(Wondaland Productions/Bad Boy Records)
Putting aside the high-concept Afrofuturism of earlier albums, the R&B shapeshifter blends Afrobeat, reggae and laidback soul into a hazily intoxicating cocktail of sex and partying
For over a decade, Janelle Monáe has carved a niche for herself as a purveyor of R&B so high concept that even her album covers came with subtitles. (Purchasers of 2013’s The Electric Lady could take their pick from the standard edition, featuring a cover titled Concerning Cindi and Her Sisters and the Skull of Night Thrashings, or a deluxe version called Concerning Cindi and the Glow of the Drogon’s Eyes.) Equal parts Afrofuturism and the sexually ambiguous personae of 70s Bowie, Monáe’s albums to date posited her as a part-human, part-cyborg figure in a dystopian future. And you couldn’t fault Monáe’s sense of commitment to her roles, which extended to apparently giving interviews in character. But the records sold well rather than spectacularly, spawning hits that slow-burned to gold status without actually making the Top 40.
On her fourth album, however, everything has changed. The high concepts and Afrofuturism appear to have gone out of the window. Rather than a stylised illustration of a heavily coiffed and costumed Monáe complete with a wordy subtitle, the cover of The Age of Pleasure features a blurry snap of the singer topless and underwater, swimming through a succession of people’s legs. It clocks in at a trim 31 minutes, less than half the length of either The Electric Lady or The ArchAndroid, and its songs, interludes and fleeting guest appearances – Grace Jones speaking French; a brief burst of toasting from venerable Jamaican DJ Sister Nancy – segue into each other. And its lyrical focus shifts dramatically from future dystopias to partying and having it off. There are songs named after champagne cocktails, and recordings of Monáe and friends toasting each other as they embark on an evening of bar-hopping. It takes 90 seconds for her to mention Japanese rope bondage and that’s the tone pretty much set: homemade porn, threesomes, demands to “feel a little tongue”, a song apparently about wanking that opens with the attention-grabbing line: “If I could fuck me right here, right now, I would.”