The Electric Lady (studio album)
by Janelle Monáe

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.

From buzzdainer 11/19/2017 19:33 | #201664

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

From junodog4 07/11/2015 21:27 | #145539

Not quite at the level of ArchAndroid, but still a funky burst of creativity. Should rank higher.

From 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.

From 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.

From qwert9579 12/24/2013 02:36 | #98628

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!

From RockyRaccoon 10/14/2013 16:07 | #88415

Kellindo Parker kills it on guitar on this album, really enhances an already very good album.

From covecove 10/14/2013 00:03 | #88393

Worth the waith, no one is doing what Janelle today hip, soulful, sexy and amazingly original...