Janelle Monáe

Janelle Monáe Robinson is a genre-defying artist whose music, acting, and public persona have pushed the boundaries of what Black creativity can look like. Through concept albums built around an android alter ego named Cindi Mayweather — a metaphor for otherness, liberation, and the fight against oppression — Monáe created one of the most ambitious and intellectually rich bodies of work in contemporary music.

Born in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1985, Monáe grew up in a working-class family and attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York before moving to Atlanta, where she founded the Wondaland Arts Society collective. Her debut EP, Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase), caught the attention of OutKast's Big Boi and producer Sean "Diddy" Combs, leading to a record deal and her first full album, The ArchAndroid (2010).

Monáe's albums — The ArchAndroid, The Electric Lady (2013), and Dirty Computer (2018) — blend funk, soul, R&B, hip-hop, rock, and science fiction into a singular artistic vision. Dirty Computer, accompanied by an "emotion picture" film, was a celebration of queerness, Blackness, and freedom that earned Grammy nominations and universal acclaim. She has also established herself as a serious actress, starring in Moonlight, Hidden Figures, Glass Onion, and The Color Purple. She came out as nonbinary in 2022, using they/them and she/her pronouns.