Janelle Monáe

Known for seamlessly merging soul, funk, new wave, and Southern hip-hop along with additional styles, Janelle Monáe ranks among the era’s most versatile performers, one who approaches creative work and showmanship as inseparable forces. The Grammy-nominated vocalist, rapper, songwriter, arranger, and producer spent an extended period building a presence in Atlanta’s underground scene before surfacing with a theatrical, retro-futuristic aesthetic steeped in science-fiction concepts. Throughout the 2010s, Monáe and their Wondaland collaborators produced three Top 20 albums—The ArchAndroid (2010), The Electric Lady (2013), and Dirty Computer (2018)—that probed themes of oppression, identity, and liberation in relation to race and sexuality. Even with ambitious conceptual frameworks, Monáe and the collective populated these releases with widely accessible, gold-certified tracks such as “Tightrope” (featuring early champion Big Boi), “Yoga,” “Make Me Feel,” and “I Like That.” Following that ambitious three-album series, Monáe issued the more concise The Age of Pleasure (2023), an homage to the African diaspora built around uplifting rhythms drawn from Jamaica, Nigeria, and the ATL. Parallel to their recording career, the artist has taken on supporting and starring parts in motion pictures including Moonlight, Antebellum, and Glass Onion, as well as the series Homecoming.

During their formative years, Janelle Monáe experienced the restrictions of scant opportunities in the broader Kansas City, Kansas setting. Upon completing high school, they relocated to New York to enroll at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy with plans to study musical theater. After appearing in a pair of off-Broadway productions and confronting a shortage of appealing parts, they decided to test prospects in Atlanta. There they quickly entered a band, performed on the local college circuit, and eventually connected with future Wondaland Arts Society partners—a group and imprint focused on experimental arts—before self-financing, self-releasing, and self-distributing a limited run of a few hundred copies of The Audition. OutKast’s Big Boi placed two tracks from that project, the Off the Wall-styled “Lettin’ Go” and an electro take on DeBarge’s “Time Will Reveal,” on his 2005 compilation Got Purp?, Vol. 2. Monáe also featured on OutKast’s 2006 soundtrack Idlewild and appeared in the video for “Morris Brown.”

Monáe launched their official solo career in August 2007 via the EP The Chase, the opening installment of four envisioned “Metropolis suites” set in 2719 and centered on protagonist Cindi Mayweather. The recording’s blend of cabaret, soul, hip-hop, and new wave earned favorable notice and attracted admirer Sean “Diddy” Combs. Speculation about a label deal ended in March 2008 when Combs introduced Monáe as the newest addition to his Bad Boy roster. Monáe assured that the affiliation would leave their artistic integrity and creativity intact, and a reissued version of The Chase with added material appeared soon after. The second and third suites of Metropolis were combined as The ArchAndroid. Issued in May 2010, the album entered the Billboard 200 at number 17 and earned Monáe their initial Grammy nominations, among them Best Contemporary R&B Album and Best Urban/Alternative Performance for lead single “Tightrope.”

Following Fun.’s chart-topping pop single “We Are Young” that included Monáe and received multiple Grammy nods, Monáe returned in September 2013 with The Electric Lady. Presented as Metropolis suites four and five, the project proved even broader in scope than its predecessor, enlisting guests such as Prince, Erykah Badu, Esperanza Spalding, Solange, and Miguel; it debuted at number five on the Billboard 200. Monáe subsequently shifted the Wondaland imprint to Epic and inaugurated the alliance with 2015’s Wondaland Presents: The Eephus, a various-artists EP that showcased their own “Yoga” alongside Jidenna’s platinum-certified “Classic Man.” While touring in support of the EP, Monáe and their band performed the anti-police brutality track “Hell You Talmbout,” issued separately as an instrumental rather than included on The Eephus.

While engaged with acting duties in two major 2016 releases—the award-winning Moonlight and Hidden Figures—Monáe recorded sporadically, contributing to the multi-artist charity single “This Is for the Girls,” tracks for the Hidden Figures soundtrack, and material on Jidenna’s The Chief. They further joined forces with Grimes and supplied “Hum Along and Dance (Gotta Get Down)” for the Netflix series The Get Down. In April 2018 they unveiled their third album, the playful yet resolute Dirty Computer. The relatively pop-leaning collection was introduced through “Django Jane” and “Make Me Feel,” the latter bringing Julia Michaels and Justin Trantor into Monáe’s studio circle. Debuting at number six on the Billboard 200, the album garnered Monáe two Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year.

Additional acting assignments occupied Monáe in subsequent years, encompassing a supporting turn in the Harriet Tubman biopic Harriet, the portrayal of noted feminist and child welfare advocate Dorothy Pitman Hughes in the Gloria Steinem biopic The Glorias, and lead roles in the horror feature Antebellum and the second season of the psychological thriller series Homecoming. Concurrently, Monáe supplied the song “Turntables” for the documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy. In 2021 they created “Stronger” for the educational animated series We the People and delivered an 18-minute refreshed rendition of “Hell You Talmbout.” “Say Her Name (Hell You Talmbout)” incorporated more than a dozen voices, among them Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, and Brittany Howard as well as Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza and Pulitzer-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. Monáe first appeared on The New York Times Best Sellers list in 2022 with the sci-fi anthology The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer. Having disclosed their pansexual orientation four years prior, Monáe affirmed in 2022 that they identify as nonbinary. Later that year they appeared in the Knives Out sequel Glass Onion. Early in 2023 Monáe issued “Float,” a Sean Kuti collaboration that foreshadowed the cross-continental celebratory tone of the long-awaited successor to Dirty Computer. The Age of Pleasure arrived that June, featuring contributions from Grace Jones, Sister Nancy, and CKay, and later received an Album of the Year nomination at the 2024 Grammy Awards.