Have the People Policing Janelle Monáe’s Body Actually Listened to Their Music?

With the rollout of their fourth studio album, The Age of Pleasure (TAOP), a lot of new attention has been paid to afro-futurist icon Janelle Monáe—in particular, their body and their method of adoring it. Since coming out as non-binary in 2022 and releasing TAOP, Monáe has revealed more of their body more often. A loud minority of people online have turned to criticizing them over this, claiming that they’re showing their body to reach new heights of fame. The latest example is the backlash to their ESSENCE Festival set on June 30.

At the start of this new era for Monáe, I was cautiously optimistic about this increased attention. They seem to be in complete bliss and control, changing up their look. If that happens to mean more people will give this massively underrated artist a listen, who is it hurting? A lot of people, apparently. A mix of genuine (yet ignorant) concern and straight-up sexism has resulted in non-stop slut-shaming, body-shaming, and misogyny towards Monáe.

I can’t stress this enough: This isn’t fans doing this. It’s casual listeners and new people. Fandriod groups rarely discuss the increased visibility of their skin, and it’s never in a negative way. Even if people don’t love the new sound, they all appreciate how Monáe is unafraid to try new forms of expression, be it in a tailored suit or their birthday suit. Even those that don’t engage with other fans but follow their music career have noticed that this shift in attitude about showing more skin didn’t come out of nowhere.

Pleasure at Essence Fest 2023

The electric lady has been peeling away clothes and walls, protecting their true self for years. Since working on Dirty Computer, this process has rapidly increased. One major example is their queerness. For nearly a decade, Monáe, through their character in their multi-album ArchAndroid story, played with gender and sexuality. It wasn’t until a few years ago that Monáe came out (twice). This has cumulated in where we are today, where Monáe states repeatedly that they’re the most comfortable they’ve felt with their music, gender, sexuality, and body ever.

While performing their 2015 song “Yoga” in a 45-minute Essence Fest 2023 set, they sang the lyrics, “You cannot police me, so get off my areola. Get off my areola.” Here, Monáe lifted one side of their top to reveal a pasty over their areola, a.k.a. nipple. Since that moment at the show, comments and quote tweets have criticized this display. The “what about the children” crowd aside, because this was an adult concert, people act like we haven’t seen their nipple(s) several times in the last few months—like the Age of Pleasure album cover and rollout hasn’t been full of bare breasts and wet white t-shirts.

The moment also shows how little things have changed from the 2004 Janet Jackson Super Bowl XXXVIII performance. (Though with that nipple slip, it was unintentional.)

Maybe you didn’t hear “Yoga” before this moment and are fuming at the “vulgarity” of it all—all the while failing to remember the sexual tension of “Make Me Feel” or the “Pynk” music video and performances featuring pants resembling vaginas. This is not just for the performance of sexual liberation. From narrating a Netflix documentary on sex and childbirth to being a vocal advocate against misogyny and homophobia in all its forms, they’ve been about it.

Suited up

No one denies that Monáe has aesthetically shifted how they express themself. For years, they stuck to a mostly black-and-white color palette. It wasn’t always suits, but suits took up most of their wardrobe no matter the occasion. Monáe has stated this was an ode to their working-class parents. They had to wear a uniform, so Monáe chose a uniform for their creative profession. Since making theatrical films and coming out as pansexual during their Dirty Computer phase, they’ve shown more skin and dabbled in more color.

In June 2023, Monáe revisited The Breakfast Club and addressed the way people have talked about their body over the years, particularly how when they were dressed more conservatively, people would use that to put down other women.

I’m not, I’ve never been into respectability politics. And, I think that there were people who tried to use my image—and we talked this on the show last time I was here. Yeah, they tried to use my image to defame, denounce, to talk down on other women who where expressing themselves, showing their skin.

We all want autonomy. I wanted autonomy to wear my suit for ten years without y’all telling me I look like the peanut man. And I did that.

Criticism of Monáe is no different than the criticism of Meghan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, and others. Days after the concert, ire turned to actress Tracie Ellis Ross for a topless image of her in Schiaparelli, and critics also tried to invoke her age as a reason to cover up, too. This sort of misogyny towards Monáe and others is extra grating because it also comes with the baggage of the sexualization of Black people tracing back to the times of chattel slavery. However, just because other people see us as inherently sexual (especially women and femmes) doesn’t mean we should “overcorrect.” Respectability politics is a rigged game that Monáe and others refuse to play. Monáe knew it when their body looked different and they dressed in suits, and they know it now.

Janelle Monáe is a star

Even if none of this matters and you seriously want to entertain the idea that the influence of entertainment to coerce women (and feminine people) to shed their clothes for success and financial security is the only reason they would do this, let me remind you that Monáe has been successful for years. Many maybe didn’t recognize the singer-songwriter until Knives Out: A Glass Onion Mystery or when they released Lipstick Lover. I didn’t tune in to The ArchAndriod Suite until after Hidden Figures. However, before 2023, they had starred in almost a dozen films across various genres, with some critically acclaimed, like Moonlight. In 2012, Monáe was a Cover Girl, and in 2022, they became a science fiction author. TAOF is their fourth album, if you don’t count the Grammy nominee’s first two EPs.

It’s also worth noting that at the start of Monáe’s career with the label, they were signed under Bad Boy Records by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. Diddy is notorious for holding tight control over artists and is accused by many of exploiting young Black artists. Nothing in their time with him suggests that was the case. Monáe and the Wondaland Arts Collective made art how they wanted, even if it wasn’t always stylistically radio friendly. Those new around here and genuinely concerned should consider all of this before piping up. (Not that one has to reach a certain level of success to be what Monáe calls F.A.M.s—”Free–Ass Motherfucker[s].”) And for those still like “but that doesn’t matter,” you should really reflect on why it bothers you so much how others choose to express their gender.

Hear it from Monáe themself

In the last few months, Monáe has continued to be very open about this whole process. Back in March, for Ebony magazine, they talked about how they navigate their gender as a person with a Black and curvy body. (It features a photoshoot I’m obsessed with.) However, the best interview so far has come from the What’s Underneath YouTube series. Here, guests are interviewed about their relationship with their bodies. Throughout the intimate interview, they shed more and more clothes, even taking off their makeup. As a long-time viewer, it was interesting to see Monáe on. They talked in detail about their journey to self-acceptance, how their body has changed over the years, and even how they’ve been a fan of the series.

(featured image: Paras Griffin/Getty Images)