Janelle Monáe & Nate Wonder

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Pushkin Industries

Music, Society & Culture

4.5 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2023

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Pushkin
0:11.0	Genomonez had a lot to smile about this year.
0:14.0	After a run of successful albums over the last decade, in June she released her fourth album, The Age of Pleasure.
0:21.0	It's an important project.
0:22.9	Not only was it just nominated for two Grammys, including the album of the year, but it's also
0:27.3	signaled a big tone shift for Janelle, whose past albums have centered in part around a recurring character
0:32.4	named Cindy Mayweather, an Android who represented. albums have centered in part around a recurring character named
0:32.8	Cindy Mayweather, an Android who represents society's new other.
0:37.6	Aesthetically, Janelle has also always been pretty buttoned up.
0:41.1	For her first few album releases, she made a point of always appearing
0:44.2	in public in some iteration of a tuxedo. But for the age of pleasure she
0:48.7	literally stripped down to almost nothing, flaunting a new-found freedom centered around black joy, pleasure, and acceptance.
0:55.8	On today's episode, I'm Poolside having a conversation with Janelle Monet and her longtime
1:01.0	musical partner, Nate Wonder, who also co-produced and co-wrote this new record
1:04.9	along with her others.
1:07.1	We're at their creative home base in the Hollywood Hills called Wonderland.
1:11.3	Nate explains how the Age of Pleasure album started with the simple
1:14.3	conceit of wanting to make Janelle Monet smile.
1:17.1	Janelle also talks about why she decided to ditch a career in musical theater
1:21.2	after college and how the Grace Jones ended up
1:24.7	topless in Wonderland's now infamous pool. This is Broken Record. Liner
1:32.4	notes for the digital age.
	...

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