If you touch Evan Nabavian, you’ll get shocked
Janelle Monae endeared herself to everybody and their moms with the sassy brass of “Tightrope” and its surrealist dance party video. The Tightrope, her tuxedo, and her hair landed her on festival and award show stages. But the video for “Electric Lady” states her star power like nothing before and dials back the weird only slightly.
She and her sorority sisters throw a house party where the theme is new jack afro-futurism, though it’s less heady in its execution than “Tightrope” or “Q.U.E.E.N.” It’s just fun. It’s like the extended dance scene in House Party or any great choreographed 90s R&B video. Janelle and company create a wonderful illusion of a party where everybody can dance, phones don’t exist, celebrities make cameos, and nobody’s ever heard of EDM. The other theme is electric ladies. Even though this a big budget music video with a cast of several dozen and apparent product placement, you have to imagine those smiles are genuine. You can’t take your eyes off Janelle, ebullient in bright white and charging everyone around her. Even T.I. can’t stop smiling when he gets to dance with her. By the looks of it, Janelle Monae has hit the top. The spaceship is just a formality.
