Trivia / Janelle Monáe

• Approval of God: Janelle gave David Byrne her full approval for his live Cover Version of "Hell You Talmbout".
  Byrne: I got in touch with her to say, "I'd like to do your song. Does it seem weird for a slightly older white man to be doing this song?" And she said "No, no, no. This is great." She said something like, "This song should belong to everyone. Everyone should be able to do this song."
• Black Sheep Hit: "Yoga" has more of a mainstream hip-hop/R&B sound to it and is her highest-charting song.
• Chart Displacement: Janelle does technically have a #1 single, through her feature on "We Are Young" by fun.. However, it is far from the song she is best known for, and many people don't even realize she was featured in the song due to her very small part in it.
• Creator Backlash: She very much dislikes the fact that old photos of her are circulating. She finds the many colors she once wore too messy and confused, and doesn't want to be associated with them in order to maintain her aesthetic.
• Development Hell: Apparently, a video for "Violet Stars Happy Hunting!" was shot but remains unreleased due to unstated technical problems. This appears to be a simple recording by someone on the set.
• Extremely Lengthy Creation: Janelle has stated that she had the concept for Dirty Computer before ''The Arch Android" was released, meaning it's been in the works for nearly a decade. She worked on the album with Prince before his death in 2016, meaning it's been in the recording process for over 2 years.
• Hitless Hit Album: Although her albums have charted on the Billboard 200, none of her singles charted until "Yoga" in 2015 (#79).
• Meaningful Release Date: The Age of Pleasure, an album celebrating sex and sexuality, was released on June 9, 2023, or 6/9 (nice).
• Promoted Fanboy:
  • The Electric Lady sees her performing alongside some of her influences, including Erykah Badu and Prince. The Purple One was involved in the early development of Dirty Computer, too, before his death—"Make Me Feel", for example, basically is a Prince song.
  • In a way, she could be considered to qualify as one for Philip K. Dick, too, appearing in Amazon Studios' Electric Dreams, an anthology series based on his work. References to Dick's works, especially Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, appear throughout her music.
• Referenced by...: David Byrne featured a Cover Version of "Hell You Talmbout" on every show of the supporting tour for American Utopia, with one such rendition forming the centerpiece of the eponymous Concert Film by Spike Lee.
• Sequel Gap: The Age of Pleasure ended a five-year break since the release of Dirty Computer in 2018.
• Viral Marketing: Videos have been released daily up to the release of the Electric Lady on Janelle Monae's YouTube channel in order to hype the album. They evoke Cindi Mayweather's escape and growing support for her freedom movement. Along with the videos, the Electric Pirate Radio, which appears in the Electric Lady interludes, is set to air on this website.

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