Lemmie get it out of the way now; not a fan of Monae as far as a her music is concerned(that's another post). BUT she's clearly one of the most talented black mainstream musical artists and was a top tier performer and musician in an era where we were impressed that Alicia Keys could play a piano like a 5th grader. I always respected the fuck outta her and what she was trying to do.

I always admired her work from hitting the ground fully formed, touring and dancing her ass off (with a full band) on some Brown shit...there was a period of time where it felt you couldn't intentionally avoid seeing her live cause she found a way to headline/open for every major act in every major city for like five years..

But Its fascinating to see someone very intentionally plotting her art in a very deliberate fashion and have large swaths of the public basically say fuck that. She was doing afrofuturism before it became a buzzword, high concept videos and performances that would put Bruno Mars to shame; clearly ahead of her time by almost a decade. But nobody gives a fuck about all that, they just want to know why she wears her hair like that and how she showing off/not showing off them titties re that Guardian interview she just did for this album cycle:

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It’s an ugly phenomenon she has glimpsed on social media. “I see how people try to pit women against each other,” she says. “There are people who have used my image to slut-shame other women: ‘Janelle, we really appreciate that you don’t show your body.’ That’s something I’m not cool with. I have worn a tuxedo, but I have never covered up for respectability politics or to shame other women.

“I’m guilty feeling like I can’t just be,” she says. “Like either it’s this or it’s that, it’s black or it’s white. But there’s so much grey. And I think I’m kind of discovering the grey and realising it’s OK not to have all the answers, or to supply them.”

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Thing is while the bulk of it clearly has to do with ya good old sexism I can get why the public in general demands certain expectations and behaviors from the beautiful people it deems as celebs; pretty sure if Michael B Jordan decided his next role he was gonna play someone disfigured where you can see his face or muscles people would be like WTF. But it's funny how someone is working their ass off to give you this weird sci-fi motif, used to give interviews in character, etc...and everyone is still like 'yo, who you fucking, why you dressed like that'.

It just feels like a general lack of imagination we've got as a public. Its like nobody kept on pestering Prince why stayed dressed like a figure skater, why rhythm nation era janet jackson dressed like she was in the military ("are you trying to stop a coup?"). Its like the magic is kinda gone.