Crib Notes

“I’ve never questioned what my purpose was. I’ve always felt like I was given a gift and I’ve always felt like I’m being led.”

Janelle Monae’s new song, “Come Alive (The War of the Roses)” is being released today via Kia Soul Collective — a group of highly-touted artists comprised to help market the auto brand. The energetic, pop-punk song is also a sneak peek into what’s in store from Monae’s 2010 sophomore follow-up to her Wondaland Arts Society/Bad Boy/Atlantic debut Metropolis: The Chase Suite.

A free download of “Come Alive (The War of the Roses)” is available at KiaSoulCollective.com.

The behind-the-scenes video, shot at Wondaland’s Atlanta homebase/studio, features Monae and her W.A.S. peeps Nate Wonder and Chuck Lightning, as well as her bandmates, including the wig-wearing guitarist Kellindo Parker.

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BAD BOY’S BEHIND THIS: Natural-born hype-man P. Diddy compares Janelle Monae to James Brown and Elvis during their interview with Sway on MTV. Click here to see the full footage. (Photo courtesy MTV News)

If you’ve been following local phenom Janelle Monae’s career as close as we have, you know she’s been hella busy. Besides starring in the Atlanta Ballet collaboration with Big Boi titled big — which you can read about in this week’s CL cover story — she just got back from a trip to New York last week where she performed for an industry crowd.

MTV was on-hand and Sway even sat down to interview her and P. Diddy, who has been courting Monae and her Wondaland Arts Society partners since late last year. After keeping their working relationship under wraps for months, natural born hype-man Diddy compared his new artist Monae to James Brown, Elvis, Judy Garland and Anita Baker in the same breath.

The announcement of her signing confirms the story we broke last November. In the joint venture between Wondaland and Bad Boy/Atlantic, Big Boi of OutKast will “continue to serve as a collaborator and co-executive producer,” Monae announced in a blog posted on her MySpace page yesterday.

For fans who fear what might become of Monae at a pop label like Bad Boy, she added:

I feel this movement is beyond independent or mainstream. Soul or rock. Black or white. Pompadour or perm. Saddle shoes or high heels. It’s about altering history through a great new era of music and art.

According to Mitchell Martin II of Wondaland, Diddy is so excited to be involved with an artist of Monae’s caliber — and a team with WAS’s marketing expertise — that he plans to stay out of their way as they do their thing.

So that means no “Bad Boy this, Bad Boy that” chants all over Monae’s vocals, right Diddy?

The next suite from Metropolis is scheduled to drop in June, with a full-length album containing both new and previously released material to drop in September, according to Martin.

Martin also gave some insight into a lot of conversation Wondaland has been fostering within the local music scene. Stay tuned for more on that in the upcoming CL Music Issue, which drops April 23.

Check out the MTV interview with Diddy and Monae, along with clips from her recent New York performance.

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Word on the street is that Janelle Monáe signed with Bad Boy Records last Wednesday. Monáe’s publicist, Nicole Garner of the Garner Circle, could not confirm the news when I spoke to her today. However, she did say that Monáe and her camp should be prepared to offer a statement soon.

Now before you upchuck at the thought of Monáe’s creativity being swallowed whole by the “Diddy machine” and spit out in digestible chunks for mainstream consumption, you should read the statement Monáe posted on her MySpace page Nov. 6, titled “My new career decision is almost here …” in which she addresses such concerns:

I will and can reassure you that I will not be compromising my image or figuring out how I can fit into the mainstream of things. It will not be that kind of situation at all. Any decisions made about me and my image will be because I decided it was cool. In fact, I am not even having discussions with companies who don’t appreciate my artistic direction physically and musically. We are not wasting our time talking to such people.

Click here to read the entire post.

Diddy attended Monáe’s release party for Metropolis Suite I: The Chase at Sugarhill in August.

Click here to see photos of Diddy, Monáe and her Wondaland Arts Society, and Big Boi together.

She’s officially sold 10,000 copies of The Chase, which is pretty damn good considering it was released independently only a few months ago. It seemed like an odd move when Monáe and her camp decided to break her CD, Metropolis, up into four suites to be released over the space of a year, but it looks like it has served its purpose by allowing them to gain steady momentum rather than blowing their whole wad in one thrust.

Media attention has grown right along with her fan base. Our cover on Monáe ran way back in May, which seems like an eon ago now.

Click here to read Mosi Reeves’ story on Janelle Monáe and her Wondaland movement.

Now she’s ready to take over the universe — Wal-Mart included — as she says in her statement:

I have decided that it is time my music be introduced to the Universe. It is time for the W.A.S to take over the lands. It is time that our friends and family be able to come see me perform in your city and physically walk into Walmart and pick up all four suites. It is time for videos and movies to be made. It is time to move forward and take “Metropolis” to greater heights. It’s just time …

Stay tuned for more details.

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