Crib Notes

I thought I’d missed an old show when I heard Janelle Monaé on Fresh Air yesterday — especially since Terri Gross kept referring to her “new CD” Metropolis: The Chase Suite. You know, the one that was originally released in ’07, and later nominated for a Grammy after being re-released with added songs via Bad Boy in ’08.

Just goes to show how many people are still being exposed to the homegirl’s cyber-sound. Here’s a snippet:

Gross: As we can hear, you have a voice that really could’ve made it on Broadway — like, you have a beautiful, legit-sounding voice. But what you’re singing now, in a beautiful voice, is like your own breed of hip-hop. Did you feel like you had to change your voice in any way when you changed your aspirations from Broadway to hip-hop?

Monaé: (small laughter) Well, you know, no. I actually didn’t. I don’t really categorize anything that I do or say, you know, ‘this is the genre that I’m trying to go into.’ Still to this day I don’t have a name for necessarily what I call my sound or what it is that we’re doing. It’s one of those things where I don’t force anything, and by nature I think that I’ve always been drawn to women like Judy Garland, who always kept a classic and timeless voice. Even Anita Baker at times; I love her voice as well. So, you know, taking those out would just be taking a part of me away.

Listen to the full interview, Janelle Monaé’s Funky Otherworldly Sounds.

Bookmark to: