{"id":4244,"date":"2018-05-08T21:59:29","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T21:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/?p=4244"},"modified":"2018-05-08T22:00:19","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T22:00:19","slug":"janelle-monae-film-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/2018\/05\/08\/janelle-monae-film-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Janelle Mon\u00e1e Introduces New Album with Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

5 years after The Electric Lady<\/em>, Janelle Mon\u00e1e returns with her third full-length. Accompanying Dirty Computer <\/em>is a 48-minute short film to weave together the new release into a poetic story of sexual identity following Mon\u00e1e recently coming out as pansexual, all crafted with her signature sci-fi flare. The film (ahem, \u201cEmotion Picture\u201d) follows Mon\u00e1e as Jane 57821, a woman trapped in a facility while her memories are erased one by one. These remnants from the past touch on her same-sex love for Tessa Thompson\u2019s Zen, who has already had her mind wiped. The tale of their forbidden relationship is a clear metaphor for the fight against homophobia in today\u2019s America.<\/p>\n

As for the songs on the album, bubbly sounds composite of a few different genres help us welcome back Mon\u00e1e like nothing changed in those 5 years since her last studio LP. \u201cScrewed\u201d and \u201cDjango Jane\u201d are presented consecutively as girl power anthems, the latter with politically fierce lyricism when Mon\u00e1e announces \u201cAnd we gon’ start a motherf*ckin’ pussy riot\/ Or we gon’ have to put ’em on a pussy diet\u201d before delving into her feminist pride.<\/p>\n

\u201cPYNK\u201d starts off a bit more innocent with her soft vocals explaining the color, but maintains the \u201cgirls rule\u201d theme when it becomes apparent she\u2019s talking about her affection for the female genitalia alongside female empowerment. She perfectly encapsulates the fact that she loves her gender identity by declaring \u201c’Boy, it’s cool if you got blue\/ We got the pynk\u201d with feature Grimes.<\/p>\n

Aside from the feminine fist-pumps of the aforementioned tracks, Dirty Computer<\/em> has some other highlights. \u201cMake Me Feel\u201d takes inspiration from Prince\u2019s \u201cKiss\u201d to deliver a poppy tune that would\u2019ve put a smile on The Purple One\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s anything that doesn\u2019t click with this album, it\u2019s certainly some of the features. Music legend Brian Wilson seems a bit redundant and very forced on the titular track, providing nothing more than the classic Beach Boy \u201cwhews\u201d in the background. The lighthearted talk of women\u2019s genitals does go a step too far on the Pharrell Williams feature \u201cI Got The Juice\u201d, where juice overtly represents female sexual elements in a trope that starts to get beaten into the ground before the track is almost redeemed by Mon\u00e1e declaring \u201cIf you try to grab my pussy cat, this pussy grab you back\u201d, therefore ensuring this woman probably has a certain pink hat laying around somewhere in her home.<\/p>\n

Dirty Computer<\/em> ditches the Metropolis<\/em>-inspired storyline that\u2019s been the backbone of Janelle Mon\u00e1e\u2019s career, but triumphs as a record loaded with LGBT anthems to fit her newly revealed orientation. Definitely an album for the times, the blend of political verses and self-truth add to an already impressive catalog for the Kansas City singer.<\/p>\n

SCAD Radio gives it 8.3\/10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5 years after The Electric Lady, Janelle Mon\u00e1e returns with her third full-length. Accompanying Dirty Computer is a 48-minute short film to weave together the new release into a poetic story of sexual identity following Mon\u00e1e recently coming out as pansexual, all crafted with her signature sci-fi flare. The film (ahem, \u201cEmotion Picture\u201d) follows Mon\u00e1e […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":4245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[530,32],"tags":[330,540,539,542,541,386,104],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4246,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4244\/revisions\/4246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scadradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}