Dirty Computer

AlbumApr 27 / 201814 songs, 48m 44s
Contemporary R&B Art Pop
Popular Highly Rated

After two concept albums and a string of roles in Hollywood blockbusters, one of music’s fiercest visionaries sheds her alter egos and steps out as herself. Buckle up: Human Monáe wields twice the power of any sci-fi character. In this confessional, far-reaching triumph, she dreams of a world in which love wins (“Pynk\") and women of color have agency (“Django Jane”). Featuring guest appearances from Brian Wilson, Grimes, and Pharrell—and bearing the clear influence of Prince, Monae’s late mentor—*Dirty Computer* is as uncompromising and mighty as it is graceful and fun. “I’m the venom and the antidote,” she wails in “I Like That,” a song about embracing these very contradictions. “Take a different type of girl to keep the whole world afloat.”

2019

7.7 / 10

Ever the innovator, Janelle Monáe has crafted a singular, youthful pop record that is the culmination of years of silence and deflection in order to one day be free.

A

Janelle Monáe has devoted years to developing the saga of Cindi Mayweather, a renegade android hunted for having the gall to fall in love with a human. The meticulously crafted character is at the center of much of the Grammy nominee’s work, including the funk-opera Metropolis, and her subsequent full-length releases, …

8 / 10

7 / 10

Monae’s third studio album sees her moving in a subtly but crucially different direction.

“The Founding Fathers would be proud”

The spirit of Prince looms large over Janelle Monae's 'Dirty Computer,' an album that radiates personal, musical, sexual and political freedom.

It might just be the record that finally elevates her to pop's highest echelons.

 A record that will go down as a milestone not just as a work of art in its own right, but as the perfect celebration of queerness, female power, and self-worth

"Yoga" was an ostensibly minor part of the Janelle Monáe discography by the arrival of Dirty Computer.

9 / 10

Prince. Brian Wilson. Grimes. Pharrell Williams. Any musician that could coax a collaboration out of one, let alone all of those legends mus...

8.5 / 10

Although Janelle Monáe has never been shy, she has not always spoken openly about her beliefs. Her past albums, The ArchAndroid and The Electric Lady, were extravagant genre-mash-ups that pulled ideas from rock and classical music as effectively as they

9 / 10

A pitch for the pop mainstream sees the Prince collaborator ditch the tech for a sexy, personal angle

7 / 10

Janelle Monáe tones down the artifice for her third solo album 'Dirty Computer' - an LP that's angry, defiant, challenging, sexy, important but not perfect.

In shedding her science-fiction persona, Janelle Monáe has ended up making a great pop album.

7 / 10

It was always going to be challenging for Janelle Monáe to satisfy expectations on her third studio LP, Dirty Computer.

9.0 / 10

'Dirty Computer' by Janelle Monáe: Janelle Monáe commands and impresses in our review of 'Dirty Computer'

She can sing, she can rap, she can act, she can pay homage to Prince – perfectly. So why does Monáe still seem elusive on her most personal album?

75 %

Few albums come with as much weight as a cultural moment as Dirty Computer.

Album Reviews: Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer

For all the acclaim heaped upon her, Janelle Monáe is not a superstar – yet.

The Kansas pop futurist discovers her own inner Rihanna. CD New Music review by Howard Male