The Electric Lady
With her second full-length album, Janelle Monáe continues the imaginative narrative of her futuristic alter-ego Cindi Mayweather. This storyline started on Monáe\'s debut EP, *Metropolis: The Chase Suite*, and continued though the acclaimed 2010 full-length *The ArchAndroid*. The richly detailed tunes on *The Electric Lady* continue the story of Mayweather—a femme android superhero—through a funk-infused power struggle in the city of Metropolis. And even though Monáe’s concept is elaborate, hard-grooving tunes like “Q.U.E.E.N.” (feat. Erykah Badu), “Electric Lady,” and “Dance Apocalyptic” are undeniably magnetic and stand on their own merits. Tracks like “We Were Rock n\' Roll” and “It\'s Code” demonstrate Monáe’s gift for weaving influences of classic soul and exploratory funk (think Funkadelic and Nona Hendryx) with crisp neo-soul production and rock guitar flourishes. Prince makes a guest vocal on an album highlight—“Givin Em What They Love”—while reflexive ballads like “PrimeTime” (feat. Miguel), “Can’t Live Without Your Love,” and “What an Experience” feature some of Monáe’s most personal songwriting to date.
Janelle Monáe's second album is looser and more physical than her 2010 debut ArchAndroid. Together with her tight-knit Wondaland collaborators (and with guest spots from Prince, Erykah Badu, Miguel, and Solange), she supervises and synthesizes a parade of golden era touchstones into a showstopping display of force and talent.
The fact that Janelle Monáe doesn’t perform a song by herself, without a guest feature, until a third of the way into her second full-length album, The Electric Lady, speaks to the collaborative, inclusive instincts that have formed and defined her musical aesthetic; a diva she is not. The first of those features is…
The third installment in the Metropolis series confirms that Monáe is probably the greatest pop star we have.
“My beautiful 1st cousin was murdered. She was a mother of 3. Loved by her community. #NatashaHays #sayhername.”
What could be unwieldy becomes a vast patchwork of influences buoying empowerment
Prince, Erykah Badu, Esperanza Spalding, Solange, and Miguel contribute to the fourth and fifth Metropolis suites, but it's not as if Janelle Monáe and their Wondaland associates were short on creative energy.
Janelle Monae’s The Electric Lady comes with an impressive list of collaborators – Prince, Solange, Erykah Badu, and an equally impressive array of influences. Part soul, part gospel, part do-wop, the record skips between influences like a kid at a candy store, picking an idea up only to discard it a track later. Similarly, the artwork simultaneously references Motown girl-groups, and 70s futurism – but to what end?
The future is robotic: sexless, genderless, classless, and raceless. It's post-this, post-that, genreless, and guileless. It's proto-android and it's 110 percent glamorous.
<p>Janelle Monáe's second album of intergalactic funk and soul is as irrepressible as she is, writes <strong>Hermione Hoby</strong></p>
<p>Janelle Monáe has big ideas and great songs – but can she turn them into major commercial success this time round, asks <strong>Alexis Petridis</strong></p>
Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady review: The visionary pop star follows the trajectory of her genre-hopping previous endeavors with more driving ambition and artistic creativity to boot.
This is a wild and wonderful listening experience, bristling with ideas, says Neil McCormick.