The last time anyone saw Janelle Monáe perform in Australia was back in 2014, on the ill-fated co-headlining Golden Electric tour with Kimbra. Since then, Aussie fans have been starved of Monáe’s buzz-inducing live performances with no signs of our fast being broken. But, Cool Accidents were present for her mammoth headlining set at Barcelona’s monumental Primavera Sound this year, and now we need her down here more than ever.
Taking the stage between two pop gargantuans, Carly Rae Jepsen and Miley Cyrus, Monáe made sure that the Friday night was all about her. Emerging onstage to Richard Strauss’ epic Also sprach Zarathustra, she knew damn well she was about to give us a performance so out of this world and that we’d never want to land back down on Earth. Opening with Dirty Computer standout Crazy, Classic, Life, Monáe and her dancers were poised and graceful but ferocious. Monáe’s piercing stare didn’t break once, not even when she carried on into Screwed.
When she took her place on her throne to perform the fiery Django Jane, she took a moment to survey the colossal crowd that stood screaming and cheering, waiting for what she’d do next. Her gaze was commanding and it was electrifying as she slumped over, elbow on knee and began to spit some of her most ferocious writing to date. The beauty of Django Jane is that it is such a fierce declaration of the love, respect and esteem Monáe has for herself, and it’s so powerful that it washes over you the minute you hear it.Janelle Monáe’s self-love is contagious, and it’s the complete foundation of everything that she does.
Monáe has long fought for and stood for the rights and representation of minorities, whether it be people of colour, LGBTQIA+ community, women, the working class or disabled people, and she made damn sure that those people felt love during her Primavera set. She performed her iconic 2013 single Q.U.E.E.N to thunderous applause, showed us just how comfortable she is in her own skin with I Like That and even brought out the instantly recognisable pussy pants for her show-stopping performance of PYNK. But it wasn’t until I Got The Juice that she really showcased how important it is for members of that thousand-deep crowd to love themselves. During an extended version of the song, she brought up three members of the crowd – all completely different – and allowed them to just be free on stage. Self-love is important, but it becomes all the more special when you feel encouraged by others to love yourself, and that’s exactly what Monáe did. As these random audience members danced like no-one was watching during a headlining set, with Monáe being their personal cheerleader, it was simply impossible to not feel free and feel like you can be yourself in those moments.
read more: Primavera Sound 2019: The Moments That Made This The Best Festival Of The Year
But she also recognises that there is a giant slew of people who consistently condemn and are trying to eliminate some of the rights of the minorities that she fights for. Instead of vaguely addressing it by saying things like “the world is a scary place right now”, Monáe called them out by name and made sure we all knew who she meant. “I hate what Donald Trump is doing,” she screamed. “I hate what the Republicans are doing.” Primavera itself is anchored in a lot of things Trump and the US Republican Party seem to be trying to dismantle - LGBTQIA+ rights, women’s autonomy over their body and an all round acceptance, love and understanding of every single human being. And if the crowd is going to march to fight the forces that try and invalidate them, Monáe comfortably took her place as captain.
But Monáe’s shining moment of Primavera was her closing song, Come Alive (The War Of The Roses). A 2010 deep cut that wouldn’t have received much attention otherwise, Monáe turned it into an all out epic. It began as a standard - as standard as she can be - performance before turning it into a completely unhinged jam session. She let go on that stage in ways not many other artists of her visibility can while still not breaking her calibre of performance. She had the audience up, she had them down, she had them on the ground, she had them screaming until their throats were sore. But no one cared - they did exactly what she asked of them, and they did it gladly, because Janelle Monáe is the type of revolutionary artist that inspires above all else.
And Australia is in desperate need of that inspiration. In a country with a government who has proven they don’t care about anyone who isn’t straight, rich or white, as well as a government who seems determined to stomp the fun out of society for young people, Janelle Monáe is the perfect antidote. Her Primavera set proved that she smashes borders, she builds bridges and she lets no one restrain her. And as parts of the live music scene continue to walk the tightrope above complete oblivion, Monáe could be the harness that keeps us all dancing.
