WILD TONIC

Janelle Monaé‘s album, The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III), is no doubt going to be on my top 20 albums list of the year – perhaps even in the top 10. Even though I thought it was a little too all over the place during my first listen, that’s ironically what I love about the album the most now that I’ve listened to it over 20 times.

There was a buzz going around about Ms. Monaé when she released her EP, “Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase),” but it wasn’t until she was getting ready to drop her full length (and came back with a new hairdo) that everyone started wondering why she was becoming the hottest “must-see” act of the year. I was lucky enough to see her perform a set at Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, and even though she was extremely late, seeing her perform on David Letterman gave me a slight inkling that the wait would be worth it. My decision to suffer from her tardiness was justified because I have never seen a girl (who is barely over 5 ft by the way) put on such an electrifying show. Yes, her vocals are phenomenal but it’s the way she executes each lyric and melody that makes her stand out as a pop artist today. Every cell in that tiny body of hers just works themselves so hard into giving the audience something that is stunning to watch and hear. During her Outside Lands set, her fancy hairdo even came undone. (Although I hear this happens all the time – which is a good thing!)

Check out her latest video for her fantastic song, “Cold War,” (one of my favorites off of the album). She released it earlier this month but if you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend watching it below. It’s just her and the camera and it’s hard not to marvel at how beautiful she makes the video simply by staring into the camera as she turns her face side to side showing us that gorgeous profile. I’ve also provided the “Tightrope” track below for you to grab; if you haven’t seen that video yet, you can watch that too.

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Janelle Monae is one of those artists who has been put into all the different genres and aspects of the music industry one can think of. Her sound is retro, fun, and soul-oriented but she’s opened for acts such as of Montreal and No Doubt. What’s interesting about that is the fact that she’s signed to Diddy’s Bad Boy Records and was able to start her career thanks to meeting Outkast’s Big Boi.

After being nominated for a Grammy in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category for her song, “Many Moons,” Monae comes back to his us with the lead single “Tightrope” off of her official and debut album, The ArchAndroid. As expected, the song and video features Big Boi and it’s a pretty fun watch with all her futuristic motifs always slipped in.

Watch it below!

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