With Dirty Computer, Janelle Monáe offers us a new coherent and innovative album, 5 years after The Electric Lady.
By revealing the track Django Jane in February and more recently PYNK in April, Janelle Monáe was setting the stage for Dirty Computer. The album is bathed in a very beautiful, original aesthetic, lulled by fluorescent colors and striking contrasts. But the most important thing, is the substance of Dirty Computer. Because the album is above all a concentrate of freedom and empowerment (taking power, taking control of one's destiny).
An Emotion Picture…
Janelle Monáe has always intrigued, with her androgynous posture, her tuxedos, a personality that seemed quite secretive. As she presents in the very good interview with Rolling Stones, she is no longer "the immaculate android, the alien from outer space/The cybergirl without a face" but a free, black, pansexual 32-year-old woman. Dirty Computer is the culmination of a journey that feels very personal. To assert oneself and free oneself from the stereotypes and injunctions of a patriarchal and highly standardized society.
Dirty Computer is accompanied by a clip of almost 50 minutes that tells the story of Jane 57821, prisoner of an institution, The House of the New Dawn, a place aimed at formatting each human being to strip him of any originality.Jane 57821 is considered "dirty", deviant and non-compliant. The purge process aims to erase all his memories. The film plunges into Jane's personality, with a completely libertarian essence: an ode to non-hetero-normative love, multicolored parties, trips between friends all more badass than the others.
Dirty Computer is reminiscent of Prince's approach with his film Purple Rain. Janelle Monáe , very close to the singer, had also confirmed that Prince had participated in the creation of the album. Dirty Computer is also very rich musically, and the singer reaches a level of musical excellence worthy of her mentor.
…At the service of the album
Dirty Computer is not just a vast music video whose album just serves to promote. Indeed, each piece has its own intelligence. We sometimes feel softer vibes like in PYNK or So Afraid (80s synth), or more straight and rhythmic with Take A Byte.
The whole aesthetic revolving around the 80s is very fashionable at the moment, but we feel that Janelle Monáe has really studied the subject and is not just surfing on this trend. The Prince/Bowie influence is obvious but always justified.
Crazy, Classic, Life turns on a much more modern and current pop rhythm. Janelle chants "Young, black, wild and free", always to remind the album of the album. I Like That is also in this vein:
I Got the Juice is an interesting mix of pop and trap, and is enriched by featuring Pharrell Williams.
Screwed, which at first glance seems very carefree, describes a doomed world "And I hear the sirens calling/And the bombs are falling in the streets/We're all screwed And ah, ah, ah, it's your birthday, baby/But I go sex crazy/But I feel so screwed."
On the last part of the rap, Janelle evokes in particular the inauguration of Donald Trump: " The devil met with Russia and they just made a deal/We was marching through the street, they were blocking every bill"
With a transition linking the two songs, her much-needed feminist discourse continues on Django Jane, which proves to be the most powerful track on the album. Here, Janelle Monáe directly attacks men: "We gave you life, we gave you birth/We gave you God, we gave you Earth". Enough to make all women in the world want to rebel against the current patriarchal society: "We gon' start a motherfuckin' pussy riot/Or we gon' have to put 'em on a pussy diet"
Dirty Computer, the eponymous track, opens the album perfectly and invites us to enter the world of Janelle Monáe. A strong world, where self-love and singularities are advocated.
Rating: 9/10
With Dirty Computer, Janelle Monáe has nothing left to prove. She is a strong artist with an interesting, innovative and committed artistic journey.
