So please help me welcome
  
  Janelle Monáe to the stage.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEER]
Hello.
[CHEERING]
[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]
[CHRISTINE GASPS]
So here I am
  
  sitting with Janelle Monáe.
Hi, everybody.
How are you guys feeling?
Is everyone feeling amazing,
  
  as amazing as I'm feeling?
JANELLE:
  
  I'm so happy to be sitting here.
Likewise.
I wanted to get started
  
  talking about the tour
you've just come off
because I remember
  
  reading a few months ago
while you were doing the
  
  press cycle for Dirty Computer
that you had
  
  some feelings of nervousness
about how this project
was going to be
  
  received by the greater public
and by your fans.
And now that you're at the
  
  other end of this press cycle
and of this extensive tour,
  
  how are you feeling about it?
Yeah.
Well, I... I...
  
  I'm... I just wrapped up the...
the European first leg
  
  of the Dirty Computer experience
and we did the first US
  
  leg as well right before we had,
we had come
  
  on this side of the pond.
and it's just been incredible.
It... it... it has been...
I mean, it's so hard for me
to articulate
  
  the emotions that I get
looking at all the
  
  Dirty Computers from the US,
to Paris, to London,
  
  to Amsterdam to,
you know, just all over
and there's like
  
  just this connection
that if I were to put
  
  every audience together
that they would be
  
  the same tribe.
They don't even know it.
It's just like
  
  when I go city to city,
it's so...
  
  it's so beautiful and so special
and the energy is...
  
  is... is all connected
and we're connected
  
  as a community.
So it's been incredible.
JANELLE: But to answer
  
  the first part of your question,
I was extremely nervous
  
  with this project
and putting it out
  
  and, like, you know,
going back on the road
and trying to put
  
  together a full production
of Dirty Computer because
  
  we released the emotion picture
with the project
and it's such
  
  a visual experience
and the concept is...
  
  is... is strong,
and we wanted to figure out,
  
  how do we articulate sonically
what people are hearing
  
  to the stage?
How do we articulate
  
  what people have seen?
How do we bring
  
  these ideas to the stage?
And, you know, one of the things
  
  that we wanted to make sure of
was that we were really
  
  just connecting with the,
I like to call... call them
  
  fan droids, not just fans. Yes.
There's a few of them here.
JANELLE: On a basic level, there
  
  needs to be that connection
and making sure
  
  that they... they come,
they want to hear the songs
  
  and how can we build...
build something special
  
  around that
and build something that
hopefully when they leave
  
  the experience
that they feel better
  
  about life,
about themselves,
  
  more hopeful, feel celebrated,
seem loved, heard,
  
  and all those things
and to...
  
  to question that early on.
and also,
  
  I wanted to do, you know,
something more as a performer.
I challenged myself
  
  to play guitar.
I challenged myself to, like,
do a full-on
  
  24-count dance break...
[LAUGHS]
  
  ...in the middle of the show
and just so many other things
  
  that I did not do,
that I had not
  
  stretched my muscles,
or I hadn't exercised
  
  my muscle in that area.
And so I was nervous.
I didn't know what was
  
  in my mind and in my heart
how all that
  
  was going to play out.
But it's safe to say that we...
I think we've put together
  
  something special,
something that I'm proud of
and I'm extremely thankful
  
  for your support.
Wonderful.
[APPLAUSE]
CHRISTINE: So is something
  
  like Dirty Computer,
the pure scale of it,
as you mentioned
  
  the visual part, the music part.
Where does it start?
Because I know that
  
  Dirty Computer as a concept
actually predates
  
  Metropolis, but how--
-ArchAndroid.
  
  -Okay.
[INAUDIBLE]
  
  -That's okay.
CHRISTINE: Predates Archangel.
But where did you start with
  
  the conceiving of this project?
Was it the concept,
  
  was it the music,
was it the visuals?
Sure. Well, I think that
  
  it had to do with my need
of... of wanting
  
  to build community for...
for marginalized groups
  
  that I've felt I fell into.
Regardless of who I am,
  
  you know, as an artist today
and I've had...
  
  I've been given lots of...
and I've worked hard for...
  
  for lots of opportunities to...
to come my way.
but, you know,
  
  when I strip off my makeup
and my clothes
  
  and, you know, Janelle Monáe,
I'm still a young
  
  African American, queer woman
born to working class parents,
  
  you know, in the States,
and I identify with...
  
  with many of those groups.
and I've identified
  
  growing up my whole life.
and so it was just
  
  really important for me
to create an experience,
a community to where the people
  
  that I love and care about
that are in those
  
  marginalized groups felt like
they didn't have
  
  to change who they were
to be accepted in society.
JANELLE: We accept you
  
  at the Church of Dirty Computer.
You can continue to embrace
  
  those things about you
that people deem
  
  as bugs and viruses
and that they need to be fixed.
It's about, you know,
  
  cracking our own code and...
and redesigning our DNA
  
  or... or...
or loving our DNA
  
  just as it is and...
and feeling like, you know,
things will work out
  
  in our favor
because we have each other.
And so I started
  
  with community first
and then I just built
  
  everything around that.
I mean, it seems like community
is something that
  
  is super important to you,
especially
  
  in your creative process.
Because I know that you created
  
  the Wondaland Art Society
really early on in your career.
And from what I understand,
  
  it's like a communal space
where people can come
  
  and jam and hang out
and have lunch,
  
  and all that kind of thing.
CHRISTINE: So I'd love to hear
  
  a little bit more about
how this particular community
  
  started for you.
Well, Wondaland is...
  
  is a quite magical,
mystical space in many,
  
  many different times.
It morphs depending on the type
  
  of artists that come through.
We have visual artists,
  
  artist musicians, screenwriters,
I mean just artists who want
  
  to redefine the blueprint,
and come together
  
  and build together,
and we all have our individual,
  
  like, superpowers
and when we come together
  
  it can create something
that's really, really special.
And it happened,
  
  it started in a little tiny city
in Atlanta, Georgia
  
  in the South.
And I think the historically
  
  black colleges,
Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta
  
  University, Spelman,
Morris Brown
  
  really brought us together
because these were like
  
  all young black women
and men who were just looking
  
  to just redefine the future
of black entrepreneurship.
A lot of people
  
  started businesses in Atlanta
and so I wanted to become
  
  an independent recording artist.
I started selling
  
  my CDs out of my...
[CHUCKLES]
...out of my...
  
  What kind of car?
Oh, I had a Mitsubishi Galant.
[LAUGHTERS]
My green Mitsubishi Galant,
  
  selling my CDs out of my trunk.
I was living in a boarding house
  
  with six girls pushing my CDs.
I worked at Office Depot.
I was selling ink,
  
  computer printers.
I mean, you name it.
I was working hard,
but I knew that ultimately
I just had a different way
  
  of wanting to take my career
and I needed to have
  
  community though,
people who knew what it meant
  
  to package your own CDs
and build something
  
  from the ground up.
So Wondaland started as a seed
and we've been watering it
  
  ever since.
[CHEERING]
I personally have never been
  
  to Atlanta,
but I feel like I hear about it
  
  and I see about it.
-You gotta come.
  
  -I'd love to.
Why you ain't come?
  
  You need to be in Atlanta.
All right,
  
  let's sort it out afterwards.
-I'll come back with you.
  
  -Okay.
But I love the idea
  
  that I have in my mind anyway
of this really vibrant,
thriving brown town,
  
  as they call it,
where the African American
  
  community is really prevalent.
What is it like
  
  walking around Atlanta?
What do you see?
  
  What do you feel?
Well, I mean,
  
  it is the home of OutKast.
It's the home of LaFace Records,
  
  you know,
you have the Ushers,
  
  and the TLCs,
and the Toni Braxtons
  
  who came out of there.
Goodie Mob, hip hop,
  
  you know, has always...
the Atlanta hip hop scene
has always birthed
  
  some real superstars
and those artists,
  
  the cool thing about Atlanta is
while artists are,
  
  you know, ascending and rising,
they're taking their hand
and they're pulling up
  
  other artists
and so in the way that
  
  the Dungeon Family, OutKast,
all of them came together.
Big Boi from OutKast
  
  and even Andre,
like, were mentorships
  
  to Wondaland,
or mentors to Wondaland.
So that's really
  
  the great thing.
It's not like
  
  everyone's on an island.
We're collaborating together.
Even if you go down
  
  there today at Wondaland,
you know,
  
  we have artists like St. Beauty,
and Roman GianArthur,
  
  and Jidenna, and Deep Cotton.
They're collaborating
  
  with each other.
We put out projects
and everybody's recording
  
  projects in different rooms
and we can go in and be inspired
  
  by what that artist is doing.
So that's the beautiful thing is
when you walk around Atlanta,
  
  you never know.
People have...
  
  do multiple things too.
Like, you could be
  
  waitressing at a nightclub
and jump... hop on the stage
  
  and have like thousands of fans
who know your songs
and maybe you have
  
  never left Atlanta, you know.
That was my life for a minute.
So, yeah, everybody there is...
  
  The food is amazing.
There's a lot of salt on it.
  
  You got to be careful.
It's the South.
  
  But the food is amazing.
The music is amazing.
And what I love most
  
  about it though is
everybody's really trying to,
like, uplift each other
and they understand
  
  the importance of collaboration
and how, you know, if one of us
  
  wins, we all win. Yeah.
I wanted to...
  
  Hey, applaud if you like.
[APPLAUSE]
CHRISTINE: I wanted to ask you
  
  as well about the HBCUs
that you mentioned before,
the historically
  
  black colleges and universities.
and I'm sure for a lot
  
  of people in Europe perhaps
like Beyonce's
  
  Coachella performance
was a really kind of
  
  illustrative moment
to kind of convey
  
  how important it is,
like, culturally and musically.
Did you attend
  
  one of those universities
when you were in Atlanta?
-No.
  
  -Oh.
Too expensive for me
  
  at the time.
I studied at the
  
  American Musical
and Dramatics Academy
  
  in New York.
I studied acting and music,
  
  and musical theater.
When I left school there,
  
  I moved to Atlanta
and I actually lived
  
  on the campus
of the historically
  
  black colleges.
So I got like all the partying.
I got to party with everybody
but I'd have to pay
  
  that tuition.
JANELLE: I went to a community
  
  college because I... you know,
I was like, I'm not, I had just
  
  lived expensive as New York.
I'm not doing this,
but I was absolutely involved
  
  in the communities there.
I would perform
  
  at all the dorm lounges,
like literally go
  
  into the dorm lounge areas
and have a guitar
  
  and just be performing,
and how I would find out
  
  if my music was any good is
I would measure by,
  
  "Okay, are they stopping?"
And most people didn't stop.
I had about three people who
  
  would really, really be like,
"When are you coming
  
  to the dorm lounge again?"
Or, "When are you going to be
  
  on the library steps?"
I did a lot of performances
  
  on the library steps.
[CHUCKLES]
That was my life.
JANELLE:
  
  Yeah, that was my life there.
And I just thought
  
  it was a great way to find out,
like, to test your market.
I felt like that...
  
  these are the types of people
that I want to make music for.
  
  What do they think?
And also they didn't know me,
  
  you know?
So it was just like
  
  I didn't have to deal with,
like, going back home
  
  to Kansas City after school
because my mom and my family,
they were not disappointed,
  
  they just were confused
because I'd always
  
  spoken about New York.
And for me to leave
  
  because I just,
I felt like I had a
  
  very particular way of writing,
storytelling that I wanted
  
  to make happen
but being a part of that
  
  musical theater community
was limiting in ways.
As helpful as it was,
  
  I felt like
it limited me
  
  explore my own ideas
and what I want to say.
Not being able to hear my own.
So, Atlanta University Center
  
  was my home,
but I didn't have to spend
  
  all the money to live there.
CHRISTINE: Sounds like a very
  
  smart university hack there.
JANELLE: Yes. I love it.
And I met pretty much
  
  all the people
that I collaborate with
  
  and part of Wondaland.
Nate 'Rocket' Wonder
  
  went to Morehouse.
Mikael Moore who's there,
  
  went to Morehouse.
Chuck Lightning,
  
  I mean, I met some really...
I met Kelli Andrews who went
  
  to Clark Atlanta University.
Some really
  
  incredible people who are,
right now working with me
  
  to this day
with Wondaland
  
  and with my career.
Yeah. It is really
  
  interesting to kind of
look through
  
  the liner notes of the music
that you've produced and seeing
the names of your collaborators
  
  repeating over and over again.
How do you all communicate
within your kind of like
  
  little ecosystem in Wondaland?
CHRISTINE: Like, do you need
  
  to be explicit with each other?
Can you pick up each cues?
  
  Do you fall out with each other?
Like how does this dynamic
  
  develop?
-Especially with such a--
  
  -All the above. All the above.
Yeah, I think like
  
  any community in any,
you know...
  
  it is a business as well.
You have highs, you have lows,
  
  you have tough conversations
that you have to have.
But the great thing
  
  about Wondaland is
everybody is a protector of love
and a protector of making sure
that love is at the center
  
  of what it is that we do.
You know, it's like
  
  if it's constructive criticism,
you know it's coming
  
  from a loving place,
you know that it's coming
  
  from a place
of just wanting to see
  
  our community grow,
making sure it works
  
  for all of us
and not just some of us.
But there's a lot of laughter,
  
  a lot of,
you know,
  
  a lot of debates around
what song should be on albums
and what single
  
  should be released first.
Like, we have this place
  
  where we call the...
we call it the giving room.
Some people may call it
  
  a living room
but it's a giving room
  
  where you give all your thoughts
and your comments around,
  
  you know,
the art that's going to go out
and you step in the middle
  
  of this grass area
and you stand there
  
  and you say like,
"Hey, I think that this song
should not go
  
  on the album because,"
or "I think that this song
  
  should go on the album."
You know, we have
  
  those friendly debates.
None of us take it too seriously
and we don't want
  
  to take the fun out of it.
It's important for us
  
  to be having fun in the process
because our time
  
  is limited here.
Why spend it or waste it
not having memorable experiences
that we can all look back on
  
  and be proud of
and feel like I really...
we really did fucking
  
  live our lives on earth.
Like, that's it's about.
Doing it with people you love.
And I'm happy to be doing that.
[APPLAUSE]
CHRISTINE:
  
  It certainly sounds like
you found your home in Atlanta.
But I would love
  
  to ask you a little bit
about your birth home,
  
  which is Kansas, Kansas City.
I mean we can talk
  
  a little bit more
about your upbringing,
  
  but I'm curious,
what did Kansas
  
  give to you musically
or culturally that you're still
  
  carrying with you, if anything?
Oh, my gosh.
So, I feel so blessed
  
  to have grown up in Kansas.
JANELLE:
  
  Kansas has shaped me immensely.
I mean, I...
I am from a majority
  
  Republican place
and I'm also, I live in the
  
  Native Americans were there,
like they were everywhere
  
  in the United States of America
before a lot
  
  of people got there.
But I am from a county
  
  called Wyandotte County
and it's predominantly
  
  African American, Hispanic,
and it's actually
  
  the poorest county
in Kansas City, Kansas.
And growing up
  
  to my working class parents,
my mom was a janitor,
my dad, biological father
  
  was a trash man,
and my stepdad
  
  who was just like my dad
worked at the post office.
So I grew up watching them
  
  work their asses off
wearing uniforms every day.
I still wear my black and white
  
  to pay respect to them.
JANELLE: My grandmother
  
  was a sharecropper
in Aberdeen, Mississippi.
She picked cotton,
  
  she had 14 brothers and sisters.
They shared one pair of shoes
and she ended up
  
  working her way to Kansas City.
That's how my family got there.
And she, you know,
  
  served food in the county jail
for 25 years.
She ended up having 12 kids.
My mother was the youngest
and she owned four homes
and she was the best grandmother
that anybody
  
  could have asked for.
I strive to be like...
she is somebody
  
  that just at her core,
I wish I can be more like.
She's a very
  
  service oriented person,
a giving person,
  
  and a forgiving person.
So growing up
  
  understanding what it meant
to work with the folks who
  
  were cleaning up the community
and making nothing
  
  out of something
has given me perspective.
You know when I walk into
  
  a venue that I've sold out,
if it's 8,000 seats,
  
  I'm speaking to every janitor.
I'm speaking to every person,
  
  you know,
who comes into my hotel room,
or I walk past them I try
  
  my best to make eye contact
and let them know that
  
  I see you, I'm not above you,
and what I'm doing,
  
  wearing my uniform
and doing what I'm doing
  
  is to pay homage to you
because my parents are me,
  
  so we are all connected.
So I try to just
  
  live life understanding
that you can't get too high.
You can't get too low.
Tip on a tightrope,
  
  stay balanced.
JANELLE: You know, you can be
  
  a sandwich away from being poor.
What would you do then?
[APPLAUSE]
I think that mention of you
and your uniform as you call it,
your black and white aesthetic,
I'd love to dig into that
  
  a little bit.
But first of all I wanted to ask
in relation to Dirty Computer,
I did notice because it is
  
  like so visually gorgeous
and vivid and I noticed
  
  that in a particular...
in a couple
  
  of particular videos,
I believe it was for Screwed
  
  and Django Jane,
that you're wearing
  
  quite bold colors,
which seems to be
  
  a pretty significant move
for your aesthetic.
Like, what was the reasoning
  
  behind that?
Well, I think that
  
  with this project
it was important for me
  
  to embrace all of me.
You know, I told myself
  
  that this time around
I wanted to...
I wanted to explore publicly
  
  all the many sides of me.
Some people, you know,
  
  privately get these sides
of Janelle Monáe
and I thought
  
  it was just important,
and it was more so,
  
  it's kind of selfish in a sense.
It was freeing for me
  
  to tap into
the dimensions that I have,
that we have as women,
  
  as human beings.
And I think that I'm evolving.
I think that it's important
  
  that I don't become a slave
to my own interpretations
  
  of who I am
or what the public
  
  thinks about me.
It's important to...
to not pigeonhole myself,
to not get comfortable,
you know,
  
  to rest on my laurels, like,
but to make sure that
  
  I'm constantly creating art,
and I'm experimenting
and I'm unafraid to make,
you know, art that
folks may not understand
  
  at that time.
You know,
  
  it's important as an artist
that you're stretching
  
  those muscles.
And some of my favorite artists
  
  have always,
you know,
  
  moved to their soul clock,
moved when they felt
  
  the need to move.
Talk about certain things when
  
  they felt they need to.
So that was important
  
  this time around
in terms of clothing.
All of that was just me saying,
"Hey, this is where I am
  
  at the time."
This is important
  
  that you understand
that I'm not a monolith.
I have depth.
I have just like all of us,
like, we have so many
  
  different sides of us
and it was fun.
It's important to continue
  
  to have fun in that process too.
CHRISTINE: Absolutely.
I want to kind of go back
  
  to the original Janelle Monáe
or Cindi Mayweather aesthetic
  
  with the tuxedo suit,
but before we go back in time,
I want to ask specifically
  
  about the pants in PYNK.
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: Talk about them?
[APPLAUSE]
JANELLE:
  
  The infamous PYNK pants.
Well, they are
  
  locked away in a safe.
CHRISTINE:
  
  They didn't go on tour with you?
Oh, yes. They were on tour
  
  with me, but they're not...
right now
  
  they're very protected.
CHRISTINE:
  
  Okay. Precious PYNK pants.
-Two very strong women.
  
  -Okay.
[CHUCKLES]
Guard them nightly.
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah. It's real.
[CHRISTINE LAUGHS]
CHRISTINE: I'm just going
  
  to say it, the PYNK pussy pants.
[BOTH LAUGH]
Where did this idea
  
  originate from?
CHRISTINE:
  
  Because from what I understand,
you released the videos
  
  for Django Jane, what...
-And Make Me Feel.
  
  CHRISTINE: Make Me Feel first,
and then the video for PYNK
  
  kind of like hit the Internet.
Yeah.
What was the kind of process
  
  of conceiving this aesthetic?
Well, we were,
  
  when we were putting together,
like, visuals for each song,
we wanted to make sure that one,
  
  the story was cohesive.
You know, it takes place
in this place called
  
  the House of the New Dawn
where they are abducting
  
  Dirty Computers
and cleansing them.
They're stripping away
  
  their identity
and making them torches
who then would serve
  
  as personal nurses
for the new Dirty Computers
who are going to be getting
  
  their identity stripped away.
And so you go into the mind
  
  of Jane 57821 played by me,
and you go into my memories
  
  as they're deleting my memories,
and each visual,
  
  each video is a memory.
JANELLE: Or a dream. Yes.
CHRISTINE:
  
  We'll come back to that.
Yes.
And you can see
  
  Jane 57821 fighting.
You know, Django Jane.
  
  Like, that is her.
That is a very clear
  
  dream that she has
as they're trying
  
  to strip her identity away.
She's fighting back
  
  during that moment.
Not a lot of people know,
-so I just gave you some T.
  
  CHRISTINE: Exclusive.
But PYNK specifically
  
  is a celebration.
It comes during the celebration
  
  part of the album.
The album is broken up
  
  into three parts.
The first few songs
  
  represent the...
I'm on a different
  
  time zone right now.
CHRISTINE:
  
  You just got off a plane.
It's totally understandable.
Yes. They represent the,
  
  help me out right now. The...
CHRISTINE: Reckoning?
  
  -The reckoning, yes.
Sorry. Okay.
  
  I have another hour.
So the first four songs
  
  represent the reckoning.
Imagine being called a bitch
  
  for the first time
by a man, as a woman.
Imagine being called
  
  a nigga or a nigger
for the first time
  
  as a black person in America.
Imagine just someone
  
  using language to degrade you.
Well that's what a Dirty
  
  Computer means in this society.
and so you spend
  
  those first four songs saying,
reckoning with the fact
  
  that in this society,
you are less than.
You are not enough.
And you need to be cleansed
and reprogrammed into
  
  what our society thinks
that you would be
  
  most beneficial as to us.
So then you go through
  
  the middle part of the album,
which is the celebration of what
  
  it means to be a Dirty Computer.
and you have songs like PYNK,
  
  like Make Me Feel.
JANELLE:
  
  You have songs like Django Jane.
You have those songs
  
  that are the... you know,
really, really meant to empower
  
  Dirty Computers women.
It's meant to be very much so...
Just very much
  
  so sexually making sure
that you understand that,
"I'm a liberated woman",
  
  during that section.
and it's just being
  
  very unapologetic.
And so then the last few songs
  
  represent the reclamation,
and reclaiming what it means
  
  to be American.
Because this is
  
  a very American album,
as much as it's global,
and I think there's
  
  this interconnectedness
that we all have.
I could only write this project
  
  from my truth
and my perspective,
and the things
  
  that I have been able to see
over these... yeah.
The things that I've been
  
  able to see and experience.
And so it's saying that,
  
  "I am a Dirty Computer,
and I too am American.
JANELLE:
  
  And although this system
is not working in my favor,
it will be my country one day."
And that's pretty much...
[APPLAUSE]
kind of thesis for Dirty
  
  Computer, those three stages.
The reckoning, the celebration,
  
  and the reclamation.
And PYNK comes through
  
  the celebration.
The celebration of women.
and I know you call them
  
  pussy pants.
-Some people call them--
  
  -I'm sorry for being so crude.
No, no, no. No, see?
  
  Right there. Pussy.
Like, come on.
  
  [CROWD CHEER]
JANELLE: But people
  
  call them labia pants.
People call them flowers.
You know.
And I just, you know,
  
  want to be clear too
that one of the important things
is that people know that
  
  I don't believe that women who,
you know, may not have vaginas,
I don't believe that they should
  
  not be considered women.
Like,
  
  you don't have to have a...
You don't have to have
  
  a vagina to be a woman.
JANELLE: And so that's why
  
  we had, we had the girls,
there were some women in there
  
  who did not have the pants on--
-Yeah.
  
  -Yeah.
Because we wanted
  
  to make sure that...
that it was being as inclusive
  
  as possible,
while coming from a very
  
  personal place for me.
So, yeah.
I think that's
  
  a very important message.
Let's talk a little bit more
  
  about Americans.
Which is the track
  
  that closes the album.
I find it fascinating,
but I also feel like
  
  it feeds into a tradition
of artists like David Bowie
  
  or Bruce Springsteen
making songs that on the surface
  
  are really up tempo
and sound inspiring,
  
  and people can misinterpret them
as being very kind of
  
  jingoistic or nationalistic,
but if you look at the lyrics
  
  it's quite scathing.
CHRISTINE: And I think
  
  that your track, Americans,
fits into that narrative.
Were you kind of aware of
the history of other artists
  
  doing things like that?
Or even Childish Gambino,
  
  This Is America,
which is on the one hand
  
  like a get down dance floor jam,
but if you kind of
  
  read into the visuals
it's something
  
  a little bit different.
Like, how...
  
  does that resonate with you?
Well I mean,
  
  when I wrote Americans,
I wrote that song
  
  in like two to three days.
I had a first draft of it,
and it was going to be called
  
  Southern Man actually.
and it was coming from,
  
  like, the perspective
of what it meant to be like
  
  this white male in the South,
and him saying,
  
  "This is my America."
and you know,
  
  "These are the things.
Don't try to take my country."
And it was meant to come
  
  from that perspective.
And then I started coming,
  
  I said,
"No. I feel like
  
  there are a lot more people
who have something to say."
And I started to get these
  
  visions of other Americans.
And like it started to,
  
  you know,
go from the perspective
  
  of the black woman
and the perspective
  
  of the middle aged white women.
And then this white man.
  
  And it kept going and going.
And then what I came to...
what I settled on
  
  was something that highlighted
different characteristics
  
  about Americans,
and it showed that they all...
we were all fighting
  
  for our voices to be heard.
And it's like, depending
  
  on where you are in the song,
you get a different perspective,
  
  right?
But then it's important,
  
  it can also be...
that's... yeah,
  
  it can also be looked at
as the Dirty Computers
  
  or the marginalized saying like,
"Hey. This is my America too,"
  
  because you have the preacher.
He's not a pastor anymore,
but his name slips
  
  from my mind right now.
JANELLE: Sean. Yes.
  
  Sean McMillan is his name.
Hi, Sean McMillan.
  
  I want to give you a shout out.
He really helped...
helped inspire
  
  the lyrics in the song,
because he was saying that,
"Until poor whites
  
  can get an opportunity
at getting more jobs,
and until black folks
  
  don't have to come home
from a police stop
  
  and get shot in the head,
until same-gender loving people
can be who they are
  
  and love who they are,
until, you know,
  
  our Latina and Latino brothers
and sisters don't have
  
  to run from walls,
this is not my America.
But it will be my America
  
  before it's all over."
And so that is really
  
  at the core what...
what my song Americans
  
  represents.
It's not a... you know,
  
  it's not saying,
"I live in America.
  
  We're so perfect."
It's actually highlighting
the disappointing things,
the hateful things
  
  that the abusers of power
are doing to our communities.
and it's saying that we
  
  as all these different voices
have to remember
  
  that we have to coexist.
We have to figure out
  
  how to get along,
and we better fucking
  
  figure it out fast.
You know? Because we have
  
  another generation
of people being ushered in,
and we have to create
  
  a much more inclusive space.
and we have to...
  
  we don't have to,
but it would be great for us
  
  to figure out
not to let our egos
  
  get in the way
of their better future.
[APPLAUSE]
So, was the political turmoil
that the US has been gripped by
  
  in the last couple of years,
like, is that...
  
  to what extent did that feed
into your decision
  
  to kind of expose
more parts of yourself?
CHRISTINE: Parts of
  
  Janelle Monáe the person,
as opposed to these characters
that you had been embodying
  
  for so many years.
Is that kind of like
  
  a direct link to make?
Say the first part
  
  one more time.
CHRISTINE: The kind of
  
  atmosphere of politics
-in the US.
  
  -Oh, okay.
CHRISTINE: How much did that--
  
  -How did politics influence?
Yeah.
  
  Did that feed into your decision
to release Dirty Computer now?
Yeah. So, I mean obviously
  
  you guys watch the news.
You, you know, are probably
  
  up to speed on what's going on.
and I just want to say
  
  right now,
I don't support
  
  the current president,
or that establishment.
I want that to be very clear.
[APPLAUSE]
JANELLE:
  
  If it wasn't clear enough.
[JANELLE CHUCKLES]
I don't consider myself
  
  a politician.
You know, I feel...
I'm thankful to be an artist
  
  who can, you know,
use music as a way
  
  to unite people.
I feel like that's my job,
  
  is to unite
and do that through music.
There are all sorts of people
  
  who come to the shows.
We may not all have
  
  the same political beliefs.
Some people probably
  
  voted him in, you know.
But they're there.
We get the opportunity
  
  to share something very special,
and I get the opportunity
  
  to speak
on behalf of Dirty Computers,
on behalf
  
  of marginalized communities,
and hopefully through the songs
  
  and through love
and through all that,
  
  maybe, you know,
that can change
  
  somebody's mind about who I am
and, you know,
  
  where I come from,
and the people that I'm trying
  
  to help fight for.
Hopefully that can happen,
  
  right?
So, for me, it wasn't
  
  really about, you know,
trying to continue
  
  to be divisive,
and point fingers.
Obviously I'm voting.
  
  I'm exercising my rights.
I'm trying to,
  
  you know, vote smart.
[CACKLES]
But it wasn't, it's not
  
  about jumping on a hate train
for the current president.
It's about, "How can I celebrate
  
  those who really need it most?"
I had to ask myself,
  
  who was I okay with pissing off?
Who did not really give a fuck
  
  about supporting,
you know, what it is
  
  that we were trying to do,
and how could I ask
  
  those people to lean in
that do have the power to help
the folks that I want
  
  to celebrate and love,
who do come from
  
  a more privileged background?
How can I do that?
  
  How can I be a uniter?
And so that's what
  
  I'm focused on.
I'm focused on bridging gaps
and making sure
  
  that I'm celebrating
those who need it most,
  
  and keeping my focus there.
Yeah.
[APPLAUSE]
CHRISTINE: I mean, you talk
  
  about having to figure out
who you're going to piss off
or who you're going
  
  to be okay with pissing off.
But I would also
  
  imagine that this process
of letting people in or letting
  
  people see more of you
must also at the same time
  
  be liberating somehow?
Yeah?
Yeah. It can be liberating,
  
  or it can also be...
Mm...
It can be, yeah.
  
  I mean, it's cool.
I mean, I've never been
  
  that type of person
where I feel pressure to have to
answer anything
  
  that I don't want to answer,
or talk about anything
  
  that I don't want to talk about.
Just like any free-ass
  
  motherfucker out here.
[CHRISTINE LAUGHS]
[APPLAUSE]
I was watching an interview
  
  where you used that same phrase
-to apply to yourself...
  
  JANELLE: Yeah.
And also to apply to the person
that you considered
  
  to be your mentor.
The sadly missed
  
  and sadly lost Prince.
[NERVOUS CHUCKLE]
I'm sorry, I know this is
  
  a bit of a downer.
But it would be
  
  really wonderful to hear you
talk a little bit about
  
  his impact on you musically,
because I know that he didn't
  
  contribute to this album,
but his spirit
  
  or his essence kind of
comes through in various songs.
It would be great to hear about
  
  how you processed that loss,
I suppose, through your music.
Or where you think
  
  his influence still lies
-in your music.
  
  -Sure.
I must start off by just saying
it is difficult for me
  
  to articulate, you know,
how much he means to me
  
  and what he means to Wondaland.
And I must say
  
  that without Prince,
without Paisley Park,
  
  I don't think Wondaland, me,
I don't think we would even know
  
  how far we could push art
and what we could do with music
and with ideas, you know.
He was thinking outside the box
for a very long time,
and he was executing
  
  at an extremely high level.
And it's difficult
to even model your career
  
  after Prince.
He is a genius, you know,
  
  in so many ways.
On the business side of things.
He's a guitar slayer.
I mean, producing and writing
and just, you know,
  
  he's a world.
A world that continued
  
  to morph and morph
go into different worlds
  
  right before our eyes.
So it was great to have that
  
  as inspiration.
But I think it was greater
  
  to have him as a mentor,
and to be able to have
  
  a conversation like this,
you know, often with him.
And for him to pop up
  
  at our shows,
you know, secretly
and ride around the venue,
and like, you know,
  
  have after parties,
and like lock us in the house
  
  for seven hours
and just play music.
Like if I'm here,
  
  he'd be where this speaker is,
you know, playing Purple Rain
  
  with the band
and having so many
  
  amazing memories.
The one thing that sticks out
  
  is that Prince was a giver.
He was a giver of his time
  
  to new and upcoming artists.
When I first came out,
  
  you know, he was like,
"Hey, I'm here for you.
Whatever you need
  
  in your career.
JANELLE: I think you're thinking
  
  in the right way.
I'll always let you know
  
  if you need,
you know, I'm always
  
  here if you need to talk.
I'm always here for Wondaland.
  
  I'm at your guys' service."
And that's what I feel
  
  most inspired by,
is that he didn't allow
  
  his mystery
to get in the way
  
  of his mentorship.
[APPLAUSE]
CHRISTINE:
  
  Are you a mentor to anybody?
-I am.
  
  -Yeah?
Yeah. I think so.
I mean, I could be better.
You know, my time,
  
  I'm always, I'm here.
You know, I'm doing a lot
  
  of different things outwardly.
But I have folks in my family,
  
  younger cousins
that I try to be mentors for.
And in different ways, you know,
like, if they're trying
  
  to launch their business
or their careers,
  
  I've helped in many ways.
And I think the most important
  
  is just people just want time.
Your time and so I'm trying
  
  to do better about that
and I do have, you know,
some beautiful artists
  
  by the name of St. Beauty.
They're a part
  
  of Wondaland Arts Collective,
and they are incredible writers
  
  and performers.
And they're playing instruments.
And, you know, I've...
I just feel like
  
  those are my babies.
Like, I love them so much.
And so I've been really trying
  
  to help them.
They went on tour with me this
  
  last Dirty Computer leg in US.
And, yeah, I hope that
  
  I can be a better mentor though.
I can do better in that area.
I'm sure you're a great mentor.
[LAUGHS]
My niece loves me,
  
  so that's all that matters.
I can do no wrong in her eyes.
[BOTH LAUGH]
But look, perhaps we can talk
  
  a little bit about
some of the collaborators
  
  that you've worked with.
We've mentioned Prince.
The list of artists
  
  that you worked with
on Dirty Computer
  
  is pretty fascinating.
-Brian Wilson.
  
  -Yes.
Tell us all about that.
Brian Wilson. Give it up.
[APPLAUSE]
Beach Boys.
Yeah, I mean like so many people
I'm a huge
  
  Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fan.
And when I was writing
  
  Dirty Computer
with Nate 'Rocket' Wonder,
when we were singing the vocals,
it just, we kept hearing
  
  In My Room in our head.
And I kept hearing his tone.
And I just reached out.
I had someone from my team
  
  reach out to his manager,
and we got
  
  an email back saying...
you know, we reached out
  
  and I wrote this nice note.
Like, "Hey, I would be,
  
  you know, honored
if you would be a part
  
  of the project."
He wrote back
  
  and he was like, "Yeah.
Send me a tape in the mail."
JANELLE: It was so funny.
Like, "A tape? Okay.
I don't know
  
  where to find a tape,"
but really did want a tape.
His manager was like, "Yeah.
  
  We need to figure this out,"
so we had to figure it out.
And he listened to the song,
  
  and he cut his vocals.
He was the first feature
  
  on Dirty Computer.
He was very fast.
  
  It was incredible.
CHRISTINE: Did you know that was
  
  going to be opening the album?
-That that was going to be...
  
  -Mm-hm. I did. Okay.
At first we were like, "Oh.
  
  It should open with Americans.
Like, do something upbeat,"
  
  but I was like,
"No. You've got to bring
  
  people into the mind
of what it means
  
  to be a Dirty Computer.
You know, this is introspective.
This is you're walking
  
  into the psyche of me."
And it just felt like
  
  it was a great...
it was a great entry point.
  
  Yeah.
And one of the other
  
  collaborations
was on the track Screwed,
  
  which I mentioned before.
And I want to ask you a little
  
  bit about one of the lyrics,
which I think
  
  is really interesting.
But on that track
  
  it featured Zoe Kravitz.
Yes. So you kind of...
-Love her.
  
  -Do you go way back?
Have you known each other?
I was just with Zoe last night.
  
  We were...
CHRISTINE: Oh?
  
  -Yeah, we were in London.
And we share the same birthday,
  
  so we have a connection.
CHRISTINE: When?
  
  -December 1st.
What star sign are you?
-It depends on the day.
  
  -Okay.
[LAUGHTER]
CHRISTINE:
  
  Moon's constantly moving.
JANELLE: Yeah. Constantly.
But yeah, Zoe,
  
  it just felt right.
You know, she and I,
  
  we performed at this festival
called Afropunk Fest.
I don't know if you
  
  guys heard of that in Brooklyn.
[APPLAUSE]
And I was one of the first
  
  artists to, like,
perform at the festival
  
  when it was, shoot,
it was probably like 200
  
  and just 300 people.
Now it's like tens of thousands
  
  of folks coming out.
And I was performing
  
  on a little stage.
And I obviously knew about Zoe
  
  from her parents.
You know, she has famous,
  
  incredibly gifted parents.
But I found out she was
  
  in a band called Elevator Fight,
and they were also
  
  performing at Afropunk.
I went to go watch their show,
and I was like,
  
  "This girl is crazy."
Then I was like, "Oh",
  
  and then I found out she had...
we had the same birthday,
"Oh. Makes sense."
  
  I'm like that sometimes.
JANELLE: Like, "You know what?"
Like, "Yeah, that makes sense.
We have same birthday.
  
  That's why you like that water.
I like that water too."
  
  Sometimes I can be like that.
But we've just had
  
  a connection since then,
and we've kept in contact.
We emailed each other
and we said, "We have
  
  to do something together.
The first person
  
  who has the idea should email,
reach out to that person."
And I had the idea first,
  
  and it was Screwed.
And I just,
  
  I wanted to create something
that was up tempo, upbeat,
  
  that was highlighting,
you know,
  
  what we were experiencing,
what we were feeling.
Like, while we're trying to,
you know,
  
  be young, wild, and free,
and have sex and have parties
and, you know,
  
  do all these things,
you just feel like
  
  there's a world
going on around you
  
  that is just full of,
like any day you just feel like
  
  there could be a war.
JANELLE: What tweet
  
  is going to be sent out
that could start
  
  like a nuclear bomb
going over in the States?
Like, these are things that...
-Yeah, it's real.
  
  -Are options, you know?
And you don't want
  
  to think like that,
but it just talks about, like,
while we're celebrating,
  
  having parties,
there's a world where there are
  
  families being broken apart.
There's a world
  
  where all that is.
And it's encouraging
  
  at the same time to say,
"You know what?
  
  You don't want to do gun reform?
Fuck it. We'll put water
  
  in your fucking guns.
That's what we'll do.
We'll just take
  
  all your machine guns,
we'll crush them,
  
  and make them water guns
and we'll give them out
  
  as gifts for Christmas."
CHRISTINE:
  
  "And you will like them."
Everywhere, yeah.
So, yeah, it's kind of,
  
  it's a slap in the face
and a kick in the balls
  
  to the status quo.
Okay.
[APPLAUSE]
CHRISTINE: There's a spoken word
  
  section in Screwed.
and the line is,
  
  I believe if my memory serves,
"Everything is just sex
  
  except sex which is power."
"Now ask yourself
  
  who's screwing you."
[GIGGLES]
I thought you were
  
  going to ask me about,
"You fucked the world up now,
  
  we'll fuck it all back down."
-I have funny story about that.
  
  -CHRISTINE: Please, proceed.
So I went on tour in, like,
mm, it was probably around
  
  the ArchAndroid era.
No, no, no, because we couldn't
  
  afford a tour bus,
so it wasn't there.
It was whenever we could finally
  
  had a budget to get a tour bus,
because we were riding around
  
  in a church van.
Prior to that.
  
  A white church van.
And I shared, we all shared,
  
  it was just one bus.
So the band, crew, everybody,
  
  we're all on one bus.
and I said...
  
  I walked on my bus.
If you know me, like,
  
  I can't record in a studio with,
like, food everywhere,
  
  or like cords out.
Like, everything has to be
  
  neat and clean
and smelling good.
Especially my room as well.
Although some would be like,
  
  "You're very messy."
But whenever I'm writing,
I need to be in a clear room.
  
  A clean room.
And whenever I go to sleep,
  
  I need the room to be clean.
And so we were on the bus
  
  and the band was there.
And I walked on,
  
  and we had just done a show.
And I was ready to,
  
  like, celebrate,
and I looked around,
  
  and there was, like, pizza boxes
and socks
  
  and drawers all on the floor.
And I was like, "Uh-uh. Uh-uh."
JANELLE: I was like,
  
  "Whoever fucked this bus up,
y'all better fuck it back down."
[LAUGHTER]
And I don't even know
  
  where that came from.
Like, you... it's like,
  
  you know what it means
but you're like,
  
  "What made you think of that?"
And it was just a reflex,
and it ended up in the song.
You know what I'm saying?
"You fucked the world up now,
  
  we'll fuck it all back down."
CHRISTINE:
  
  What was the response though?
Did they snap into action,
  
  or laugh?
They laughed at me. Okay.
And then they went into action.
Yeah, they went into action.
They laughed,
  
  but they went into action,
and it just stuck around.
I had the line
  
  for about seven years. Yeah.
The line for seven years, like,
  
  "This is what it means."
And then it also
  
  is just a conversation.
There's a conversation
  
  to be had about how women,
how women
  
  of color in particular,
are always out
  
  on the front lines.
How we were, you know,
  
  when you think about
certain wars, when
  
  you think about the first...
when you think about the war
  
  between the South and the North
and when we were going,
  
  you know,
fighting to end slavery,
you think about all those,
  
  it was black folks,
and it was women also,
  
  on the front lines.
We were the first people
  
  out there.
And I think that
  
  that continues to happen.
You continue to see us,
despite how the world
  
  can treat us
and how they've treated us
  
  historically,
we continue to help clean up
  
  a lot of shit.
And when you look at people
  
  marching out in the streets,
which, that was a huge
  
  inspiration for me.
I created a song.
We made an anthem
  
  called Hell You Talmbout.
-You said you're going to ask.
  
  CHRISTINE: Yeah.
But when you look
  
  at all the pictures online,
and when you look
  
  at the faces out there,
there are a lot of black women
  
  who are out there marching
and hand in hand,
  
  not just black women.
If you look at the Women's March
that was started
  
  right after the election...
Did you guys see that?
CHRISTINE: It's worldwide news.
  
  -It's incredible.
So Screwed was really inspired
  
  by those faces, yeah,
those people saying, you know,
"We know that we didn't
  
  screw it up,
but we feel like it's our
  
  responsibility to fix it."
-We'll screw it down.
  
  -JANELLE: We'll screw it down.
Did you perform
  
  at the Women's March?
JANELLE: I spoke.
  
  -You spoke?
JANELLE: Yeah, I did perform.
  
  Yes, I performed. Yeah.
Let me tell you
  
  about the Women's March.
They didn't know that that
  
  many people were gonna show up.
I didn't know.
  
  I didn't have a speech prepared.
They were just like... I was...
I had just done Hidden Figures,
  
  and I was on promo tour,
and they had asked me to come
  
  and say some words.
They were like, "Yeah, we're
  
  doing, just a little march,
and we just want you to come
  
  onstage and say few words."
And I was like, "Sure."
When I get there,
  
  I was like, "Oh, my Lord. "
There were hundreds and hundreds
  
  of thousands of people there.
And you couldn't even
  
  really see the stage
because there was such
  
  a sea of people.
If you're looking at the stage,
  
  it was just like a tiny stage.
They were right about that,
but it was like
  
  a million people watching it.
JANELLE: And I was scared.
  
  I was freaking out.
Angela Davis
  
  was walking backstage.
You had the mothers
of a lot of the young black kids
  
  who have been killed
because of the abuse of power
  
  in the police department.
And, you know,
  
  there were activists there.
There were actresses.
  
  There were musicians.
It was just a lot,
  
  and I was really nervous.
And, you know,
  
  I just went up there
and I just spoke from the heart.
Yeah, I just tapped in.
I think I was
  
  on Hidden Figures promo.
Hidden Figures was set
  
  in the 1960s,
so a lot of the things
  
  that I had been watching
to get into my character,
it was really crazy
  
  that a lot of those things
felt like they were still
  
  happening today.
And it was just in my heart.
I just had, like,
  
  that just fighting spirit,
you know, with me
  
  from coming to do that,
coming up doing the movie.
And then,
a few days after the election,
after we got that news,
  
  so yeah, I did that.
I think you can see it online.
If you don't know
  
  what we're talking about,
you can go online and watch.
I definitely want to
  
  ask you about your film roles
into extraordinary films:
  
  Hidden Figures and Moonlight.
We'll come back to that.
But you mentioned the track,
which I can't justify
  
  saying it in my accent, like,
-"what you talking about?"
  
  -Hell You Talmbout.
Hell You Talking About.
  
  There we go.
It doesn't work in my accent.
I love your accent. It's cute.
  
  Where are you from again?
CHRISTINE: Australia.
  
  -You're from Australia?
-Yeah.
  
  -Wow.
-Yeah.
  
  -Australia Day.
You go Australia Day?
No, that's a pretty
  
  controversial topic.
-Oh.
  
  -Yeah. Yeah.
CHRISTINE:
  
  Invasion day is what we call it.
Okay, alright.
-We can talk backstage.
  
  -Okay, backstage.
[LAUGHTER]
But you released this track
  
  Hell You Talking About.
[CROWD LAUGH]
It's the last time.
[APPLAUSE]
JANELLE: I love it.
CHRISTINE:
  
  And it was really incredible.
JANELLE: Hello?
Nope, it's dead. I killed it.
It was really incredible, like,
the first time I watched it
I kind of had to pause it
  
  part of the way through
because it's super emotional.
Just a very raw video,
very basic kind of drum beat.
And several of your artists,
your Wondaland artists
  
  are literally just
calling out the names
  
  of people who have died
at the hands
  
  of either police violence
or racial violence in general
  
  in the United States.
What was...
  
  I mean, obviously the..
we can all understand
  
  the motivation behind,
but what was the story behind
  
  putting together this song
and releasing this
  
  as a pretty clear statement?
Well, I mean,
  
  regardless of if we're artists,
if we're, you know,
  
  working in this business,
we're human beings first.
And as a human, you know,
just thinking about
  
  somebody's life being taken
because of the color
  
  of their skin
or because they had on a hoodie,
  
  Trayvon Martin.
Sandra Bland,
  
  being taken to jail
because she, you know,
  
  didn't speak the way an officer
wanted her to speak.
Rekia Boyd, I mean,
  
  we can go on and on, you know.
There are so many names
  
  that we called out.
But it was just...
  
  it was us giving a release
to so many people,
  
  including ourselves.
We needed
  
  to say that personally.
We felt like,
  
  "How can we contribute?"
And we knew that people
  
  were doing a lot of marches.
There were people who were
  
  really out on the front lines,
And I was not out there
  
  as much as some of the families
and friends
  
  of these people were.
We just thought,
  
  you know, "Here is...
this song is a vessel.
  
  This is a tool for you. Use it.
You know,
  
  say your loved one's name.
This is how I want
  
  to contribute.
When you want to give up,
  
  when you get tired,
you know, put this on,
  
  take it with you, speak it,
and let it be therapy.
And let's honor them.
  
  Let's never forget them."
[APPLAUSE]
And I found it
  
  pretty interesting,
while I was scrolling
  
  through YouTube
after I'd watched that video,
to see that David Byrne
  
  of Talking Heads fame
and also a very well-established
  
  and well-respected solo artist
has taken to incorporating
  
  this song into his performances.
Were you aware of that?
Like, how... yeah,
  
  how did that all come about?
Yes, he reached out to me.
First of all,
  
  I love David Byrne.
He's a big musical hero to me,
and an incredible person
  
  and human being.
You know,
  
  for him to reach out to me
and tell me,
  
  "Hey, I'm really moved by,
you know, Hell You Talmbout,
and I want to...
I, as a white male,
  
  I want to honor
these young black
  
  and brown women
and men who were murdered
because of the abuse of power
  
  in the police force and around.
I want to honor them.
I'm going to... I want
  
  to be an ally to you guys."
For him to say that,
  
  and write me and say,
"I'm gonna shout you out
and let people know,
  
  like, you know, you guys,
you know, started this,"
was just... I just
  
  thought it was just so...
it was such a godlike thing
  
  to do, you know,
somebody of his caliber
  
  to reach out to me
and ask for that type
  
  of permission,
and to continue to own it,
and to continue to be an ally
  
  to those families
and those friends, and to let
  
  people know that he sees us.
I think that we need
  
  more of that, you know?
I think that's... right now,
that's where I'm...
  
  that's the space that I'm in.
It's like, how can we be
  
  allies to each other?
How can more privileged folks
  
  protect those
who don't have the access,
  
  or the...
who don't have the second
  
  chances that you may get?
How can you protect those?
How can cisgendered folks
  
  protect those
in the LGBTQIA community?
How can I, as,
  
  you know, a black woman,
help protect my Latina sisters?
You know what I'm saying?
How can we really become allies
  
  to each other?
And I think what David Byrne
  
  is doing through music
is a great example of that.
CHRISTINE: Absolutely.
[APPLAUSE]
So let's wind back
  
  a little bit to Hidden Figures.
'Cause I find it fascinating
that you were appearing
  
  in this film
at the same time that
  
  the Women's March was happening,
and also in the wake
  
  of the election of Donald Trump
to his presidency.
How did this project find you,
  
  Hidden Figures?
I like that you say that.
It did find me. It really did.
We found each other.
I got sent the script
  
  through my agency.
And I've been sent, you know,
  
  a few scripts that I was like,
"Okay, this could be cool.
  
  And I could do this,"
and I'd just done Moonlight.
Moonlight was my first film.
So I did Moonlight,
and I was approached
  
  for Hidden Figures,
to read Hidden Figures.
And while I was reading it,
  
  I didn't know if it was,
I didn't know that it was...
I thought it was
  
  a fictitious story
because I had never
  
  heard of these women.
I'd never heard of, you know,
  
  Katherine Johnson,
Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson,
the women who were responsible
  
  for doing the calculations,
The Human Computers,
  
  that's what they were called,
who did the calculations
  
  for the astronauts
to go to space.
Because, how could that
  
  not be taught in our classes?
How could I just not know?
I'm a young black woman, like,
how didn't I know
  
  about these extraordinarily
gifted black women
  
  who were geniuses at NASA,
working at NASA
  
  during the segregation era?
And once I found out it
  
  was a true story, I just said,
"I have to honor them."
I wanted to do
  
  everything I could to make sure
that their stories
  
  did not get erased anymore
than what I felt
  
  they had already been erased,
you know, from me.
And, yeah, it was just
  
  an incredible project
to be a part of.
And I have some sisters
  
  in Taraji and Octavia. Yeah.
What does film acting give you
  
  that your music projects don't?
That's a great question.
Well, the difference
  
  between releasing an album
and doing a film is that
  
  when you are doing a film,
you are doing
  
  what's best for that character.
You know,
  
  you're a part of an ensemble.
Yeah, everything you do
is to support that story,
  
  that character.
When you put out an album,
  
  it's you.
Everything you say,
  
  every guitar riff, every lyric,
every piece of the album,
  
  artwork,
it's all under your name.
If you say something,
  
  it's, "She said that," you know,
not, "The film," or,
  
  "Somebody in the film said it."
It's like it's under you,
  
  and these are your thoughts.
People assume,
  
  like, this is your story.
It's more autobiographical
  
  in a sense.
And so I feel more pressure
  
  to do music
than I do acting
  
  because with music your...
you know, it's coming from you,
and the world is gonna say,
"These are your ideas,"
  
  and I'm very close.
I write, you know,
  
  and I collaborate as well,
but it's always
  
  this feeling of like,
"Oh, I'm gonna be judged."
"I'm in a vulnerable state
  
  right now,"
or "I'm in a very
  
  fragile state right now,
and I have to go out
  
  and promote this.
and I might be judged
  
  by, you know,
the types of things
  
  I want to talk about now."
You know, "Will people
  
  continue to support me
now that I'm in this new phase?"
You know, it can be...
if you're not ready when
  
  it's time to release the album,
if you haven't, like, said like,
  
  "Hey, this is where I am,"
you got to talk with yourself
  
  before you release a project
because you will get...
it'll seem more personal
  
  when critics, you know,
make comments
  
  or when supporters or fans...
it all just feels like
  
  this is a look
or this is commentary
  
  about me as a person.
So, in a sense...
  
  but it's also exciting.
You know, it's very exciting
  
  to be able to go out
and do something bold
and, you know, to say,
  
  "Yeah, I said it. I'm here.
Let's do this.
  
  We're doing this, you know.
This is where I am,
  
  and I want to contribute.
Come with me," if you will.
So all of it is about balance.
It's like, you know,
  
  never get too high off
the praises
  
  that people give you,
and never get too
  
  low off the criticism.
Just stay very balanced.
I guess, let's talk about
  
  Moonlight, which is,
if anybody hasn't seen it,
  
  just do it.
It's really,
  
  really extraordinary.
And your performance
  
  is also really extraordinary
because it's very raw.
It's very visceral.
Like, it's... you can feel
  
  the heat from Florida.
You can see the weariness
  
  in these people's faces.
And it was very hot.
How many of you guys
  
  have been to Florida?
Oh, okay. You've been to Miami?
Okay, alright.
And I guess it's easy now,
  
  at this point,
to draw kind of links
  
  between the Janelle Monáe
that we know now
  
  post Dirty Computer
and the struggles
  
  of the young protagonist
in Moonlight,
  
  Chiron, who is grappling
with his sexual identity.
CHRISTINE:
  
  What brought you into the film?
Was it the story?
Was it the people
  
  connected to it?
-Tell us about it.
  
  -It was all of that.
It was, you know, seeing Chiron,
there's so many Chirons
  
  in my community.
You know, when looked at him,
and when I read the screenplay,
he jumped out
  
  as a little cousin to me,
as somebody that I knew.
And Teresa, I played.
She was like
  
  a surrogate mom to him.
His mother was on drugs,
and she just wasn't there
  
  to be in his life
like she... like he needed her.
And so my husband in the movie,
played by the great
  
  Mahershala Ali, he...
Yes, shout out.
[APPLAUSE]
He and I, we took him in.
And as he's trying to
  
  figure out his sexual identity,
we're there with him.
And he asks us, you know,
  
  "What is a faggot?"
because he'd been called that.
He's been teased, and he's
  
  going through these things.
And one of the things
  
  that I wanted to do
was just be a great listener.
It taught me
  
  that it's just most important
to just listen.
Sometimes we can talk
  
  to just hear ourselves,
or we're talking just because
  
  we want to pacify somebody
or we want to make them
  
  feel good.
We're like,
  
  "Well, let's just jump in,"
or it can be a nervous tick,
but the thing that Chiron needs,
and what I wanted to make sure
  
  when people were watching it
that they could, you know,
watch and, like,
  
  apply to the conversations
that they may be having
with someone young
  
  who is trying to understand
their sexual identity.
The thing I wanted people
  
  to take away was sometimes
all it takes is for us
  
  to just listen,
not judge, not try
  
  to push anybody any one way.
Sometimes it's just
  
  important for us
to listen to...
  
  yeah, listen, that's it.
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: Do you have any other
  
  film projects in the pipeline?
I do. I do.
I have Welcome to Marwen,
  
  will be coming out.
That's directed
  
  by the great Robert Zemeckis.
He did a lot of my favorite
  
  films like Castaway.
And he worked on
  
  Back to the Future.
And you all know his work.
But I worked with him
and a great ensemble,
  
  Steve Carell
and Eiza Gonzalez, just some
  
  really, really beautiful people.
And that should come out
  
  in December.
And then I have a couple
  
  of other things that I'm doing.
And then I'm going
  
  to come back on tour.
I think I'll be back here
  
  next year.
So, I'm excited about that.
[CHEERING]
In one of the interviews
  
  that I was reading
in preparation for this,
  
  speaking of films,
I've read that during
  
  the making of Dirty Computer
that the production
  
  of Black Panther was like
happening down the road.
-Yes. Yeah.
  
  -CHRISTINE: And that the actors
and the crew
  
  would come and hang out...
-Yes.
  
  -...at Wondaland.
What was that like?
A moment.
  
  It was a moment for sure.
We had lots of great moments.
Also cool thing about Atlanta,
  
  people are making movies there.
I made Hidden Figures
  
  in Atlanta.
And Black Panther
  
  was made in Atlanta.
And, you know,
  
  it was great to have
Chadwick Boseman over,
  
  and Lupita, and Michael B,
and Daniel as well.
All of them are my friends.
When they were just talking
  
  to me about production,
before, you know,
  
  the movie had wrapped,
I was working on Dirty Computer,
  
  and I was telling them about it.
And they came over
  
  and we hosted them.
And they were like the first
  
  people to listen to the album.
And it was... it just felt good
to just get
  
  their positive vibes.
They were up dancing
  
  till four in the morning.
They texted me afterwards.
And that helped me
  
  because I was...
I was making...
  
  I remember having to make
some real big decisions
  
  around what I want to talk about
or, you know, just what songs
  
  were gonna be on there,
and where I wanted to go
and to just hear the words of...
to just get affirmation
  
  from them like,
"You're on the right path.
You know, we're really
  
  excited about this,"
was a beautiful thing.
And to also hear what
  
  Ryan Coogler was gonna be doing
what they'll be doing with
  
  Black Panther was inspiring.
It just felt like a great...
an amazing time
  
  for afrofuturism.
Do you all know
  
  about afrofuturism?
[APPLAUSE]
JANELLE: Yeah. Well, for me,
afrofuturism is extremely
  
  important because I get to...
we get to,
  
  as black folks in this world,
we get to speak
  
  through science fiction
and magical surrealism,
we get to speak
  
  about our stories
told from our own mouths
  
  in the future,
and what happens to us.
So, in Black Panther
  
  you see us as kings and queens,
and amazing STEM heads
  
  with Shuri, you know,
running the whole... right?
An amazing character.
You get to see us
  
  in those worlds.
And sometimes we're depicted
  
  in very stereotypical,
not that they're not
  
  important roles,
but, you know,
  
  we're not monolithic.
There's so many things
  
  that we can do,
and I think it's through that
  
  story-telling and afrofuturism
that you get to see us,
  
  all of us,
and you get to hear it
  
  from our mouths.
[APPLAUSE]
Yeah, I think it was
  
  especially incredible to read
about this kind of crossover
  
  between your project
and Ryan Coogler's project,
  
  Black Panther
because I think
  
  once both of these projects
hit the media sphere,
  
  this narrative came up about it
being the era of afrofuturism,
  
  or the year of afrofuturism.
But it's... I think
  
  it gives a different perspective
to learn that you are
  
  all actually kind of
hanging out together
  
  and working on these projects.
CHRISTINE:
  
  So, I mean, do you have a sense
that this afrofuturism
  
  perspective,
or imagined future
  
  is something that's kind of
like permeating
  
  in lots of different areas of,
perhaps, African American
  
  society or even, like, globally,
the global African diaspora?
  
  Do you feel that?
Yeah, I think afrofuturism
  
  is a big global idea, you know.
I think that people
  
  have already opened up the doors
for afrofuturism decades ago,
from Sun Ra to so many...
  
  you know,
Space is the Place,
  
  that film is one to check out.
You have so many artists who...
Betty Davis,
  
  George Clinton, you know,
Parliament Funkadelic.
You can go on, and on.
  
  But they were doing it.
I just don't think
  
  that there was like
a term that sounded
  
  as cool as afrofuturism.
But now, you know, you just...
it's all about marketing
  
  these days, I'm told.
[GIGGLES]
I think it's a great thing.
I think it's so great, again,
that we get to learn
  
  about each other.
And, you know,
  
  I know that I speak a lot about
what it means to be black
  
  and what it means to be a woman.
I think that we all gain
  
  when we learn,
when people are able
  
  to walk in their truth.
And, you know, I just think
  
  that it's always great
when we can just celebrate
  
  our differences,
and also understand
  
  our interconnectedness.
CHRISTINE: Yeah. Absolutely.
[APPLAUSE]
I guess continuing on a little
  
  bit further with afrofuturism,
it's a term that's been applied
to your work
  
  from the very beginning,
because when the Metropolis EP
  
  was released,
it kind of...
  
  there was the music,
but there was also
  
  this fully formed world
that existed around
  
  it with Cindi Mayweather...
-Yeah.
  
  -...this rebel android
who falls in love with a man.
And the whole narrative
that existed around it,
  
  where did that come from?
[LAUGHTER]
Cindi Mayweather, this android;
well, one,
  
  I have a great creative,
I have lots of great creative
  
  conversations in Wondaland.
And one of my,
  
  I call him my birthday twin,
he's December 2nd,
  
  I'm December 1st,
and he and I, you know,
  
  would sit and watch
so many science fiction films.
'Cause when I left New York
  
  I knew I wanted
to become an independent artist.
I knew that I wanted
  
  to contribute something unique
to the music industry.
I knew that
  
  I didn't want to come
and just like create music
that was just based
  
  off being famous.
It's like I had some shit
  
  I wanted to say.
I was, you know,
  
  listening to Stevie Wonder,
listening to David Bowie,
  
  listening to Lauryn Hill,
listening to Erykah Badu,
  
  listening to Pink Floyd,
listening to just
  
  a lot of different stuff
when I got to Atlanta
and I started to hang out
  
  and meet folks in Wondaland.
And I watched this film,
  
  Metropolis,
Fritz Lang's 1927
  
  German expressionist film,
or not German.
  
  Yeah. Silent film.
And I watched that.
And I usually fall asleep
  
  in silent movies,
but for some reason
  
  I stayed up this day.
And although, like, you know,
  
  there was no talking, obviously,
it was so much that I heard
and so much that I saw
  
  with the character of Maria,
and the have and the have nots.
and there was this one quote
that I think inspired
  
  everything.
It was like,
  
  "The mediator between,"
I might not be
  
  quoting it exactly,
but,
  
  "The mediator between the mind
and the hands is the heart."
And I said,
  
  "I want to represent the heart."
I want to bring people
  
  together with music.
I want to create a story,
  
  a character,
a world where people see
  
  that it can be done, you know.
And so that's what
  
  the Metropolis EP aimed to do.
And then ArchAndroid
  
  continued the story on
with Cindi, who is this android.
And, you know,
  
  she's from a lower class
and wired part of town,
and she is the one
  
  who bridges this gap
through her music
  
  and through her heroism.
JANELLE: That's a word?
  
  CHRISTINE: It is.
JANELLE: I told you
  
  I'm on a different time zone,
so I'm kind of like this,
  
  but that started it.
It was that quote.
  
  It was that quote. Yeah.
Where is Cindi now?
She's at the hotel.
[LAUGHTER]
Relaxing, just chilling.
  
  Just chilling.
CHRISTINE: Okay.
  
  -Yeah.
She was very much so involved
  
  in Dirty Computer,
and really did help me
  
  get out these ideas.
If I didn't do the Arch...
although I had the concept
  
  for Dirty Computer,
around ArchAndroid,
  
  I needed to do ArchAndroid.
I needed to do Electric Lady
  
  to get to Dirty Computer.
Like, there were just layers
  
  that needed to be peeled back.
And there were just...
you know,
  
  I had to do some more living.
I had to do some more living,
and it was important
  
  that it was done in this order
because I don't think
  
  I would have been ready,
like in 2007,
  
  to take on a project like this.
Yeah. I just...
  
  I didn't know enough.
I didn't...
  
  I hadn't gone through enough.
I had not felt convicted enough.
I had not cried enough.
  
  I had not loved enough.
I had not laughed enough.
I had not been hurt enough.
I had not been scared enough,
  
  fearful enough.
I needed to go through
  
  all that shit to get here.
-Yeah.
  
  CHRISTINE: Yeah.
[APPLAUSE]
Another question
  
  about the characters
who inhabit your music world.
Who is Mary?
Blueberry Mary.
And also,
  
  is it Mary Apple, as well?
Mm...
-To be continued.
  
  -Okay.
Blueberry Mary.
I have a song called
  
  Mushrooms and Roses.
It was on The ArchAndroid,
which came out
  
  in the future 2010.
And it highlights a story
  
  around Blueberry Mary,
who's in this club
  
  called Mushrooms and Roses.
I'm infatuated with her.
Cindi's infatuated with her.
And this is like her first...
Mushrooms and Roses
  
  is the place where people go
and they can be
  
  all the androids.
They're not working.
They, like, get to, like,
  
  be crazy and free
and, you know, all those things.
And so she goes
  
  to Mushrooms and Roses,
and she sees
  
  Blueberry Mary is there.
And this is the first time she's
  
  been attracted to her spirit.
I mean, Cindi's an android
  
  in this song,
so it's kind of like
  
  everybody's pansexual,
you know, in Metropolis.
It's just all about a vibe.
It's not about, like,
  
  how you identify,
because everybody identifies
  
  as so many different things.
It's a spectrum.
And she sees Blueberry Mary,
and for the first time,
  
  she's having feelings
that she just
  
  has never felt before.
and so that song
  
  is an exploration of that,
and Blueberry Mary
  
  is the person who pulls out
what's been inside of Cindi,
and what was kind
  
  of laying dormant,
but it needed to be spruced up
and watered for it to blossom,
  
  you know.
And so they have a connection.
I think they may have
  
  hooked up that night.
I think may or may not have.
But it was cool, you know.
  
  It was really cool.
It was a great experience.
And she's still a part
  
  of the ArchAndroid,
Electric Lady series.
But, her DNA is in Mary Apple.
-Right. Okay.
  
  -Dirty Computer is near future,
ArchAndroid is 2719.
-Okay.
  
  -Yeah.
So, what you see
  
  in Dirty Computer is...
hasn't even been born yet,
  
  really.
-Okay.
  
  -Yeah.
When I was reading about Mary,
I thought it was really funny
  
  that it's like Blueberry Mary
and Mary Apple,
  
  this like organic, like,
delicious, edible character.
-Yeah.
  
  CHRISTINE: Is that...
Am I reading too much into it?
I don't know.
I... you know, listen,
  
  art is meant to be discussed.
-Let's discuss it.
  
  -All right.
We can take that
  
  to the backstage.
Yeah, behind the stage.
Where do you think
  
  your music projects
will be heading to
  
  in the future?
CHRISTINE:
  
  Do you already have an idea?
Yeah, I have my next
  
  12 albums lined up.
Like, I know exactly
  
  what I'm going to say,
everything is going
  
  to be just fine.
No. I don't know
  
  what the fuck I'm doing.
I'm trying to make decisions
  
  as I go,
just like everybody else.
But, I know...
  
  I'm excited about it.
I think that I'm in a great
  
  space of just...
I know that I want to continue
  
  to connect in this way,
like going to the shows.
I mentioned earlier
  
  and doing our performances
and hearing people
  
  sing the songs and the lyrics,
and owning, you know, this music
  
  like it's their music.
Like, "This is for us.
You're actually just here
  
  as eye candy, Janelle.
Like, you got the costumes on,
but this is our music,"
  
  and I love that.
And I do know I want to
  
  continue to give that,
I want to be able
  
  to experience it with them.
I want us to share in community
  
  as much as possible.
That's really making me
  
  feel good these days
and feel like I'm not
  
  wasting my time.
JANELLE: Just telling universal
  
  stories in unforgettable ways.
There's some film projects
  
  that I definitely want to do.
There's some people
  
  that I would love to work with.
Hopefully, schedules will align
  
  and that can happen.
I definitely want to start
  
  a family, as well.
And, yeah, there's so much
  
  and so little time, you know.
It's...
  
  all this stuff actually...
I might change my mind
  
  when I get to the room.
I don't know.
You know, there's just...
it's so... there's so many
  
  great things that we can do,
and that's the great thing
  
  about life.
And I'm just keeping
  
  myself very open.
I'm open.
CHRISTINE: Okay.
[APPLAUSE]
I think we've got
  
  a limited amount of time left,
but I wanted to ask you
  
  two questions
as it relates specifically
  
  to Dirty Computer.
What's your favorite
  
  moment from it?
And, that can be a song
  
  or visual still.
CHRISTINE:
  
  Yeah, let's start there.
What's your favorite moment?
Well, first of all,
  
  it almost didn't happen,
so everything is just
  
  amazing at this point,
because, you know,
  
  we pulled it off.
It happened.
Exactly.
  
  It almost didn't happen.
We almost did not have
  
  everything shot.
And I just want to give
  
  a shout out to everybody
who worked
  
  on the emotion picture:
Tessa Thompson,
  
  an incredible actress,
a dear friend to me.
JANELLE:
  
  Jayson Aaron, who played Ché,
just an incredible
like, young
  
  up and coming talent.
Look out for him.
All the directors,
  
  Andrew and Chuck Lightning,
and Lacey Duke and Emma
and, you know, the producers,
  
  Wondaland Management.
All these people...
  
  Alan Ferguson,
who has been with me
  
  since Many Moons.
I know we were talking
  
  about Many Moons backstage.
But he shot
  
  the first emotion picture.
And it was just
  
  such a labor of love, you know.
Everybody was up
  
  long hours reshooting.
I shot Django Jane.
Let me tell you, we had
  
  a whole video for Django Jane.
Couldn't get some things
  
  turned in on time,
like the special effects
  
  would not be done
by the time it was
  
  going to be released,
because it was going
  
  to be one of the first of two
that came out in February.
Do you know I had to shoot
  
  that video again
two days before we released it?
[LAUGHTER]
-Yikes.
  
  -It was crazy.
Stuff like that makes me just
  
  appreciate the whole project.
I think that the scene
  
  where Mary and Jane 57821
are walking down the hall
before Jane goes to get
  
  her last Nevermind treatment.
Nevermind is the fog
  
  that's in there
that really just zaps,
helps prep the deletion
  
  of memories in Jane.
Before she goes
  
  to her final treatment to, like,
be erased,
  
  they go down a hall together,
and you just see them
  
  both trying to hold on to love
and to hold on to like
  
  what their identity is.
And that was just...
  
  that was a moment.
Like, it was real,
  
  just very emotional.
I had to fix my makeup so much,
  
  so many tears.
It was just a lot. It was heavy.
And then I love
  
  the musical scoring
of Dirty Computer a lot.
I love it so much.
Shout out
  
  to Nate 'Rocket' Wonder
and Wynne, who's a part
  
  of this amazing group
called Twin Shadows.
  
  Check them out.
She is an incredible producer.
And Nate and her got together
and they created string
  
  arrangements of the songs.
And then there's a beach scene.
  
  I love the beach scene.
Yeah, the music, in particular,
on the beach scene
  
  how it complements, you know,
these three people
  
  who just love each other
and, you know,
  
  want to create a place
that's rooted in love.
When you hear the strings
  
  juxtaposed to, like,
them out by the water,
  
  that moment is so epic.
I think that's one
  
  of my favorite moments,
actually, in Dirty Computer.
JANELLE: Yeah, it's those
  
  strings on the beach scene.
[LAUGHS]
It's taking you back.
I already want to go
  
  on a vacation. Yeah.
And I guess as a final question,
what do you hope
  
  that people will take away
from Dirty Computer as...
I understand that when you
  
  release projects like this,
you have to kind...
it's like pushing
  
  a baby bird out of the nest.
It's kind of
  
  got to survive on its own.
But, if there's
  
  kind of one message
that you would hope
  
  is transmitted to people
through this project,
  
  what would it be?
That we all owe love
  
  a responsibility.
A responsibility,
  
  we have to fight for it.
We have to protect it.
It's the glue that will
  
  keep us together as humanity.
And I don't think
  
  we can win without it.
I think that we lose everything
  
  without it.
Yeah, I think we win with it,
  
  excuse me.
And I think we lose everything
  
  without it.
And it's important
  
  that we just know that
and maybe
  
  we can stay rooted in that
and let that be our guide.
and those of us
  
  who have felt marginalized
or ostracized
  
  because of where you come from,
who you love, you know,
  
  what class you're from,
I pray that when they watch
  
  and listen to Dirty Computer,
that they feel seen,
  
  they feel heard,
they feel accepted,
  
  they feel valued
and they feel celebrated
to be their free-ass
  
  motherfucking selves.
[APPLAUSE]
Actually, this is a question
that I wanted
  
  to ask you earlier.
Actually, two questions.
I'll start with dance
  
  and movement
and how integral that is
  
  to your performance
and to your aesthetic.
Like,
  
  I think for a lot of people,
Tightrope would have been
  
  the first introduction
to Janelle Monáe
  
  and to her talents.
CHRISTINE: Can you talk
  
  a little bit about how dance
interacts and interlocks with
  
  what you're doing as an artist,
and how it's kind of another
  
  mode of expression for you?
Well, I started off moonwalking
  
  in the kitchen in my socks.
I love dancing.
  
  I love Michael Jackson.
I love Janet Jackson.
  
  I love James Brown.
I love Prince's dancing.
I love David Bowie's dancing.
I love Tina on the bass
  
  in the Talking Heads,
love how she dances
and she moves her legs
  
  when she's playing.
I love Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
I love Little Richard.
I love jazz, tap, ballet.
I love everything, and I feel
  
  like I'm a piece of everything.
And I like to create
  
  something that's all my own
whenever I'm on stage.
I do two hours of performance
  
  every night,
and it's nonstop dancing.
High energy.
And I feel like dancing
  
  is very therapeutic.
I feel like dancing
  
  is a spiritual thing.
I feel like dancing
  
  can cure a lot of
negative thoughts
  
  that you might have.
I feel like dance
  
  is transformative.
And I use it as a weapon
  
  to fight off patriarchy...
[LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE]
JANELLE: ... and sexism
  
  and toxic masculinity.
And, yeah, I use it
  
  for a lot of different things.
CHRISTINE: Okay.
And I think
  
  that's a wonderful note
to leave this discussion on.
Please help me thanking
  
  Janelle Monáe for being here.
JANELLE: Thank you.
[CHEERING]
JANELLE: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
