Artist Profile: Janelle Monaé

   From working as a waitress at Ponderosa Steakhouse to receiving 8 Grammy nominations. Janelle Monaé has become a successful actress, rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer at age 35. Monaé was born in Kansas City, KS on December 1st, 1985. Growing up in Kansas was difficult as she had very few resources to achieve her goals. For that reason, Janelle moved to New York after she finished high school hoping for a greater start to her career. She started her career as a singer back in 2003 with a demo album. Soon after, her acting career kicked off. 

      In an interview with Harvard Business Review, she mentioned how her family has shaped the image of work. Her mother was a janitor, her father a trashman, and her grandmother served food at a county jail. It was clear she comes from a hardworking family. They encouraged her to do better and were very supportive of her decision of becoming a musician. As a child, she watched her family struggle financially but that never stopped them from giving up. Admiring their dedication and early mornings, she states, “My idea of working was to work hard and contribute to your community”. In a different interview with CNBC, she claimed, “Without your community, without your family, you couldn’t survive”, which further enforces her admiration for them.

      As mentioned before, Janelle has both a singing career and an acting career. Her music genre mostly consists of R&B/Soul but she is featured in other categories as well. In 2003, Monaé released her first demo titled, The Audition. Due to the fact this album was a demo, it can’t be found on most music platforms. Metropolis: The Chase Suite (2008) was her first official studio album with a total of 7 songs. It wasn’t until her 2nd studio album, The ArchAndroid (Deluxe), where people started to recognize her voice and enjoy her music. In this album, songs like Dance or Die, Locked Inside, and Neon Valley were the most successful. Later in 2013, she released Electric Lady, which featured artists such as Miguel and Prince. Her most recent album, Dirty Computer (2018), holds the highest rank from her previous albums. According to Apple Music, I like that, and Make Me Feel (which are featured on this album) are on her top 3 most listened to songs from her. In fact, the song I Like That is featured in the US (2019) movie soundtrack.

    Although she wasn’t in that movie as an actress, Janelle has been featured in other movies. The first major movie she appeared in was Moonlight (2016). This movie went on to win Oscars, Golden Globes, and BET Awards. That same year, she was also part of the movie Hidden Figures along with Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer. Her most recent movie, Antebellum (2020), features Janelle as a successful author but after some major turn of events, she must live and confront the horrors of American slavery.

   Overall, Monaé is an amazing role model as she fought to reach her dreams and is motivated to do better. Her success in both the music and movie industry is astonishing as many celebrities cannot say they are part of both careers. With an amazingly supportive family and friends and hopefully new music on the way, Monaé is on the path to further extend her success.