'm going to do with this album."

"I've thought about it [but] I would say no. I don't think I could write a Django Jane or a Make Me Feel, or sit here in this interview and speak as candidly as I am to you, if I were a politician. I think there are certain rules politicians have to play by, whether they like it or not.

"I think that artists have a unique perspective because they get the opportunity to bring those groups together. I'm more interested in creating a purple state than a red or blue state. I'm interested in bringing us together, helping facilitate through music and through art and through conversations that we can have and come to a common ground and understand that we're all in this together."

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