Alison Hammond’s Pure Joy Comes Close To Stealing The Show At Kylie’s Intimate London Gig

Posted on 28/09/2023 by Boris Clair

Pop superstar Kylie Minogue is still going from strength to strength, 16 albums, 36 years and countless awards, nominations and records-shattered after her musical debut.

And, at a packed-out, intimate gig at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Wednesday evening to celebrate the release of her latest offering, Tension, she received perhaps the most impressive accolade of them all – the endorsement of national treasure, new Bake Off host and queen of people’s hearts, Alison Hammond.

Spotted on a balcony overlooking Kylie as she tore through hits like Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, Spinning Around and recent smash Padam Padam, Alison came close to stealing the show with the sheer amount of joy she was exuding – and the Kylie t-shirt she was seen waving to the crowds below her.

“Alison Hammond waving a Kylie t-shirt at the Kylie gig has restored my joy for the rest of the year,” one fan posted, alongside a video of the momentous occasion.

Another commented that the beloved daytime host’s “real-time reaction to Padam Padam was almost as good as seeing Padam Padam live for the first time.”

Meanwhile, a review of the night for Evening Standard added that Alison’s simple attendance at the gig made for “made for quite the support act.”

Kylie filled the evening with chart-topping hits and fan favourites for plenty of other famous fans who were also in attendance, including Drag Race UK’s Graham Norton and Michelle Visage, as well as Rylan and Alex Scott.

Taylor Swift Really Let Her Down At This Year’s VMAs, And Her Fans Are Absolutely Here For It

Posted on 13/09/2023 by Boris Clair

Anyone who’s watched a music awards show in the last decade will know that at multiple points over the course of the night, you’re going to get numerous shots of Taylor Swift in the audience.

This was certainly the case at Tuesday night’s MTV Video Music Awards, where the chart-topping singer was up for 11 awards (eventually winning nine of them, meaning she was just one away from Peter Gabriel’s record for most victories in a single night).

However, the big difference at this year’s VMAs was that Taylor was neither performing nor presenting, meaning she was able to let her hair down at the ceremony.

And folks, let her hair down she did.

The audience “POV cam” was pretty much on Taylor for the entire night, leading to numerous viral moments that included appreciating her fellow artists’ performances…

…giving props to some of her A-list pals…

…having a suitably understated reaction to NSYNC’s joint appearance…

…and… well… a few more viral moments…

Of course, fans were absolutely loving seeing Taylor kicking back at the VMAs…

I hope Taylor Swift never stop going to these award shows. She’s hilarious

— Mabel Berzatto (@coolpeopleMabel) September 13, 2023

taylor swift has been dancing all night 😭 she truly loves her line of work it’s so refreshing to see

— ! (@DvlDare) September 13, 2023

Nah Taylor Swift been funny in the audience all night lmao

— Lauren 💋 (@xlaurenlacey) September 13, 2023

Taylor Swift a whole mood at the VMAs 😂 that’s me off beat, happy, and dancing all night lol

— Nai Turner (@SidelineImages) September 13, 2023

You aint get a better audience if Taylor Swift attends an event 🤩🙌🏼 Cause my woman always vibin and supportive to everyone ❤️

— 🥀 (@narakoyuki) September 13, 2023

As well as stealing the show on the audience came, Taylor took home a hefty number of awards, including the night’s most coveted prize, Video Of The Year.

This marked Taylor’s fourth win in the ceremony’s top category, and the first time an artist took home the title for two years running, following last year’s triumph for her All Too Well “short film”.

Check out the full list of winners from the 2023 VMAs here.

Beyoncé Serenades Tia Mowry In Surprise ’90s Tribute After Spotting Her In Concert Crowd

Posted on 07/09/2023 by Boris Clair

Beyoncé is truly one of one, and she proved it by giving actor Tia Mowry a perfect off-the-cuff shoutout at her star-studded birthday celebration during her Renaissance World Tour.

Countless celebrities flocked to celebrate the pop star’s birthday at Monday’s show at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. But Queen Bey couldn’t help but gush after noticing the Sister, Sister star in the crowd.

After the Grammy winner spotted Tia in the audience while performing her 2011 song 1+1, Beyoncé decided to usher in some nostalgic vibes, spontaneously switching up the song to incorporate lyrics from the early ’90s single Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!.

More than two decades ago, Tia and her twin sister, Tamera, were part of a singing group called Voices, with Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! as their first single.

The 1992 song charted at No. 76 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Fans on X, formerly known as Twitter, were in awe over the touching moment:

how does she always do these things on the spot? she knows how to make someone feel special!

— 𝓴𝓪𝔂𝓵𝓪 (@damekayla) September 6, 2023

i would throw up if beyoncé singled me out said she loved me, and sang my own childhood song in my face the way she did tia mowry 😭😭

— luca (@LucaGuadagnegro) September 6, 2023

Seeing Beyoncé effortlessly do things on the spot that are so specific that most of us wouldn’t even notice is INCREDIBLE

She’s truly a genius! 😍

— ladidai 📣 go to @heyhearusout (@ladidaix) September 6, 2023

It does not make any sense how GOOD Beyoncé is. Like that was ON THE SPOT. Not rehearsed. Not thought of a week before but ON THE FUCKING SPOT. You would’ve had to pick me up off the floor if i were Tia 😂 https://t.co/bXTZm2s22T

— The infinity Gawklet (@TAN1AAA) September 6, 2023

I just can’t get over that Beyoncé clip. On HER birthday, with thousands of people to see HER she decided to take that moment and pay homage to a friend of hers. How intimate that must have felt for Tia!

— IG: Urbanelegance (@urban_elegance) September 6, 2023

Beyoncé’s connection to the Mowry sisters goes way back.

The trio previously crossed paths when Tahj Mowry, Tia and Tamera’s younger brother, starred in the ’90s Disney Channel sitcom Smart Guy.

In the 1998 episode A Date With Destiny, the singing group Destiny’s Child — which at that time included Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson at the time — made a guest appearance on the show. The Grammy-winning group also performed alongside Tahj in a music video for their song No, No, No.

On Tuesday, Tia Mowry posted about the heartfelt gesture on Instagram, sharing that she was “so touched” and “can’t believe that it truly happened.”

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“From the beginning, Beyoncé’s undeniable talent is only rivaled by her incredible kindness and generosity. I felt so lucky to have been able to see her perform Renaissance on her birthday,” Tia captioned the post, alongside a throwback photo of herself and Tamera with the members of Destiny’s Child.

“You can truly see how amazing and detailed an artist she is, and how much thought and love was put into this show,” she added.

Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour is slated to wrap up in early October.

Ellie Goulding Shares Update Following Pyrotechnic Mishap During Live Performance

Posted on 31/08/2023 by Boris Clair

Ellie Goulding has assured her fans she’s doing well following an incident during one of her recent live shows.

Over the weekend, the chart-topping singer was performing her recent hit Miracle at Victorious Festival in Portsmouth, when a stage firework appeared to go off at the wrong time, and ignited close to her face.

The moment was recorded and shared online, with Ellie heard briefly screaming after the firework went off, before shaking it off and carrying on with the rest of her number.

Shortly afterwards, Ellie spoke out to let her Instagram followers know she was “intact” after the performance.

“To those asking, I am OK!” she insisted on her Instagram story. “Pyro didn’t hit me directly in the face. Face is intact.”

Ellie signed off her message “love you, thank you”, adding a firework gif to her post.

The British star recently enjoyed a chart resurgence after teaming up with Calvin Harris for the trance-inspired Miracle, which reached number one in the UK singles chart.

This marked the third time the two musicians have worked together, previously releasing the top 10 hits I Need Your Love and Outside in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Ellie Goulding and Calvin Harris in 2014

Earlier this year, Ellie unveiled her fifth studio album Higher Than Heaven, which gave the Anything Could Happen singer her fourth number one in the UK, in the same week that Miracle also reached its peak in the singles chart.

To coincide with the release, she’s set to tour the UK and select cities in Europe in October.

Victoria Monét Has Perfect Timing

Posted on 27/08/2023 by Boris Clair

“I Run This” is a weekly interview series that highlights Black women and femmes who do dope shit in entertainment and culture while creating visibility, access and empowerment for those who look like them. Read my Teyonah Paris interview here.

Victoria Monét arrives for our interview amid what’s likely her busiest project rollout to date. Her team buzzes around to primp and prime the songstress by fixing the slightest stray hair or crooked collar. We joke about her not wearing her signature chocolatey brown and instead opting for a trendy denim two-piece. She notes that she’s feeling more vibrant in this chapter and wants her wardrobe to reflect it. At last, Monét is releasing a debut album after nearly a decade in the music industry.

The R&B singer has a gentle, steady glow and subtle glimmer about her. She knows how to flip the switch effortlessly between when it’s time to put in work and show the hell out like fireworks on the Fourth of July whenever she hits the stage. This moment in Monét’s career is a testament to how much of a virtue patience is. And that’s on her mama.

If you feel like you’ve never heard of Monét, you probably have heard her work. She’s written for Ariana Grande, Nas, T.I., Lupe Fiasco, Fifth Harmony and more. She even sang on Grande’s Monopoly and wrote and recorded an original song for Insecure. However, her 2020 EP Jaguar grew her fanbase and put her on a new level as a singer-songwriter. Now, with nearly 7 million monthly listeners on Spotify, she’s just released Jaguar II on Friday and is gearing up to headline her first tour — which is completely sold out — in two weeks.

“There were a lot of times that I wished for moments like this,” the 34-year-old said, dubbing this her “light era”. “I’ve just seen so much darkness and been alone in a lot of the process and doing my work and my due diligence in the dark, like rehearsals and investments and the business parts. So I feel like the curtains are opening. It’s showtime; the lights are on.”

Jaguar II puts listeners in a time capsule to tour the sounds of different eras but roots a lot of her sound in the 1960s and 1970s (apparent on the triumphantly groovy horns blaring on her hit single Smoke). She added that there’s some futurism on the album, too.

“I like that it kind of covers a lot of bases, but you can still kind of uncover that the root of it all comes from earlier music in the ’60s and ’70s,” she said of the sound on her upcoming album. “Even though you may hear the early 2000s influencing On My Mama, you can still connect back to the ’70s because of the horn lines, and it feels like when Earth, Wind and Fire would use their horns. So I’m excited to take people on that journey from top to bottom, just whatever they want to relate it to whatever area you could probably find just multiple, you know, timeframes to relate it to.”

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For the album, she tapped Earth, Wind and Fire, Lucky Daye, Buju Banton and Hazel Monét, her two-year-old daughter with boyfriend John Gaines. Monét reportedly started dating Gaines after shooting the Moment video from her 2020 EP. She told radio personality Angela Yee that a day after Gaines asked her to make it official, Monét found out she was pregnant with Hazel. She said while expectant and eager to give birth, their daughter taught her about the value of being patient.

“It taught me a lot about the timing and the right timing of everything, which applies to my career as well. Because as much as I wanted it to happen nine years ago, it all happens at the right time, in the perfect time, and in God’s timing,” she said.

Nine years ago, Monét believed that her career on the stage was gearing up to take off when she signed to Motown with a girl group called Purple Reign. Growing up in Sacramento, she had always tapped into her passion for the stage. Reluctant to lean into her voice as a shy kid initially, she honed her dancing skills, starting a drill team in middle school and attending a performing arts school for high school.

Monét, who had grown up singing in the church choir, began studying songwriting and production, which led her to add Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins as a friend on MySpace. When he invited her to Los Angeles to audition for Purple Reign, she packed up and decided to take a leap of faith toward her dreams in music. Within a year of being signed, however, the group was dropped from the label without even being able to release the album they had been working on.

She said breaking that news to her family was “really hard.” They were supportive and offered for her to return home to Sacramento, but she knew that wasn’t an option for her.

“I refused. I didn’t have a plan B. And a thing in Black families is you gotta have a plan B. And I think, because I didn’t have a Plan B, Plan A has to work, and it has to work, and it still has to work,” she said. “So I’m just still planning the journey of it all.”

Singer Victoria Monet performs on Day 2 of the Sol Blume Festival 2022 at Discovery Park on May 1, 2022, in Sacramento, California.

Her first songwriting placement came on Diddy Dirty Money’s I Hate That You Love Me, which opened the doors for her to write for other artists. Her friendship and working relationship with Grande led to her getting the opportunity to open up for the pop star on Grande’s Dangerous Woman Tour. She released her debut EP Nightmares and Lullabies Act 1 in 2014 under Atlantic Records and went on to release three other EPs. During this time, Monét was strategically collecting infinity stones, so to speak, and honing in on her sound before releasing Jaguar as an independent artist.

“Being an independent artist allowed me the space to really deep dive and find exactly what I wanted to say and the sonics I wanted to use with no upperclassmen telling me, ‘No,’” she explained. “I just did what I wanted to do. And luckily, people were receptive to it. I think it’s really important to just be your authentic self, even if it’s a little bit different and left of center than what’s going on in mainstream or what you’ve been instructed to do.”

The finesse and artfulness that Monét writes with can’t be replicated. The soft power of her voice harnesses a sensuality and divineness that puts you in a trance. And the energy in her dance style makes it impossible to deny your body its seemingly instinctive desire to move with her.

“I always really felt like this was what I was meant to do,” she said. She compared her journey to The Wizard of Oz, traversing her way to Oz after a storm and picking up the experiences and skills she needed to succeed. She admits that she may not have been ready to take center stage before, but now she certainly is.

“Now’s the time. Now, I’m mentally mature enough. Now, I’m confident enough and unapologetic enough to kind of do and experience some of the things that I’m experiencing now that maybe it was best that I didn’t have these things early on,” she admits. “It all just makes sense in retrospect, and you know, it’s really hard when you’re in the middle of a tornado to see outside and be like, ‘No, this is for a reason.’ Everything leads to where it’s supposed to be, so if you’re on a journey, don’t question it. There’s a reason for everything, and you’re gonna make it right on through to the other side.”

Adele Gets Teary As She Helps Expectant Couple With Mid-Concert Gender Reveal

Posted on 17/08/2023 by Boris Clair

Adele made a New York couple’s visit to Las Vegas extra special by helping them with a very personal announcement.

Viral footage captured over the weekend shows the 16-time Grammy winner halting a performance of her blockbuster residency, Weekends With Adele, to reveal the sex of Chris Dare and Shantelle Lord’s baby.

The pair – who travelled from Newburgh, New York – attended Adele’s performance at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Saturday bearing a custom-made flag that read: “Adele will you do our gender reveal?”

Once the flag caught Adele’s eye, she tore into a sealed envelope that had been handed to her by the couple, after which she proclaimed: “Shantelle and Chris are having a baby boy!”

After the crowd erupted into applause, Adele became visibly teary before making a request of her own.

“That’s so emotional, oh, my God,” she said, adding: “If and when I get pregnant, will you do my gender reveal?”

Dare uploaded footage of the moment on his TikTok and Instagram accounts and thanked Adele for her assistance.

“POV: Adele did our gender reveal,” he wrote on Instagram. “Adele, you are amazing and we will remember this night for the rest of our lives.”

Adele kicked off the second leg of Weekends With Adele” last month, and has said she plans to commemorate the show with a live concert special.

The singer is the mother of a 10-year-old son, Angelo, whom she shares with ex-husband Simon Konecki. She’s currently in a relationship with sports agent Rich Paul, and has been open about her desire to have another child.

Madonna Has An Exciting Tour Update For Fans After Recent Health Scare

Posted on 16/08/2023 by Boris Clair

Madonna has issued an exciting update for fans in North America who have tickets to see her upcoming Celebration tour.

Last year, the Grammy-winning music legend announced she’d be embarking on her first ever greatest hits jaunt, which was supposed to have kicked off in Vancouver in July.

However, in June, the Queen of Pop was admitted to hospital due to a “serious bacterial infection” and spent time in ICU.

As a result, Madonna’s manager announced the singer would “need to pause all commitments, which includes the tour” while she recovered.

On Tuesday evening, it was revealed that the North American leg of the tour would begin in December in New York, with the majority of dates having now been postponed until early 2024.

A select few tour dates – including performances in Tulsa, Nashville, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Phoenix – have also been cancelled altogether due to “scheduling conflicts”.

Madonna’s Nashville show was a late inclusion to her tour schedule, added as a show of solidarity with the drag and trans community, after recent legislation in Tennessee. Refunds will be available at point of purchase.

“Getting all shows rescheduled was the number one priority,” a press release explained.

“Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts a few shows […] will be canceled. Madonna regrets the inconvenience to fans and hopes to make it up to those markets in the future.”

Madonna last went on tour in 2019 to promote her most recent album Madame X

Madonna – who is celebrating her 65th birthday on Wednesday – will now begin her tour with a string of dates at London’s O2 Arena in October, before taking the show across Europe.

The Papa Don’t Preach star publicly addressed her health scare in an Instagram post weeks after leaving hospital, thanking fans for their “positive energy, prayers and words of healing and encouragement.”

“I have felt your love,” she wrote. “I’m on the road to recovery and incredibly grateful for all the blessings in my life.”

Beyoncé Pays $100,000 To Keep D.C. Metro Open Late After Concert Weather Delay

Posted on 08/08/2023 by Boris Clair

After a severe storm thwarted her Renaissance World Tour stop on Sunday night, Beyoncé and her team shelled out $100,000 (around £78,344) to make sure the Beyhive made it home safely.

The singer’s tour paid to keep all 98 Metro stations in the Washington, D.C., area open for an extra hour after the show at the outdoor FedExField was delayed due to heavy rain and lightning, a news release from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said.

“Due to inclement weather that may delay the start of tonight’s Renaissance World Tour at FedExField, Metro will extend the last train by an extra hour beyond the extended closing previously announced,” the transit authority said in a statement.

“The additional hour will be funded by the Tour to cover the $100,000 cost to run more trains, keep all 98 stations open for customers to exit, and other operational expenses,” it added.

The thoughtful gesture came hours after fans had to take cover as a precaution because of the storm.

“Due to lightning in the area, we are currently under a shelter in place order,” the stadium wrote in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Fans outside of gates and in the parking lots are asked to return to their cars. All fans inside of the stadium are asked to shelter in place under covered concourse areas and ramps until further notice.”

FedExField issued the shelter-in-place warning on social media at 6:40 p.m. The 29-time Grammy winner usually hits the stage just before 9 p.m. local time for her headlining set.

After fans heard word of the Break My Soul singer’s generous efforts, they took to X to gush over her “power”:

Beyonce gave metro 100k to stay open late so people could get back damn she has a different type of power lol

— Michael Plan B Jordan (@Shmev0) August 7, 2023

Beyoncé paid 100k to keep the metro trains running longer on a Sunday night for her fans. If that ain’t love, idk what is

— BIG E 🧜🏾♀️ (@the_ericanicole) August 7, 2023

Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour fully funded the $100k it took to extend Metro service after her FedEx Field concert was delayed due to thunderstorms.

That’s how a Queen Bey provides for her hive. pic.twitter.com/Pm1woKfSAZ

— Esther Ciammachilli (@EstherCinDC) August 7, 2023

First off, Beyoncé dropping a bag to metro to stay open later, she’s so mother for that

— ᴘʀᴏꜱᴇᴄᴄᴏ ᴘᴏᴘᴇ (@chaysemanhatten) August 7, 2023

Beyoncé paying for the late metro is a major SLAY

— go gina (@stargrrl23) August 7, 2023

I will shoutout Beyoncé and her team for putting up 100K to keep Metro running so concert goers could get home safely.

She’s done a lot, but I think that has me submitting my hive membership application. Lol much respect to her.

— Monica (@themonicakay) August 7, 2023

While fans waited for the advisory to pass, several people were treated for heat exhaustion and one person was hospitalized, ABC affiliate WJLA reported.

CNN reporter Abby Phillip, who attended the crowded venue that night, said “no one seemed to really know what the plan should be”, which caused a “chaotic” scene inside the stadium.

“It was very uncomfortable…I mean it was pouring rain for a while and there was lightning in the air, so they didn’t want to let to let anyone in and obviously the concert wasn’t going to start, but it was really chaotic and I think that was kind of the experience that I and so many other people had…the chaos and the crowd and the rain and the heat,” Phillip said.

“It was one of those moments where it was a great concert, but that experience was a little bit scary,” Phillip added.

The shelter-in-place order was lifted after fans waited around for nearly two hours, and ticket holders were cleared to return to their seats around 8:25 p.m., according to another post from FedExField.

Bey eventually kicked things off around 10 p.m. as she performed amid the continued rain, according to Setlist.fm.

The star’s Renaissance World Tour is slated to wrap up in September.

Joe Jonas Casually Spills The Tea On Pooing His Pants On Stage While Wearing White

Posted on 15/07/2023 by Boris Clair

Joe Jonas once defecated into his pants while performing on stage — in a white suit.

The Not Right Now singer unexpectedly shared as much during a rather casual chat on Friday’s Australian Will & Woody podcast episode. Jonas even admitted the bowel betrayal was relatively recent before presumably joking that he sought therapy afterward.

“There’s a point in your life where, as an adult, you can remember the last time you shit your pants,” the 33-year-old told hosts Will McMahon and Woody Whitelaw. “This was, I think, about four years ago. It’s fresh, but I’ve been able to work through it. A lot of therapy.”

He continued, “Let’s just say it was a bad day to choose to wear white clothing. You think it might’ve been a little toot. It might’ve been a little something else — a little something extra. So, it was like a mid-wardrobe shit-change during the set.”

It remains unclear whether the Grammy-nominated singer, who famously comprises one-third of the Jonas Brothers band, ever told his wife about the soiling. If his timeline is accurate, however, he married actor Sophie Turner within months of the public malfunction.

“You know, the whole time, I thought, ‘This is definitely, uhm, somebody’s gonna be able to see this and know what’s happening. They’re gonna realise that…’ you know,” said Jonas on the podcast. “But it was all in my head. It wasn’t as big of a deal as I thought. Such is life.”

Joe Jonas (right) couldn't recall the exact date and location of the concert in question. — Joe Jonas (right) couldn’t recall the exact date and location of the concert in question.

“It was a light one,” he added. “It wasn’t a full, you know? So I was able to tell the tale.”

While he couldn’t remember the date or location of the specific concert in question — or understandably omitted those details on purpose — Jonas did say that “the archives” of tour footage have undoubtedly preserved that odorous moment to this day.

“I’m sure you can find it,” he told the hosts.

Jonas, who formed his band with siblings Nick and Kevin in 2005, recalled thinking that the crowd that night must’ve wondered: “Oh, that was an interesting choice to change clothes that quickly.” In the end, however, he oddly took soiling his pants in public as a victory.

“It’s happened to many artists,” he said. “I feel like I’ve paid my dues, and I’m part of some secret club now.”

For the eagle-eyed bowel movement obsessives currently ruing having missed the moment in person, fear not: The Jonas Brothers are going on tour later this summer — and performing five whole albums per night.

The Glorious, Queer Evolution of Janelle Monáe’s Pleasure And Politics

Posted on 09/07/2023 by Boris Clair

The music video for Lipstick Lover, one of the singles off Janelle Monáe’s newest album, The Age of Pleasure, feels vibrantly decadent. In it, the singer rises out of a pool, their areolas peering through a sheer white T-shirt that reads “Pleasure.” Booties are shaking, dildos are falling and Monáe is the curator of the queer desire that oozes on screen.

Just last week, at Essence Fest in New Orleans, Monáe brought a bit of that energy on stage by flashing a petal-covered nipple during two of their songs. ”[I’m] much happier when my t**ties are out,” they recently told Rolling Stone. Well, I’m happy for them.

To the more conservative viewer, this behaviour is borderline pornographic. But for everyone who gets it, it’s an organic next step in the evolution of Monáe’s burgeoning self-expression as an out, queer artist.

Long before Monáe came out as pansexual in 2018 and nonbinary in 2022, baby gays like myself were drawn to the subliminal messaging of queerness in their tuxedo looks, as well as the intentionally androgynous branding of their gender.

In 2017, I was a junior in high school, just beginning to explore music genres beyond the classical and Christian pop that underscored my childhood and early teens. When I discovered Monáe’s work, it felt like a universe of language had been unlocked. They quickly became my role model as I struggled to reconcile my queerness with my religious upbringing.

“Say will your God accept me in my black and white? / Will he approve the way I’m made? / Or should I reprogram, deprogram and get down?” Monáe sings on Q.U.E.E.N., a song on their 2013 album, The Electric Lady.

Somehow, Monáe seemed to understand how my queerness conflicted with my Christian self — I was programmed to become a god-fearing daughter who would settle down with a nice Chinese boy and rear children of my own. Like Monáe, I found my artistic expression first through singing and leading worship within the context of an insular ethnic and religious community.

Monáe grew up the child of Black American middle-class workers in Kansas City, and I was the eldest daughter of immigrants who worked as public school teachers in the Chinese American suburbs of Los Angeles. But our paths intersected, it became evident, as they expressed the tension of their identities. For years, Monáe also shielded their queerness in the armour of ambiguity. Part of that, they say, has been in direct opposition to the overt fetishisation of Black women’s bodies in the music industry.

As their career developed, Monáe bucked what was even subconsciously expected of them. They were a dark-skinned Black femme wearing androgynous clothing, for years they eluded the countless questions about their sexuality and gender. “I only date androids,” was their response to it all. You couldn’t put Monáe’s music, their body or gender squarely into any one box, which gave them a level of agency not often afforded to queer Black artists.

Like Monáe, I’ve found myself at times caught between two identities as an artist. My queerness and Asianness are inextricable from each other as I navigate the world as a nonbinary non-white person. When I perform poems for an Asian American space, I feel the need to emphasise my queerness in my poetry. In queer spaces, that are more often than not white, there’s an urgency to talk about my Asian American upbringing. Monáe has shown me that exploring these intersections can be both challenging and invigorating.

The evolution of Monáe’s gender and sexual expression ebbed on Dirty Computer, an album that saw them diving into the explorations of desire and attraction with both men and women. Monáe repatriates elements of Prince’s iconic guitar riff in Kiss for their song Make Me Feel as they fall between the arms of two people, feminine- and masculine-presenting lovers. Another song, Pynk, a fuchsia-infused music video, featured Monáe frolicking in the desert with fellow queer actor Tessa Thompson while wearing labia-shaped pants and panties that read “I grab back” — a direct clap back to Donald Trump’s infamous “locker room talk.”

At this point, Monáe had also secured their status as a respected actor on the Oscar-nominated Hidden Figures (2016) and Oscar winner Moonlight (2016). Around that time, they also founded Wondaland Records, which allowed them directorial and creative control of their image and artistry as a musician. All of this allowed them to reclaim the portrayal of their body — as well as the political messaging of their mere existence in the industry.

In 2022, when Monáe first introduced their gender-neutral pronouns publicly, their fame somewhat protected them from conservative backlash or the confusion of a largely cisgender straight American society. But, of course, some people loiter in the distance awaiting their downfall. And, evident in they’re commitment to the spectrum of queer expression and resistance to body policing, they cannot be concerned.

“No I’m not the same… I think I done changed… I used to walk into the room head down. / I don’t walk, now I float,” Monáe proclaims on their newest album’s opening track, “Float.”

Monae does float, with transcendent confidence, on The Age of Pleasure. The influences of reggae and dance hall, and the sounds of the Caribbean are heard on this 10-song summer album, a move that inherently queers traditions of music that have at times been rooted in homophobia, sexism and misogyny.

There’s something vulnerable and dangerous in placing themselves directly into the narrative of Black queer joy. If capitalism and racism amount to the sexual objectification of Black and melanated bodies, let me do it on my own terms, Monáe’s newest work screams.

“Whether I show skin or I don’t, I’m sexy. I just always felt like people would try their best to take my autonomy away from me,” Monáe shared recently in an interview with StyleLikeU. “It took me years to feel comfortable with my boobs,” they added in the interview. Seeing Monáe fully embracing their queerness in all its joy (and sexiness) in 2023 feels like the strongest rebuke against the fearmongering and shame that’s threatening to roll back LGBTQ+ rights across the US.

Monáe has taught me that sexuality is political and that being nonbinary can be a beautiful journey. There will continue to be hundreds of interpretations of Monáe’s work from ArchAndroid to a sexually liberated and self-described “free-ass motherfucker.” That’s part of being an artist: You release work that is absorbed into the culture and takes on a new meaning. For me, their work is about how every year can reveal new ways to love yourself.

Like Monae says on another new track Phenomenal: “I’m looking at a thousand versions of myself. And we’re all fine as fuck.”

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