Janelle Monáe & Nate Wonder

Janelle Monáe has had a lot to smile about this year. After a run of successful albums over the last decade, in June she released her fourth album, The Age of Pleasure. The album was just nominated for two Grammys including Album of the Year. This project is important—it signaled a big tone shift for Janelle whose past albums have centered in part around a recurring character named Cyndi Mayweather, an android who represents society’s new “other.”

Esthetically Janelle has always been buttoned up. For her first few album releases she made a point of always appearing in public in some iteration of a tuxedo. For The Age Of Pleasure though, she literally stripped down to almost nothing, flaunting a newfound freedom centered around Black joy and acceptance.

On today’s episode Justin Richmond talks to Janelle Monáe and her long time music partner Nate Wonder poolside, at their creative home base in the Hollywood Hills called Wondaland. Nate explains how The Age Of Pleasure album started with the simple conceit of making Janelle smile. Janelle also talks about why she decided to ditch a career in musical theater after college, and how THE Grace Jones ended up topless in Wondaland’s now-infamous pool.

You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite Janelle Monáe songs HERE.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jaksot(368)

Jeff Tweedy's Songwriting Master Class

Jeff Tweedy's Songwriting Master Class

Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy is a prolific songwriter and he's ready to share his secrets. They're all in his new book, How to Write One Song. On today's episode, Tweedy shares some of his techniques with Malc...

1 Joulu 202050min

Leslie Odom Jr. of Hamilton

Leslie Odom Jr. of Hamilton

Leslie Odom Jr., best known for playing Aaron Burr in Hamilton, speaks to Bruce Headlam about his career on stage and in music and also his new Christmas album. The Christmas Album is Leslie's second ...

24 Marras 202057min

Mike Campbell On First Album Post Heartbreakers

Mike Campbell On First Album Post Heartbreakers

Mike Campbell, guitarist, co-writer and original Heartbreaker talks to Rick Rubin about growing up with Tom Petty, working on Wildflowers and about his new album, Wreckless Abandon, with band The Dirt...

19 Marras 202053min

Deep Sea Diver

Deep Sea Diver

There’s no playbook for successfully releasing music during a pandemic. Especially if you’re an indie artist, the stakes really couldn’t be higher. But Deep Sea Diver has managed to put all that aside...

17 Marras 202030min

Sturgill Simpson

Sturgill Simpson

Kentucky singer/songwriter Sturgill Simpson was in his mid-30s when he found fame as a country artist in Nashville. He had already lived a full life including a stint in the Navy, and years spent work...

12 Marras 202053min

Lenny Kravitz

Lenny Kravitz

In the opening lines of his New York Times bestselling memoir, Let Love Rule, Lenny Kravitz writes that he is deeply two-sided. His young life was all about opposites and extremes—black and white. He ...

10 Marras 202056min

S.G. Goodman

S.G. Goodman

S.G. Goodman turns traditional Southern storytelling on its head with songs that present a deeper, more complex look at life below the Mason-Dixon line. As a queer person who lives with mental illness...

5 Marras 202032min

Maya Hawke

Maya Hawke

Maya Hawke has managed to escape the long shadow of her very famous parents, Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. She’s made a name for herself, first as an actor in Stranger Things, Little Women, and Taranti...

3 Marras 202034min

Suosittua kategoriassa Viihde

tuplakaak
anni-jaajo
grekovit
hei-baby-3
terveisia-perheesta
the-harlin-show
dear-shirly
antin-palautepalvelu
bella-table
verhon-takaa
antin-elokuvakerho
tervo-halme
nonsensepodi
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
dear-shirly-ja-arttu
get-jassud
tahtitehdas
hollywood-love-stories-2
everypodi
terkuin-jenna