Janelle Monae misses being able to speak to Prince for guidance about her career.
The 32-year-old singer-and-actress is getting ready to release her third studio album ‘Dirty Computer’ in two months’ time and prior to the ‘Purple Rain’ hitmaker’s death in April 2016 he had been a mentor to her and had featured on her last LP ‘The Electric Lady’.
Janelle had once again been working with the music legend on her new material and she admits that Prince’s presence is very much felt on her album because they had been "collecting sounds" ahead of his untimely passing.
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, she said: "It’s difficult for me to even speak about this because Prince was helping me with the album, before he passed on to another frequency. [His death was] a stab in the stomach. The last time I saw him was New Year’s Day. I performed a private party in St Bart’s with him, and after we sat and just talked for five hours. He was one of the people I would talk to about things, him and Stevie Wonder."
Janelle sent her debut LP ‘The ArchAndroid’ to Prince and Stevie before it was released in 2010 along with a handwritten tracklist to get their opinion on her music.
The ‘Cold War’ singer credits pop pioneer Prince with helping her become the adventurous artist she is today, and she will forever be thankful to the ‘When Doves Cry’ songwriter.
Janelle – who unveiled her new singles ‘Make Me Feel’ and ‘Django Jane’ from ‘Dirty Computer’ on Friday (23.02.18) – said: "I wouldn’t be as comfortable with who I am if it had not been for Prince. I mean, my label Wondaland would not exist without Paisley Park coming before us. He would probably get me for cussin’, but Prince is in that ‘free motherf***er’ category. That’s the category when we can recognise in each other that you’re also a free motherf***er. Whether we curse or not, we see other free motherf***ers. David Bowie! A free motherf***er. I feel their spirit, I feel their energy. They were able to evolve. You felt that freedom in them … I dedicate a lot of my music to Prince, for everything he’s done for music and black people and women and men, for those who have something to say and also at the same time will not allow society to take the dirt off of them. It’s about that dirt, and not getting rid of that dirt."
Janelle Monae misses mentor Prince
