Janelle Monae Hacks a Dirty Computer

As an actress, singer, songwriter, producer, fashion designer, and model, Janelle Monae has got to be the most globally visible creative force based out of Atlanta. Her reach is so vast that pretty much everyone has encountered her work. Don’t dig modern, funky soul and R&B? Then you at least enjoyed Hidden Figures. Haven’t seen it? Well, maybe she stuck out to you in that one Pepsi ad. You get the drift. She’s everywhere!

Monae’s busy schedule has kept fans waiting restlessly for the follow-up to 2013’s The Electric Lady. That wait ends on April 27th with the arrival of Dirty Computer. Based on the two recent singles and music videos out there, she’s bringing even more fun, funk, and calculated fury back to the mainstream.

She damn near positions herself to be crowned former collaborator Prince’s successor with the bi-sexually charged “Make Me Feel.” After all, it’ll probably be the closest thing you’ll hear or watch all year to the late, great, and diminutive one’s gender- and genre-defiant sense of danger. It further establishes that Monae is bold and talented enough to shun cookie-cutter pop while keeping that crowd’s attention.

The other pre-release single, “Django Jane,” finds Monae spitting hot takes as a rapper. She aims her ire at the critics, sexist dudes, and others she deems worthy of a diss. The line about Transformers is kind of silly, but it’s hard to write this song off after years of applauding punks for unloading on this sick, sad world.