Urban Music Features
Artists to Watch: Janelle Monae
It’s been quite sometime since we have heard from the members of Outkast. Well we are about to hear from one of Big Boi’s side projects, Janelle Monae.
A young lady who calls herself “an alien from outer space” on the first track on her debut album Metropolis: The Chase Suite, Monae has declared that music has the potential to change the world. When her album The Arch Android is released in May, she may just have the potential to change ours.
Monae met Big Boi in Atlanta where she relocated after studying theater in New York, as she planned to pursue a career on Broadway. Lucky for us, Monae chose mainstream soul over musicals. Signed to Bad Boy Records in 2007, Monae appeared in the Outkast film Idlewild in featured songs “Call The Law” and “In Your Dreams.” She later gained a 2009 Grammy nomination for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for her track “Many Moons.” Monae has been seen opening for popular rock band No Doubt, and her single “Open Happiness” was featured in the American Idol 2009 Season Finale.
A preview to the release, it is evident on the tracks from her upcoming album that the funky, dirty South reggae sound of Outkast—one that not many artists could successfully pull off—is going to propel Monae into super stardom. She’s a fresh face to the R&B, with the voice of Alicia Keys or India Arie, but keeping a classy cool sound that we haven’t really heard before. Tracks “Cold War” and “Tightrope” off of The Arch Android are currently available for listen on her website www.jmonae.com.
Monae is also receiving acclaim from celeb artists in the music world. Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy calls Monae “a female version of Prince” and Andre 3000 of Outkast says, “Ms. Monae has one of the most enchanting voices of our generation.”
Monae will be on tour in major US cities, including Washington D.C., Philadelphia, San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, Atlanta and New York in March and April. The headline of Monae’s MySpace page reads “The world is watching you.” And she’s right. We are watching—she’s the next big funky thing.
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