Cold War

By Eva Medoff, August 10th, 2010

CITY favorite Janelle Monae has just released the video for her single “Cold War.” A minimalist, emotional affair, the video is shot entirely in close up of Monae’s face as she belts out the tune. Her face a nude palette with the exception of her expressive, coal-rimmed eyes, the focus here is entirely on the song and Monae’s own emotions (she bursts out crying at one point). “Cold War” comes off critically lauded album The ArchAndroid, which Monae produced at The Wondaland Arts Society, her home studio in Atlanta. In our interview with Monae, she explained, “We were listening to what our minds were telling us, but even more so from our hearts and our souls.” That’s certainly evident here.

Out of This World

By Eva Medoff, July 9th, 2010

Seeing as Janelle Monae was trending on Twitter last night, just released an album that scored a coveted 8.5 on Pitchfork and and counts Barack Obama as a fan, we figured we should share our inside look into Monae’s creative process for her new, genre-defying record, The ArchAndroid. Check out our interview with Monae by clicking here.

Out of This World

With her new record, 21st century phenomenon Janelle Monae provides the soundtrack for her own Space Odyssey

Story by Angela Cravens / Photography by Marc Baptiste

Janelle Monae

An alien walks among us. She’s taken the form of a pop star (all the better to reach total world domination), though we’d be mistaken to assume she’s just another songstress on the scene with a serious voice. To know Janelle Monae’s music is to have her take you firmly by the hand and lead you into outer space. And though you may not have the foggiest idea where exactly you’re going, trust that she’s got it under control—and the ride will be sweet.

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