Janelle Monáe’s album ‘Dirty Computer’ is a record that will go down as a milestone not just as a work of art in its own right, but as the perfect celebration of queerness, female power, and self-worth. (Connor, 2018)

In the album’s eponymous movie, Monáe’s role as Jane, robot number 57821, goes from being presented as “Dirty” in the computer, to accepting that she has been “cleaned,” and finally to recognizing her new identity, which corresponds to three of the album’s tracks. This corresponds to the three sections of the album. It is worth noting that when the first four songs of the album explore the subject of “Dirty”, the tone of the songs is not somber, but rather vibrant and bright, seemingly standing in contrast to the public perception of Dirty, with a high level of acceptance of one’s own skin color, desires, and other innate things.

Music videos in this album include gender freedom, identity, sexuality, and women’s rights, such as “Make Me Feel”, which reflects that “she initially identified as bisexual, but then she reads about pansexuality and is open to learning more about who she is.” (Spanos, 2023) In “Django Jane”, a surprise homage is paid to the film “Ordinary Women”: a mirror is placed between the legs, concealing the private parts while reflecting the self staring into the mirror.

The constant references to “police” and “monitor” in music videos are symbolic metaphors for limiting personalities and behaviors that are unacceptable to the secular public.

In the second part of the album corresponding to “Be Cleaned”, “Pynk” is noteworthy for its bright guitars and synthesizers that work together to create a pleasant atmosphere, and the video’s images of both clothing and lip color correspond to a very bright pink color, singing about freedom and release. The euphemisms of the lyrics of “Pynk” and the pink shape of clothes in the video, which resembles a female sex organ. It’s a really beautiful but powerful music video about gender and rights.

“Dirty Computer” is a whole piece of work, judged by the music alone, it is delicate and complete when combined with the narrative film, you may be able to decipher more.

References

Connor, R.O. (2018) What did we do to deserve Janelle Monáe? dirty computer – album review, The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/janelle-monae-dirty-computer-review-today-listen-live-prince-tessa-thompson-a8324771.html. 

Janelle Monáe – Dirty Computer [Emotion Picture] (2018). YouTube. 27 April. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdH2Sy-BlNE. 

Spanos, B. (2023) Janelle Monáe frees herself, Rolling Stone. Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/janelle-monae-frees-herself-629204/. 

by Linzi Zhu 33727704