Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe is a singer, songwriter, actor and author whose R&B, funk and Afrofuturist storytelling connect music, film and imagined worlds.
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Janelle’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus their backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
Overview
- From
- Kansas City, Kansas
- Born
- December 1, 1985
- Work
- Singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and author
- Breakout
- Metropolis and “Many Moons,” followed by The ArchAndroid and “Tightrope”
- Creative home
- Wondaland, the Atlanta arts collective
Mini bio
How it started.
Monáe grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, studied musical theater in New York and then moved to Atlanta. They performed around college campuses, sold CDs from the trunk of a green Mitsubishi Galant and worked at Office Depot while building their music career and finding collaborators for Wondaland.
The android years.
Metropolis introduced the science fiction world that continued through The ArchAndroid and The Electric Lady. “Many Moons” earned a 2009 GRAMMY nomination; The ArchAndroid and its Big Boi collaboration “Tightrope” earned nominations in 2011. The android stories made space for questions about freedom, identity and belonging.
More of their world.
Dirty Computer brought songs such as “Make Me Feel,” “Pynk” and “I Like That,” and received an Album of the Year nomination. Monáe expanded that world with five collaborators in the 2022 story collection The Memory Librarian. The Age of Pleasure followed in 2023, with guests including Grace Jones and Sister Nancy, and earned two 2024 GRAMMY nominations.
On screen.
Monáe played Teresa in Moonlight and NASA engineer Mary Jackson in Hidden Figures, sharing the latter film’s Screen Actors Guild cast award. In Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, they took on the twin roles of Andi and Helen Brand.
Creditschronological, newest first
Music
- 2026Party at the BeachArtist with Zeddy Will
- 2026Yoga (Copacabana) - Jersey Club RemixArtist with Jidenna and tco.dylann
- 2023The Age of PleasureRecording artist
- 2018Dirty ComputerRecording artist
- 2010The ArchAndroidRecording artist
Film and live performance
- 2025The Nightmare Before Christmas in ConcertSally, vocals at the Hollywood Bowl
- 2022Glass Onion: A Knives Out MysteryAndi and Helen Brand
- 2016Hidden FiguresMary Jackson
- 2016MoonlightTeresa
Books
- 2022The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty ComputerCoauthor with Yohanca Delgado, Eve L. Ewing, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Danny Lore and Sheree Renée Thomas
Awards
Quotes
Wondaland started as a seed and we’ve been watering it ever since.Janelle Monáe, Red Bull Music Academy lecture
Reflecting on the Atlanta community that helped them build an independent music career.
Trivia
- Their early black-and-white uniform paid tribute to their parents and other working people who wore uniforms, while also challenging gender expectations.
- Before the bigger stages, they tested songs by performing in Atlanta college dorm lounges and on library steps.
- The Memory Librarian extends the world of Dirty Computer through collaborative short fiction.
Find Janelle
Follow Janelle for music, performances and life in Wondaland.
Are you Janelle Monáe?
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