Look, I have no idea why Janelle Monae’s lyrically SFnal exploration of race and resistance isn’t more popular. If you don’t know her, y’all are missing out.
If you love SF/F, particularly racially aware SF/F, you should be all over this album series. If you love music, you should listen to them (they’re all available on Amazon Prime), because HOLY COW, Janelle Monae is AMAZING in what she is doing with the music. I don’t like most modern music because it gets boring and repetitive. Janelle Monae puts together albums that are definitely hip hop/R&B, yet that draw far more widely in musical influence and have orchestral portions and really, REALLY intricate themes both musically, SFnally, and racially, and it’s just a joy and a treat to listen to. And the visuals–album art, music videos, etc.–are all equally stunning.
I WANT MORE. What I really want is for her to finish the suite (there are supposedly still at least one album to come). What I want for Yuletide is fic exploring the rich, multi-faceted world that she has built in her music. I want to know more about the droid economy. I want to explore the parallels to current American race relations that Janelle draws. I want to know more about Cindi Mayweather (Janelle’s alter-ego).
Cindi Mayweather is an Alpha Platinum 9000 droid in a world where droids are property. She falls in love with a human, which means she must be immediately disassembled, and bounty hunters are sent out to get her. But Cindi is also the ArchAndroid, a messiah-like figure to the rest of the droids fighting to hold their own in a culture that treats them like things instead of people. The songs are about her journeys through time and space insearch of freedom and self-expression, with “interludes” giving the perspective of outsiders from her original timeline.
no subject
If you love SF/F, particularly racially aware SF/F, you should be all over this album series. If you love music, you should listen to them (they’re all available on Amazon Prime), because HOLY COW, Janelle Monae is AMAZING in what she is doing with the music. I don’t like most modern music because it gets boring and repetitive. Janelle Monae puts together albums that are definitely hip hop/R&B, yet that draw far more widely in musical influence and have orchestral portions and really, REALLY intricate themes both musically, SFnally, and racially, and it’s just a joy and a treat to listen to. And the visuals–album art, music videos, etc.–are all equally stunning.
I WANT MORE. What I really want is for her to finish the suite (there are supposedly still at least one album to come). What I want for Yuletide is fic exploring the rich, multi-faceted world that she has built in her music. I want to know more about the droid economy. I want to explore the parallels to current American race relations that Janelle draws. I want to know more about Cindi Mayweather (Janelle’s alter-ego).
Cindi Mayweather is an Alpha Platinum 9000 droid in a world where droids are property. She falls in love with a human, which means she must be immediately disassembled, and bounty hunters are sent out to get her. But Cindi is also the ArchAndroid, a messiah-like figure to the rest of the droids fighting to hold their own in a culture that treats them like things instead of people. The songs are about her journeys through time and space insearch of freedom and self-expression, with “interludes” giving the perspective of outsiders from her original timeline.
Here’s a short guide to the chase suite. http://www.philipsandifer.com/blog/a-short-guide-to-janelle-mon%C3%A1e-and-the-metropolis-saga/
Here’s the icon post I made for Janelle Monae. http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/264879.html#cutid1
Here's Janelle Monae's website. http://www.jmonae.com/
All three albums of the Chase Suite (the Archandroid, Metropolis, and Electric Lady) are available with Amazon Prime.