Tracks

“Many Moons”
Janelle Monáe

Beyoncé’s recent detour into Bette Midler balladry bummed us out big time. The most interesting thing about her Sasha Fierce character is the android hand she sports in the “Single Ladies” video. But, B, we’ll see that robotic glove and raise you an entire cyborg diva. The savior of R&B has arrived in Janelle Monáe. Back in August, the OutKast protégé rereleased the first part of her multialbum apocalyptic sci-fi soul epic (thankfully, Erykah Badu isn’t alone), but, criminally, most might only recognize the Atlantan as the cute caroler with a pompadour alongside Napoleon Dynamite in those new Gap ads.

On Metropolis: The Chase Suite, the 23-year-old tosses together Al Green, Gnarls Barkley, Bond themes, Björk and Prince influences into a concept centered on Fritz Lang’s flick. “Many Moons” sounds a lot like “Hey Ya!” if set in the unreal opera scene from The Fifth Element. In the video, Monáe even shakes it like a Polaroid picture of André 3000. Simply, it’s one of the most thrilling things we’ve heard all year, and if this Philip K. Dick fanatic isn’t huge by next year, we really are living in a dystopia.

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