Jesse James
It’s never a bad day when we get some new music from Janelle Monáe. The songstress, actress, and much more is back. This time around, she returns with a brand new single for our listening enjoyment. The multi-hyphenate serves up “Turntables,” which is set to be featured in the Amazon Studios documentary All In: The Fight For Democracy. Currently, Janelle is gearing up to star in the upcoming film Antebellum.
But first, new music. She recently sat down and spoke with Zane Lowe. She opened up about being Black In America, America’s future, and the meaning behind her new single. She stated: “I, like a lot of people just as humans, especially being Black in America, I’ve been experiencing a lot of trauma around seeing black bodies murdered like humans murdered.”
Janelle went on to say, “I struggle with talking about it because it is like a wound that we’re reopening. We’ve been screaming Black Lives Matter. We’ve been understanding where our ancestors came from and the fact that I’m here not because I asked to be here, but because my ancestors were stolen, and we were forced to be here. So there’s a connection between the past, the present, and what could be the future if we continue. And I say as humans continue to let black people suffer. And so I’ve been emotionally debilitated, but I got an opportunity to get back into the studio to talk about or to create lyrics that [doesn’t] keep us reminded of that trauma, but keep us moving forward and remind us that things are changing.”
Speaking about the new single and its meaning, she said, “We are changing things. The tables are turning. The rooster has come home to roost.” Ms. Monae went on to add, “So this song is capturing direction. And when you think about a record, when you think about a record spinning, when you think about the revolutions per minute, it’s all connected. And that is what this song means. This song doesn’t mean that I’m the leader that I’m here to tell you what to do, how to fix things. I’m simply watching, examining, and wanting to highlight all of the people who are on the front lines, fighting for our democracy, fighting against racial inequalities, fighting against white supremacy, fighting against systemic racism and systemic oppression. So this song is to keep us motivated. This song is to lift up and keep us galvanized when we’re fatigued. And this song is really for the people.”
Check out the new single in the stream below, and be sure to check out All In when it arrives in select theaters on September 9, before hitting Amazon Prime video on September 18. In the meantime, keep it locked with The Culture Curators for much more new music coming very soon.
