The Supersonic Technicolor Dreamworld of Janelle Monáe

We decided to photograph Janelle Monáe for our fall magalog in her second home: the Wondaland production office. A music studio sounds like an awesome setting for our theme, right? Instead of massive mixers and recording equipment, we were met with the great outdoors - inside. Instead of carpeting, we were walking across astro-turf. It was a virtual park setting, complete with benches, garden statues, a croquet set, and even a carnival cotton candy machine. It was like stepping down out of the farmhouse and onto the yellow brick road. Something surreal and refreshing. Oh, but that's only the beginning of the oasis known as Janelle Monáe. You've actually already heard Janelle - she provided vocals for the Outkast track "Call the Wild" on the album Idlewild. And, you've actually already seen her: she's riding backseat (with a fuchsia poodle, mind you) in Big Boi's car in the video for "Morris Brown".

But you haven't seen and heard it all.

Every article you'll read has compared Janelle to this person or that person, in an attempt to help the Average Joe wrap their mind around her supersonic/technicolor goodness. Personally, I first saw her as a lovechild that was born from an afternoon delight involving André 3000, Grace Jones, and Björk. I feel guilty saying that, however, because it instantly restricts what Janelle is capable of. These assumptions try to box a masterpiece that blooms beyond the frame.

The wide open spaces of Kansas, Janelle's home state, gave her dreams plenty of room to unfold as she pondered the possibilities that the world could afford her. Salting her imagination with music theatre training in New York and peppering it with the hip-hop and progressive soul of the Atlanta scene, Janelle's talent has blossomed into a work of art known as Metropolis, her first debut album. If you are expecting a typical debut album? Then you haven't been paying attention. Metropolis is being released as four mini-albums known as "suites," and follows the story of a cybergirl's trials and tribulations to find true love in the futuristic city known as - you guessed it - Metropolis.

Yet meeting Janelle, she has an incredible vintage aesthetic, booted with saddle shoes and sporting the most amazing pompadour I've ever seen in my life. She says, "I respect the past, but it’s all about the future for me." And, surprisingly, her sky-high magic is condensed into a tiny Tinkerbell stature. But assuming that Janelle was going to be some neon Amazon woman from outer space was me, yet again, trying to pin down her entire persona into something two-dimensional and tangible. And she’s anything but – she’s a beautiful array of contradictions. Simultaneously gentle yet electric. Calm, but intense. Starry-eyed, yet firm on the ground.

Janelle Monáe is not in Kansas anymore. Luckily, she's bringing her own personal Oz to the rest of us. "I want to be able to smile, in my grave, knowing that I did what I was supposed to, all I could possibly do, to help change this world through my art and influence.”

janellemonae.com

Janelle is wearing the aa1375 candy stripe scoop neck tee in milky navy.


-von jones