And it's a common thought/that wired folk can be sold and bought./That we have no feelings no memories or minds,/That we're bionic strumpets only worth a dime.
To some it's a surprise when I smile./And when I hold your hand, they say,/"How can a wired thing understand?/Love is too deep; it's too wide to feel
when your soul is a button/and your foot glows in heels."
Program. Program./Reprogram./One nation, under a microchip./Neon slaves, electric savages,/open your hearts, open your eyes./Your chariot will arrive.
Janelle Monae returned to her hometown of Kansas City, Kan., on Friday to visit her family and to appear with Kansas City Mayor Sly James at the Mayor’s Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at Crown Center on Friday night. Before a pre-ceremony reception in the American Restaurant, she met with members of the local media. Here’s what she had to say during our brief interview:
Word is you’re working on the next record. What can you say about it? - Timothy Finn, The Star
I am happy to be here and see my family, and I am eager to get back to the studio and work on finishing my album. I stopped touring so I could finish the album. Actually, I plan on releasing two albums next year.
Any idea when?
I will release them according to my soul clock; so I reserve the right to change that. But I will try to stick to the scheduled release dates, which I know but can’t say. I will be thinking about Kansas City and all the people here who have supported me as I continue to write songs that empower, encourage and make you dance.
Will these new records build on the themes you established in your first two recordings?
Again, that’s all according to my soul clock. Right now all I can say is, the music comes from the space I’m in.
How far along are you in your wriitng?
I would say 84.799 percent of the writing is done.
Will you tour next year?
Oh, absolutely. We already have a tour set, but it hasn’t been announced yet. I’ll be with some really big artists. We’ll hit the Staples Center three nights in a row in L.A. It’s a really big band. I can’t say who it is. I think next week you should probably hear something.
![Janelle Monáe is currently trekking around the country with Bruno Mars, but her busy touring schedule hasn’t prevented her from working on what will become the follow-up to 2010’s The ArchAndroid. Speaking with Hive recently, Monáe confirmed that she has been “recording, writing, [and] playing instruments” for her next record.
The new set — which will likely be released on Monáe’s own label Wondaland Arts Society via Bad Boy/Atlantic Records — aims to be larger in scope than The ArchAndroid and its predecessor, 2007’s EP Metropolis.
“This album will have very strong concepts and bigger ideas and the music will just go forward to another level,” Monáe tells Hive. “It will still be, I believe, relatable to the people. We have a really big ideas, I must say, and we’re just trying to make sure we execute them properly.”
Monáe’s prior two releases were thematically connected as two parts of a narrative whole, strongly rooted in science fiction, imagining a world inhabited by Monae’s robotic alter ego Cindi Mayweather. Although Monae won’t acknowledge whether her next project will exist in the same realm as those albums, she does have some specific aims for the music she creates — both in the near and the distant future.
“The concepts will be very strong,” Monáe said. “That’s really what I can say … I don’t plan on stopping the formula or stopping myself from creating new formulas. My message is that I want to reach the people – the people who work each and every day. I want to create music that will be their choice of drug whenever they feel oppressed or depressed. [I want to] create something that will remain timeless, hopefully, and the next generation can be inspired by it. And creating a blueprint — one where people can understand that you don’t have to take the same coordinates to get to the same destination. But it will be jamming. I will say that much. It’s gonna be jamming.”
So when will the new album hit proverbial shelves? Well, we’ll leave this one to Monae. “When the frog leaps on me and I rise and take a shower, and the rain drips down on my back,” Monáe says. “I pick it up and a message appears: ‘It’s time. It’s time, child. Move forward.’”](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lme8w1saAx1qba7meo1_500.jpg)
Janelle Monáe is currently trekking around the country with Bruno Mars, but her busy touring schedule hasn’t prevented her from working on what will become the follow-up to 2010’s The ArchAndroid. Speaking with Hive recently, Monáe confirmed that she has been “recording, writing, [and] playing instruments” for her next record.
The new set — which will likely be released on Monáe’s own label Wondaland Arts Society via Bad Boy/Atlantic Records — aims to be larger in scope than The ArchAndroid and its predecessor, 2007’s EP Metropolis.
“This album will have very strong concepts and bigger ideas and the music will just go forward to another level,” Monáe tells Hive. “It will still be, I believe, relatable to the people. We have a really big ideas, I must say, and we’re just trying to make sure we execute them properly.”
Monáe’s prior two releases were thematically connected as two parts of a narrative whole, strongly rooted in science fiction, imagining a world inhabited by Monae’s robotic alter ego Cindi Mayweather. Although Monae won’t acknowledge whether her next project will exist in the same realm as those albums, she does have some specific aims for the music she creates — both in the near and the distant future.
“The concepts will be very strong,” Monáe said. “That’s really what I can say … I don’t plan on stopping the formula or stopping myself from creating new formulas. My message is that I want to reach the people – the people who work each and every day. I want to create music that will be their choice of drug whenever they feel oppressed or depressed. [I want to] create something that will remain timeless, hopefully, and the next generation can be inspired by it. And creating a blueprint — one where people can understand that you don’t have to take the same coordinates to get to the same destination. But it will be jamming. I will say that much. It’s gonna be jamming.”
So when will the new album hit proverbial shelves? Well, we’ll leave this one to Monae. “When the frog leaps on me and I rise and take a shower, and the rain drips down on my back,” Monáe says. “I pick it up and a message appears: ‘It’s time. It’s time, child. Move forward.’”
The nominees for the 53rd edition of the GRAMMY Awards have just been announced and Janelle Monae has collected two nominations.
In the category of Best Urban/Alternative Performance, Monae is nominated along with Big Boi for “Tightrope.” Then, in the Best Contemporary R&B Album, Monae’s “The ArchAndroid” received a nod.
This is Monae’s third Grammy Nomination following “Many Moons” in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category at the 51st GRAMMY Awards.
Congrats to Ms. Monae.
Read the Full List of Nominees Here
