Product Code Database
Dirty Computer is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Janelle Monáe, released on April 27, 2018, by Wondaland Arts Society, Bad Boy Records and Atlantic Records. It is the follow-up to her studio albums The ArchAndroid (2010) and The Electric Lady (2013) and her first album not to continue the Cindi Mayweather Metropolis narrative.
A departure from the more psychedelic sound of her early work, Dirty Computer is a pop, funk, hip hop, R&B, and neo soul record, featuring elements of electropop, space rock, pop rock, Minneapolis soul, trap music, futurepop, new wave, synthpop, and Latin music. Four singles, "Make Me Feel", "Django Jane", "Pynk", and "I Like That", were chosen to promote the album. Its release was accompanied by a 46-minute narrative film project of the same name.
The album received universal critical acclaim upon release; it was included in the top three of seven publications' Best Album of 2018 lists, and received two nominations at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. It debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 and was further promoted by Monáe's Dirty Computer Tour.
It was confirmed by Monáe after "Make Me Feel" was released that Prince, with whom she collaborated on her preceding album, had worked on the single, as well as the entire album, before his death in 2016. This was confirmed after listeners noticed similarities between the single's sound and the late musician's work. Monáe stated in an interview with BBC Radio 1: "Prince was actually working on the album with me before he passed on to another frequency, and helped me come up with some sounds. And I really miss him, you know, it’s hard for me to talk about him. But I do miss him, and his spirit will never leave me." The Synthesizer groove in "Make Me Feel", reported to be written by Prince, was played at one of his parties years prior to its inclusion in the single, as confirmed by Prince's DJ, Lenka Paris.
Monáe had been exploring the themes presented in Dirty Computer for a decade before its production, but noted that "earlier it felt safer to package herself in metaphors...The sanitized android version felt more accepted — and more acceptable — than her true self. The public, she explained, doesn't really 'know Janelle Monáe, and I felt like I didn't really have to be her because they were fine with Cindi. Monáe considers Dirty Computer to be "a homage to women and the spectrum of Sexual identity." The album's 14 tracks can be grouped into three loose categories: "Reckoning", "Celebration" and "Reclamation". The first deals with Monáe's recognition of how she is viewed by society, the middle explores her acceptance of "the cards she has been dealt", and the closing tracks deal with her reclamation and redefinition of American identity. Overall, the album is Monáe's attempt to "step into a more authentic self".
The album was released on April 27, 2018.
It was supported with the simultaneous release of a 46-minute short film of the same name, dubbed an "emotion picture" by Monáe. It follows Monáe's character, Jane 57821, as she attempts to break free from the constraints of "a Totalitarianism society that forcibly makes Jane comply with its Homophobia beliefs... In the film, Monáe's character is trying to assert her individuality, which makes her the enemy of a soulless regime – a common tension in Science fiction." Actress Tessa Thompson and actor Jayson Aaron co-star as Zen and Ché respectively, lovers with whom Jane escapes "the clutches of this repressive society." The film features little dialogue outside of the overlay of the album's songs that function as the narrative's main driving force. Tim Grierson of Rolling Stone described that, in the film, "Monáe plays with the conventions and totems of dystopian sci-fi to speak her truth and promote a cultural shift toward a more inclusive and loving society – no matter what repressive government (whether real or fictional) is trying to crush that spirit. Monáe is speaking to the present, but for her, the future is now."
On February 1, 2019, Monáe released a new director's cut of the Dirty Computer emotion picture with 13 extra minutes of bonus interviews from the cast and crew.
Standalone music videos were also released for "Crazy, Classic, Life" and "Screwed" on December 12, 2018, and January 7, 2019, respectively.
Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Andy Kellman said that "While this is easily the most loaded Monáe album in terms of guests, with Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, and Grimes among the contributors, there's no doubt that it's a Wondaland product. It demonstrates that Protest art and pop music are not mutually exclusive." Neil McCormick for The Daily Telegraph called Dirty Computer "unblushingly and unsparingly direct...It establishes itself as a contender for album of the year, in more ways than one... Monáe's layered sound is as contemporary as that of such digital trailblazers as Kendrick Lamar or Kanye West, yet it has an old-fashioned organic quality that comes from a bedrock of live musicianship. Dirty Computer sounds like 2018 distilled into a sci-fi funk pop extravaganza by a female Black Panther." The Independent reviewer Roisin O'Connor stated that Dirty Computer is "a record that will go down as a milestone not just as a work of art in its own right, but as the perfect celebration of queerness, female power, and Self-esteem." Danette Chavez of The A.V. Club described that, on Dirty Computer, "the erstwhile 'Electric Lady' loses the metal and circuitry, but none of her power or artistry, cementing her status alongside Prince in the hall of hyper-talented, gender-fluid Pop icon who love and promote blackness."
Josh Hurst for Flood Magazine wrote that "Every generation needs its own soundtrack for kicking against the pricks, and Monáe delivers one—easily the most pop-conversant, hook-laden, and propulsive music of her career." Robert Christgau, who in the past had found Monáe's voice too thin and her songwriting overly intellectual, was converted by Dirty Computers Prince-inspired, sex-positive songs: "Too often prosex albums are shallow. While remaining intellectual, this one is more personal than the android dared."
In a less enthusiastic review, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian suggested that "You occasionally wonder if an understandable desire to cross over commercially might not be at the root of the album's less inspired moments: there's something commonplace and risk-averse about the pop-R&B backing of 'Crazy, Classic, Life' and 'I Got the Juice'... It's hard not to wonder if her failure to connect with a mass audience might be because her desire to work with concepts and characters, rather than unburden herself, suggests a certain aloofness... She is as elusive as ever, and her mystery remains intact. Without a true loosening of her poise, her position on the margins of pop could remain intact as well." Zachary Hoskins from Slant Magazine declared that "while the songs here are consistently hooky, they lack the earlier albums' sonic adventurousness... While Monáe's heart is in the right place, her lyrics occasionally suffer from the clumsiness endemic to Political music pop... If Dirty Computer feels somewhat blunter and less ambitious than Monáe's earlier work, though, it's also her most immediately satisfying."
| +Year- and decade-end lists | ||
| The Associated Press | AP's Top 2018 Albums | 1 |
| Complex | The Best Albums of 2018 | 13 |
| Consequence of Sound | The Top 50 Albums of 2018 | 2 |
| Consequence of Sound | The 100 Top Albums of the 2010s | 14 |
| Entertainment Weekly | The 20 Best Albums of 2018 | 9 |
| Flavorwire | The 25 Best Albums of 2018 | 13 |
| The Guardian | The Best Albums of 2018 | 3 |
| The Independent | Albums of the Year 2018 | 3 |
| The New York Times | The 28 Best Albums of 2018 | 1 |
| NPR | The 50 Best Albums of 2018 | 1 |
| Paste | The 50 Best Albums of 2018 | 14 |
| The Ringer | The Best Albums of 2018 | 5 |
| Rolling Stone | 50 Best Albums of 2018 | 13 |
| The Skinny | Albums of 2018 | 7 |
| Stereogum | The 50 Best Albums of 2018 | 38 |
| Time | The 10 Best Albums of 2018 | 2 |
| UNCUT | 75 Best Albums of 2018 | 6 |
| Uproxx | The 50 Best Albums of 2018 | 4 |
Notes
Sample credits
Technical
Arrangement
Design
|
|
