The Electric Lady
by Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe bestography
The Electric Lady is ranked 3rd best out of 6 albums by Janelle Monáe on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Janelle Monáe is The ArchAndroid which is ranked number 478 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,568.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to The Electric Lady on YouTube
The Electric Lady track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Electric Lady rankings
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The Electric Lady ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
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Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 260 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 5 days ago | Exist-en-ciel | 12,873 | 70/100 |
| ! | 06/12/2026 20:27 | leobaraza | 32 | 67/100 |
| ! | 06/12/2026 14:53 | cicadelic | 13,159 | 73/100 |
| ! | 05/12/2026 18:03 | Jakor | 5,434 | 70/100 |
| ! | 12/29/2025 17:22 | mutant | 1,671 | 56/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.3/100, a mean average of 76.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.4.
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The Electric Lady comments
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Bach 03/17/2026 17:32 | #313564
Disappointing.
Best track: We Were Rock & Roll.
37th best album of 2013? Ridiculous. This near-masterpiece from one of the decade's greatest musicians, Janelle Monae, is consistently excellent and full of tunes which are jam-packed with goodness. Like its predecessor, "The Electric Lady" bends genres to its will and creates something irresistibly funky that looks both backwards and forwards, perhaps even more so on "The Electric Lady" which feels less academic than "The ArchAndroid" and a lot more loose. It's an expansive, tremendous journey.
buzzdainer 11/19/2017 19:33 | #201664 | TOP COMMENT
Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis notes that "[The] Electric Lady is at its best when it shakes free of its influences and ventures into more original, even iconoclastic territory: 'I'm tired of Marvin asking me what's goin' on,' she sings on Q.U.E.E.N., while the superb ballad 'Sally Ride' conflates the chorus of 'Mustang Sally' with the story of the U.S.'s first female astronaut, its dramatic orchestration battling with squealing distorted guitars." That's an apt summary of this album, which I think shows real verve and originality far more often than it feels derivative. In fact, I sort of reject the pejorative use of "derivative" when I'm evaluating new albums, since in a sense all music derives from somewhere, and I don't mind when artists wear their influences on their sleeve--or in the case of this album, try their best to move past them.
Solid album
junodog4 07/11/2015 21:27 | #145539
Not quite at the level of ArchAndroid, but still a funky burst of creativity. Should rank higher.
zags7000 06/13/2015 09:13 | #143760
She's just amazing and continues to be one of the best of her generation. This adds to a growing legacy.
paladisiac 12/24/2013 03:04 | #98643
Janelle Monae's back with an extension of her ArchAndroid, a continuation of that Metropolis-referencing concept album. "The Electric Lady" represents, combined with her debut EP and "ArchAndroid", suites iv and v of a planned 7-suite album series about an electric lady android in the not-so-distant future. Musically, it's also an extension of "ArchAndroid", with guest appearances from Solange Knowles, Prince, Erykah Badu, Miguel and 2012's best new artist grammy winner esperanza spalding. As overblown and contrived of a long-running concept as it is, Janelle mostly delivers, trailing off a bit in suite v, without the weird concepts overriding good songs (with the exception of those dopey skits), which is a testament to her songwriting skills as the best tracks include "dance apocalyptic", a song that could only work on this album by this artist.
qwert9579 12/24/2013 02:36 | #98628 | TOP COMMENT
One of the best of 2013. like with the ArchAndroid suite 5 takes some time. But once you give it time, it is just as good as the first half. Amazing Album
SWAG!
RockyRaccoon 10/14/2013 16:07 | #88415
Kellindo Parker kills it on guitar on this album, really enhances an already very good album.
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