- Psychedelic soul queen Janelle Monáe was temporarily distracted by the lights, cameras and action of Hollywood. While she’s a natural performer in movies such as Moonlight and Hidden Figures, I was surely not the only one concerned about losing one of soul music’s most exciting talents to the Golden Globes red carpet.
This fear was assuaged somewhat with the emergence of the singles Make Me Feel and Django Jane this February, both of which happen to be crackers – the former is a Prince-tastic slice of minimalist funk, the latter a timely reminder of Monáe’s powers as an MC. These excellent tracks are included on new album Dirty Computer, along with the equally impressive new single Pynk, a mid-tempo collaboration with Grimes which artfully combines that singer’s arty electronica with r'n'b and blatant pop, all to present Monáe’s self-proclaimed celebration of “pussy power”.
Empowered femininity is a recurring theme throughout this album, along with Monáe’s long-renowned fixation with retro-futurist science-fiction, though her tales of androids are less numerous than on past albums.
The record kicks off with the short, sweet title track, almost resembling an introductory hymn with its breezy Brian Wilson harmonies floating in the background. Crazy, Classic Life follows, maintaining the quality with a celebration of being “young, black, wild and free” in a tune that morphs between ‘80's pop vibes and a slightly more progressive soul feel. There are some pleasant tracks that nevertheless don’t quite land for me, with Take A Byte resembling the MOR funk of Monáe’s last OK-ish album The Electric Lady and Zoe Kravitz feature Screwed which has some feisty lyrics but a not-particularly strong hook.
They’re the only lulls on the whole album though. While it’s far from a clone, this album more resembles Monáe’s career highlight, 2010’s The Archandroid in its creative restlessness and engaging meld of genres. There are plenty of highlights to be found - the r'n'b slow-burner I Like That, the pulsing pop-rap of Pharrell Williams collab I Got The Juice and the psychedelia-kissed baroque ballads Don’t Judge Me and So Afraid represent Monáe firing on all creative cylinders.
While the world may have gotten way too real for Monáe to completely escape to her robotic utopia, she still paints her music with enough vibrant colour to ensure everyone is smiling and dancing throughout.
- Matt Thrower.