ALBUMMetropolis: The Chase Suite (Fantastic Edition)Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe's Popular Music Videos
Make Me Feel
Janelle Monáe
Yoga
Janelle Monáe & Jidenna
I Like That
Janelle Monáe
Pynk (feat. Grimes)
Janelle Monáe
Tightrope (feat. Big Boi)
Janelle Monáe
Lipstick Lover
Janelle Monáe
Water Slide
Janelle Monáe
Django Jane
Janelle Monáe
Venus Fly (feat. Janelle Monáe)
Grimes
Q.U.E.E.N. (feat. Erykah Badu)
Janelle Monáe
Artist Playlists
Janelle Monáe Essentials
This idiosyncratic singer has created her own alternative R&B universe.
Set List: Janelle Monáe's The Age of Pleasure Tour
“This tour is going to be a world that people can step into and live in,” Monáe says.
Inspired by Janelle Monae
Her R&B innovations are felt in Atlanta and around the world.
Janelle Monáe: Influences
The voyagers, superstars, and divas who led to an R&B original.
At Home With Janelle Monáe: The Playlist
“When the world is in turmoil, these are songs that I can listen to.”
Artist Biography
Janelle Monáe is an auteur who’s constantly bringing innovative methods of self-expression. Born in 1985 in Kansas City, Kansas, Monáe began singing in church, where her family members were musicians and performers. Inspired by artists like Stevie Wonder, Lauryn Hill, and Prince, the Atlanta-based Monáe developed a highly personalized style early on, a dynamic combination of funk, doo-wop, neo-soul, pop, and hip-hop. Monáe would drop her debut EP, Metropolis: The Chase Suite in 2007, a flexible, wide-reaching collection of evocative songs that introduced both her cyborg-driven narratives, which she would experiment with for years to come, and her staple androgynous look. In 2010, Monáe released her full-length follow-up, The ArchAndroid, delving deeper into her digital world with songs like the breakthrough, energetic groove “Tightrope,” featuring Outkast cofounder Big Boi. After establishing her star power, Monáe was featured as a guest vocalist on the rousing, chart-topping 2011 single “We Are Young” by indie-pop group Fun. In 2016, Monáe played a supporting role in the movie Hidden Figures, about the unheralded Black women of NASA, which raised her mainstream profile. The film also gave her an expanded platform to release her hyper-personal 2018 opus, Dirty Computer, and come out as queer; she highlighted this revelation through the Prince-influenced “Make Me Feel,” about an insuppressible romantic desire. Monáe wrote “Turntables” for the 2020 documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy, encouraging the cultural tilt toward political engagement. “This song doesn’t mean that I’m the leader,” Monáe told Apple Music. “I am simply watching, examining, and wanting to highlight all of the people who are on the front lines fighting. This song is to keep us motivated.”