As “hot girl walks” continues to trend irrationally for another summer season on TikTok, Janelle Monáe is coming to light it all up. “Hot girl walks” involves going out for a moderately paced walk, often with your arm stretched upward to film yourself wearing a monochrome tracksuit, holding an iced latte, and smiling at the sun at a pleasant angle. I guess by thinking about your goals and what you’re grateful for?). Monáe’s version of the hot girl walk takes away that boring, viral “clean girl” aesthetic, and it’s not just about being sexy, clingy, and sweaty and walking, this summer. swim without sinking.
So Monáe says on her fourth album, Age of PleasureA hot, horny 14-track joyride from Friday. The singer/actor/supernova is at her freest and most accessible, as she ditched the cyborg personality she embodied in her 2010 debut. ArchAndroid and the 2013s Electric Lady– two stunning, high-concept albums filled with ambitious world-building where listeners do their homework to connect the dots. Age of Pleasure does not request such a review; Monáe has long proven she is a genius at her art and she just wants to have some fun here.
Indeed, Afrobeat legends Seun Kuti and Egypt 80’s horns briskly sounded the first words from his mouth in the opening track of “Float”, “No, I’m not the same / I think I’ve changed. ” The first few songs are brash, confident yawns: He’s not walking, he’s swimming; she is haute, not sexy; “Looks better than David Bowie” Moon Dream” “Extraordinary” – Beyoncé’s doesn’t sound out of place at all Renaissance; Sounds like a cousin to “Alien Superstar” – it begins with Monáe proclaiming in an afro-funk rhythm: “I look at a thousand versions of myself / And we’re all just fine.”
‘Extraordinary’ turns into ‘Haute’ in succession, where horns herald his arrival and cry out ‘I am young, I am Black and I am wild’. Monáe, who has undergone a personal evolution in recent years and emerged as pansexual and nonbinary, nods to gender ambiguity in “Haute,” “A slut looks beautiful, a slut looks handsome.” Borrowing the chorus of a Flamingo classic to cleverly hint at polyamorous, “Only Have Eyes 42” is similarly frank, which manages to be classical and futuristic at the same time thanks to its combination of doo-wop and laser sound effects. .
Musically, Monáe and his collaborators built Age of Pleasure largely centered around Afrobeats and reggae, balancing bold, dirty lyrics with calmer, softer beats and a cacophony of trumpets, steel drums, and jazzy pianos. This is an album to be listened to in order from start to finish – not hard considering the songs often flow so seamlessly and it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Take “Champagne Shit”, which glides as smoothly as “Black Sugar Beach” with its marching horns and dance hall synths, and you won’t even notice.
Not all of them work—some lyrics border on staleness, like the copious swimming metaphors that clog “Water Slide” and the opening lines of “A Dry Red” (“Hey baby, let me plant my seed”) and “A Dry Red.” The Rush” (“I look into your eyes and I feel the excitement / Maybe because you will be my love tonight”). Monáe starts to sound more contrived in the back half of the album, which suffers from slower cuts and less seamless transitions like “Paid in Pleasure” and “Know Better.”
However, due to the brevity of the album, those moments pass quickly. Activating in just 32 minutes, The Age of Pleasure While satisfying, it’s really a snap. Arriving in time for both Pride Month and pool season, this album is designed for summer hedonism; Like Jessie Ware’s recently released and similarly ecstatic HE! feel good!, but sexier. And like any orgy, there are multiple guests here: “The French 75” gets help from venerable Jamaican DJ Sister Nancy, “The Rush” features Nia Long and Amaarae, and “Ooh La La” by Grace Jones voicing it. French.
But the main attraction is Monáe itself. It’s been five years since he released his third Grammy-nominated album. dirty computerand since then, we’ve watched her disappear in glamorous roles in movies like her. Glass Onion: The Mystery of Removing a Knife And Harriet. Open Age of PleasureThere is neither such a personality nor a second personality as in previous albums. Only Monáe is getting used to the role of her own beautiful, extraordinary personality.