It's the ultimate cliché these days to compare any musician, let alone a female pop artist, to Lady Gaga. Even so, when I first stumbled across Janelle Monáe's video for 'Many Moons', I had the same premonition I had when I first saw Gaga's 'Just Dance': "This girl is going to be a superstar".With her distinctive tailored suits, a swagger she's gleaned from Outkast's Big Boi and a gravity-defying quiff, Monáe certainly makes a memorable first impression but it's her earth-shatteringly soulful voice that sets her apart from the slew of overstyled wannabes that have been vying for our attention in the post-Gaga era.
Her album, entitled 'The Arch-Android', draws on elements of science-fiction and afrofuturism to tell the story of messianic android, Cindy Mayweather. Standing at a hefty 18-tracks, divided into 'two suites', the album is a sprawling opus that incorporates funk, rap, r'n'b, rock, folk and disco but, despite this, is remarkably cohesive.
The sequencing of the album is crucial and the tracks blend into each other almost seamlessly (in particular, the opening triplet of 'Dance or Die'/'Faster'/'Locked Inside'). The lyrics are intelligent and poetic, the arrangements imaginative and the whole project is anchored by Monáe's chameleon-like vocals.
I don't think there's anything here that will conquer the charts in the same way that 'Poker Face' or 'Paparazzi' managed, but 'The Arch Android' is far more accomplished and more faithful to its ambitious 'vision' than The Fame.
It's not released here 'til July but has been streaming on her Myspace the past few days. I suggest you familiarise yourself with it.
Rating: ★★★★★
And if you're not sold by my endorsement, check her out in action on the Dave Letterman show in her 'network television debut':
Janelle Monae - Cold War
Janelle Monae - Many Moons
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