By Lila Marquez
Every once in a while an artist comes along who isn’t just making music — they’re building a world. That’s what listening to Janelle Monáe feels like right now.
If you’ve been paying attention over the last year, Monáe’s music has taken a turn that feels joyful, deeply Afrocentric, and unapologetically rooted in Black identity and liberation. It’s a shift that feels intentional — and powerful.
For those of us in Kansas, Monáe’s rise carries a little extra pride. She was born in Kansas City and grew up not far from here. The Midwest doesn’t always get credit for producing boundary-pushing artists, but Monáe has quietly become one of the most innovative performers of her generation.
The New Sound
Her recent work — especially the album The Age of Pleasure — feels like summer poured into a speaker.
The sound draws from Afrobeat, funk, soul, reggae, and Caribbean rhythms, layered with lush harmonies and hypnotic grooves. The music celebrates Black culture, joy, sensuality, and freedom. It’s less about the dystopian android mythology that defined some of her earlier work and more about living fully in the moment.
Songs like “Float,” “Lipstick Lover,” and “Champagne Shit” lean into warm percussion, sun-drenched bass lines, and layered vocals that feel both modern and timeless.
It’s the kind of album you put on when you want to remember that music can still be fun, fearless, and a little rebellious.
The Actor Behind the Music
Many people first discovered Monáe through film. Her performances in Hidden Figures and Harriet showed that she isn’t just a musician experimenting with aesthetics — she’s a serious storyteller.
In the film Hidden Figures, Monáe portrayed NASA engineer Mary Jackson, one of the brilliant Black women who helped launch the American space program during segregation. In Harriet, she played abolitionist Marie Buchanan, adding emotional depth to the story of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.
Both performances reflected the same themes that run through Monáe’s music: liberation, resistance, and the power of identity.
Why She Matters
Monáe has always leaned into Afrofuturism, blending science fiction, political commentary, and culture. But her recent work feels different.
It feels celebratory.
In a music industry that often pushes artists toward safe, predictable sounds, Monáe seems determined to explore something richer — a musical language that connects African diasporic rhythms with modern pop experimentation.
And maybe that’s why the music resonates so much right now.
It’s confident.
It’s joyful.
It refuses to shrink.
What I’m Listening To This Week
If you’re curious where to start, here are three tracks I keep coming back to:
- “Float” – a hypnotic groove that feels like floating through warm water.
- “Lipstick Lover” – sensual, playful, and unapologetically bold.
- “I Like That” – a reminder from earlier in her catalog of how Monáe blends pop hooks with identity and self-confidence.
For a kid from the Midwest who grew up less than an hour from Topeka, Monáe has managed to create music that sounds global, futuristic, and deeply rooted in culture all at once.
And right now, that’s exactly what I’m listening to.
— Lila Marquez
