Janelle Monae captured by Eatsdirt

Kia Soul Collective has the goods.

We’re pretty sure Janelle Monáe is from the future or from a super cool planet that the rest of us are not up on yet. You know – some spot just over in the next galaxy where the music rules and where everyone rocks their own version of the Kia Soul. Janelle has created the sound of how she rolls for us and she calls it “Come Alive (The War Of The Roses).” Take a listen to “Come Alive (The War Of The Roses)” below, download the track and watch the behind scenes video we filmed during the recording process….

I saw her perform a few times in rapid succession, the first time opening for Of Montreal where her future funk sound and dynamic vocal range and style took the audience by surprise. We were at the second of two performances, and she sold out of merch on the first night clearly not expecting that kind of response to her eccentric soul songs and amazing stagecraft and charisma.

So I know that she’s amazing, but have been waiting for new songs to appear, and here is the first thing I’ve gotten hold of since The Metropolis Suite.

This fits in firmly with the rest of her music, strong groove elements, explicit callbacks to previous performers, but there’s a ditching of the “Robot from the Future” persona and what sounds like the picking of a new creation, that of a bipolar woman off her medication who goes dancing. This track is a bit more layered than normal with some breakdowns which call to mind Halloween novelty pop songs. I’m a bit curious as to the mixing of this, because the 8 bar fade out goes on a bit longer than is really necessary. All in all, it’s a solid song and really makes me eager to hear more from her.

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