Janelle Monae’s Metropolis: The Chase Suite is an interesting album that expresses Monae’s quirky attitude while portraying interesting messages in all of her songs. Monae takes this album to creatively express some sort of forbidden love scenario in some sort of alien/robot alternative world. As shown in an album review by Helium.com, “[this album is] the year 2719 in Metropolis and to guide us around we have Monáe taking on the role of the android Cindi Mayweather – a character who has wrongfully fallen for a human. From there things get interesting” (XICripZ). I believe her purpose of this was to creatively tell a story; whether it is necessarily pertinent to her own life or not, which pulls the listeners into the songs with several references to the modern world that we live in today. This theme is most prominent in her songs “March of the Wolfmasters” and “Violet Stars Happy Hunting!” but then she gets more expressive in her songs “Smile” and “Mr. President.” This puts emphasis on her versatility as a singer and songwriter.
Monae combines genres of funk, soul, and pop to create a creative delivery of heartfelt music. “Neo-Soul, R&B, Pop, Hip Hop, Dance-Punk, Funk and others are all said to be a part of what this EP” (XICripZ) and these genres seem to blend together to make a creative, adventurous mixture of music. She even manages to incorporate some opera-like music within one of the songs, further expressing her flexibility in music. Based on this combination and the variety of her musical expression, I feel that it is difficult to place this album in a specific genre. She was “an artist who had immerged from under the wing of Hip Hop’s most versatile duo: OutKast. Young theatre student, Janelle Monáe received her break after having settled in amongst Big Boi Purple Ribbon All-Stars and releasing the first ‘suite’ of a four-part series…back in 2007” (XICripZ). Her unique background influenced how she produced her music, as well as her own individual spirit. Monae’s appearance and outfit choices help express her own individuality that she reveals in her music. These identity characteristics supports her rare take on music, and the uniqueness of the noise that the genres she has blended.
Overall, Monae expresses her music in a creative abstract way that reflects her breakout from the original genres and typical music that has been previously expressed in the past. The combination of her past experiences, her individuality, and her futuristic outlook is all portrayed in this album very clearly, leaving the listener to leave thinking ‘wow, she has an incredible voice!’ and leaving the songs imprinted in their minds for days to follow.
XICripZ. "Album Reviews: Metropolis, The Chase Suite, by Janelle Monae." Helium.
Helium, 26 July 2010. Web. 01 Apr. 2013 http://www.helium.com/items/1904127-album-reviews-metropolis-the-chase-suite-by-janelle-monae
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