Brain on Fire

[wlotus]

Janelle Monáe has my brain on fire. For a little while I thought I might be having a celebrity crush on her, but that isn't the case.

The truth is that she inspires me.

She is a 24-year-old African-American woman who is defying the popular definitions of "blackness" in her musical presentation. As a black woman who is old enough to be thrilled by the still too rare appearance of a dark-skinned face in entertainment, yet who is thoroughly tired of the hyper-sexualization of black women in hip-hop culture, I am as refreshed by Ms. Monáe as I am by a cold drink on a hot day. Her style fluidly switches between jazz, classical, pop, electronic, and funk, with only the faintest hint of hip-hop/rap. She dances and dresses in a way that showcases her talent instead of her tits and ass. She speaks proper English, as do the black men she creates music with. When I watched the interviews included on the iTunes LP version of The ArchAndroid, I was proud of and impressed with all of them. Because they spoke intelligently and about topics that did not include "da hood", I could relate to them. That isn't something I can usually say about today's young, black performers.

Even more than being impressed with her presentation, her uniqueness inspires me. She and her partners in music-making are not trying to fit someone else's idea of what music (particularly "black music") should be. They have their own ideas, and they are implementing those ideas without apology or shyness, it seems. That inspires me to continue to do the same with my ideas and my life. And not because I want to "make it to the big time" as they have, but because after an early life of conformity (most of the time, though pieces of the real me still shone through from time to time), I have come to the conclusion life is not worth living, if I cannot live by my own unique convictions and vision and gifts and talents.

I'm trying to find my peace
I was made to believe there's something wrong with me
And it hurts my heart
Lord have mercy ain't it plain to see

That this is a cold war
Do you know what you're fighting for
This is a cold war
You better know what you're fighting for.

~ Janelle Monáe, "Cold War"

Every time I listen to one of her songs--that has been often in the past week, as I have her two albums in almost constant play--I am inspired to be me and to enjoy being me. I enjoy feeling inspired. It makes me feel alive.

Comments

[kdotdammit.livejournal.com]

A beautifully written tribute to an artist who I also admire!

[far-gone.livejournal.com]

I'll have to check her out! You should send that post to her! It would probably make her day!

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

Thanks to the wonder of Twitter, I have. I hope she reads it and is encouraged by it.

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I just found out about her; I think I would have climbed the walls from frustration, if I'd known about her in 2008 and had to wait two years for her next album!

[scream4noreason.livejournal.com]

I am really going to have to check her out! I have been listening to Jill Scott "Live in Paris" today which is breathtaking!

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

I haven't listened to that one, yet. I am trying not to sink more money into iTunes Music Store. :-)

[warkitty.livejournal.com]

So, I looked her up on youtube and watched "Tightrope." I LIKE. The video kinda made me think of the 80s before the hyper sexualization of everyone. All the soft-shoe dancing (without the sound of softshoe) was an interesting throwback. The music itself is fun and made me want to move if I weren't worn out from another morning run! Yes, I think I need to add her to my musical entertainment as well.

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

I've been tightroping through the apartment for the past week or two. :-)

She pulls off some fancy footwork in "Many Moons", too.

[queen-in-autumn.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of her -- which is not surprising, since I'm not plugged in to any modern music -- but I'll check her out on iTunes.

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

I found out about her from onceupon's LJ. I didn't hear about her through modern music channels, either...perhaps because I ignore most modern music channels. :-)

[musicbearmn.livejournal.com]

We love her. She is a breath of true refreshment.

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

She really is. I hope she remains true to herself as her star rises. It would be a shame for the industry machine to dampen an imagination as vivid as hers seems to be.

A fan letter to wlotus...

[audrabaudra.livejournal.com]

"She is a 24-year-old African-American woman who is defying the popular definitions of "blackness" in her musical presentation. As a black woman who is old enough to be thrilled by the still too rare appearance of a dark-skinned face in entertainment, yet who is thoroughly tired of the hyper-sexualization of black women in hip-hop culture, I am as refreshed by Ms. Monáe as I am by a cold drink on a hot day."

AMEN.

My teenaged son listens to hip-hop and rap. Just Last Week, after you led me to Janelle Monae, I picked up my son's iPod and listened in when he'd gone to bed, and I was not best pleased.

The next day, I said, "Boy Child, this is heinous to Mother. I'm appalled by the language, but the point of view, the way the worst of it encourages you to view other people, especially women--"

"It's MUSIC, Mom," he said. "You're going on, and you don't have to. It's just music, and I know that it's not anything to do with my real world."

Well, no, Boy Child, it's not that easy. If we think negatively, we become negative. We become *negativity.* What we think and imagine with our minds becomes our minds. Reach higher and think harder and more clearly to make the mind a diamond, not a sewer.

So the other night, I thought, "I know where there is a gem." I went to YouTube and found "Tightrope." Looking around to see where Boy Child was, I pushed "play," then pretended to go about my business. Well, Boy Child was on that sound like a bee to honey. "Mom, what's that? Hey, where's the YouTube tab, can I see that, who is that?"

I went to the tab, and we watched the video together. The first thing I said: What is wrong with people wearing normal clothes and not swearing?

Boy Child: Tuxedos aren't normal.

Mother: Don't even. You know what I mean. Her bum's covered, her parts are put away, she has respect for herself. We can enjoy the dancing without feeling embarrassed as mother and son.

Boy Child: Hey, look how short her trousers are--is that a tribute to Michael Jackson, with the shiny shoes, too?

And we were off :-)

We made a deal: I bought ArchAndroid on iTunes if we removed some material that I found objectionable from the iPod. He thought about it, then said, "Yeah, okay--I'm kinda tired of that stuff, anyway."

So to you, Wanda, I offer deep thanks and gratitude. I want that boy to have a positive, healthy view of the people with whom he shares the world, and Janelle Monae will help him along through her amazing imagination and what she offers all of us. I'm a fan, but more importantly, so is my kid. Thanks, again!

Re: A fan letter to wlotus...

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

Woo hoo! Outstanding!!!!!!!!!! I really like how you handled that!

Re: A fan letter to wlotus...

[audrabaudra.livejournal.com]

Boy Child is a funny wee gadge. He's blonde-haired and blue-eyed with dimples to die for--really good-looking kid, if I do say so myself. He takes after his father's mother's side, there, I'll share some credit :-)

Well, he was talking about some of his friends in conjunction with music and what they're all into, and he mentioned a name I didn't know. I said, "Who he?"

"He's, y'know, we were in a class, but we never talked before, but yeah, he's cool."

"Right, I gathered," I said, "but is he Black African, White African, is he Maori, Asian, Pakeha--which way is his ethnicity?"

Boy Child looked at me and squinched up his eyes and nose. "I dunno."

"You don't know."

"Huh uh. I dunno. Never really looked."

Well! Well, hell! Imagine a world where, y'know, I dunno, we never really looked--Roger Ebert touched on this in his thoughts about Chaz in the blog post from the other day. I've tried to understand, and Boy Child has tried to explain: when he thinks about his friends, he thinks about the personality, the things they like together, what they do and enjoy, and he doesn't classify according to ethnic background. I'm liking that exercise in categorizing folks, eh?

Re: A fan letter to wlotus...

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

I like that exercise in categorizing folks, too. However, that is probably an example of white privilege; people of color are reminded every day, just by looking at popular culture, that we are of a different color. He doesn't have to think about race; the bulk of the media messages he gets looks just like him.