Album Review: Janelle Monae - The Archandroid

The hype for this album has been deafening, but for a reason, the album is just so damn good it’s ridiculous. Few albums show as much ambition and scope as Janelle Monáe’s that it’s hard to believe that (a) this album classifies itself as pop and (b) this a debut album. ‘Discovered’ by Outkast’s Big Boi (she performed a couple of tracks on Idlewild) and championed by Sean Combs and his record label, this isn’t simply a hip-hop album. It incorporates such a dizzying array of influences and references, it’s almost impossible to digest in a few listens. You could discover a random cascading piano or a Stevie Wonder chord progression on the fiftieth listen. But it never crumples underneath its dense weight – this is an effortlessly enjoyable album.

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