Janelle Monáe is many people in alternate timelines at once. She’s an archivist of right now, interpreter of back then, dreamer of one day. She imagines black people into the future in the midst of past and present threats of erasure. And after two studio EPs and three albums, the full scope of her work illuminates how the past, present and future might exist simultaneously. Who we were, who we are and who we’d like to be swirl and layer until timelines merge.
She’s Cindi Mayweather, an android on the run from an oppressive government dressed in black and white. She’s Jane, a human who holds onto her memories even as powers-that-be aim to systematically erase them. She’s a singer and actress; a queer, black woman who grew up in Kansas, City, Kan. to working class parents; an Atlanta transplant who sold her CDs and sang on Atlanta University Center library steps before signing with Bad Boy in 2008.
janelle monae: civil rights, civil war. hood rat, crack whore. carefree, nightclub. closet drunk, bathtub. outcast, weirdo. stepchild, freak show. black girl, bad hair. broad nose, cold stare. tap shoes, broadway. tuxedo, holiday. creative black, love song. stupid words, erased song. gun shots, orange house. dead man walking with a dirty mouth. spoiled milk, stale bread. welfare, bubonic plague. record deal, light bulb. keep back kid now corporate thug. breast cancer, common cold. HIV, lost hope. overweight, self esteem. misfit, broken dream. fish tank, small bowl. closed mind, dark hold. cybergirl, droid control. get away now they trying to steal your soul. microphone, one stage. tomboy, outrage. street fight, bloody war. instigators, third floor. promiscuous child, broken heart. STD, quarantine. heroin user, coke head. final chapter, death bed. plastic sweat, metal skin. metallic tears, mannequin. carefree, night club. closet drunk, bathtub. white house, Jim Crow. dirty lies, my regards.
So that was basically Janelle saying “happy birthday” to Tessa and i’m guessing by this lovely artwork that that’s the name of the song Janelle made her for her big day.
I don’t care what they are at this point, they’re goals and I want one.
Just Sha 