It’s rare to see a musician follow through on a series of concept albums. To create one collection of songs with a narrative throughline is hard enough, but to commit to laying that story out over a course of years, even through changes in artistic direction and style, is incredibly difficult. Such an attempt requires an incredible amount of forethought, creative control, and time, which does not necessarily suit the modern day process of music production.
One young musician has managed to not only accomplish this, but in a manner that has led to Grammy nominations, collaborations with artists such as Prince and Erykah Badu, and increasingly higher placements on the Billboard charts. By the age of 27, Janelle Monáe has already released three albums full of playful, gorgeous songs ready for the dance floor, with a dramatic sci-fi epic about freedom, class, and acceptance laced throughout the background. This strategy has allowed listeners to enjoy her music whichever way they please, without having to sacrifice either listenability or content.
This story is titled Metropolis, purposefully bringing to mind the classic 1927 film Metropolis, from which Monáe pulled a number of elements. Both involve a female messianic figure in a futuristic city struggling with class divide. Monáe is represented by an alter ego, Cindi Mayweather, an indentured android who becomes aware of the unfairness she and her fellow robots suffer at the hands of the ruling humans.
Her self-understanding comes to a head when she is marked for disassembly after falling in love with a human, and discovers while on the run that she is the fated savior, foretold to free the androids from their secondary citizenship and unite the two races. She returns to Metropolis a few years later as the Electric Lady, ready to save the city and humanity throughout time from The Great Divide, a secret society that is using time-travel to suppress freedom and love even in our era. Continue Reading →
