cause for your love I'll take my time [Music] boys [Music] you better I spoke for your love I'll take my time [Music] you gotta do that little oh that's the Funk here we go back [Music] oh my God [Music] look at you to be honest I know how to play to be alive at a time when I get to spend time with you is such a joy oh you I adore you always same thanks for being
around thanks for coming back with music I wanted to be cute and wear my hat the hat looks amazing you can either flip it around oh you kind of figured it out wait could y'all hear me on here when I was playing too sounded a little bit angel you're kidding me I didn't know I was like I should have you're like you know we were in the moment you were like
Yoda you were just using the force at that point right you couldn't even hear yourself I'm sure that's happened before on stage as well that's I mean that's an unspoken thing about being an artist is it may not work for you so you better be ready to work for it right look it never stops even with you know this album this project I'm just like you know what it
takes work like I just can't I have to learn things all over again I have to practice I have to you know and thank God I love the songs so it's always like a fun you know fun thing to do to it's like starting on a blank canvas but fun is the word I mean so far fun is the word and we've we've received beautiful conceptual deep meaningful bodies of work from you every time you're one of
those artists that takes your time and we respect it because when you show up all those learnings all those things that you've you've decided you want to grow into yeah they are presented when you're ready and so when I Knew music was coming I was like okay what kind of mood are we going to find Janelle in and Float comes out and I'm like wow she is sparring
she's sparring and like and then this comes out and it's light it's deep Groove wise and Funk wise but you've just it's like you're floating through things right now it feels like musically listen you said it and and I and I hope most importantly you know I feel it so I hope that people feel that when they listen to the music that they feel that when they
come and you know counter with me when I'm around I I definitely um have had an opportunity to evolve and grow and to tap into the things that bring me pleasure the things that um perhaps I should rethink and rework um what's most important to that process is it space is that what you need to to get to those places to unlearn and learn new things is it space sometimes it is
sometimes it really is just saying you know what let's get back to the basics let's let it and also let's honor the present I think a lot of times artists at least the friends that I have we talk about and they're artists we talk about sort of like you know making sure that we can enjoy life outside of what it is that we do so if that's spending time with friends
reconnecting having a game night going to a beach if you can um you know taking more baths like doing things that perhaps I think pre-pandemic we probably would not have had enough time to do because our lives were set up in a way where we're of service I'm of service all the time I'm moving I'm moving I'm on tour I'm doing an album I'm doing a film and
all those things you love right you love I've asked for it I've prayed for it um but their balance has to be restored in all things and we see that just not in not in just our lives but just in the world you know balance is super important quarantine was looking back on it now and it's it's only with some space I'm starting to identify the relationship that we we developed over
that time with fear you know I think we're all so afraid during that time but we were actually coming out of a period of exceptional fear yeah which is why none of us wanted to let go of the things we'd prayed for and dreamed of we were like what if it goes away yes and I think one of one of the few Silver Linings that came out of that Human Experience was perhaps to not be afraid
of that side of things sit in your life for a minute and realize that actually it's all okay what the way you started is the way you continue and everything that's happened since may not have the level of gravity that we applied to it right does that make sense absolutely no you you are you are preaching a word I mean I think when the pandemic hit for me
touring I just come off dirty computer um I actually had just opened up for the Oscars that was my last big I haven't been on like a big stage since 2020. Oscars wow and then the pandemic and boom touring I was supposed to do like some really really cool things on the road and all of that got canceled and yeah you had to sit I had the opportunity I mean there are a lot of
people who obviously didn't have the privilege that I had to to be in a house and and to um you know have have an opportunity to to have that space because yeah they were busy trying to figure out how not to be homeless like it was tough you know watching that and then you sort of feel guilty about that and then you're just like shoot I'm I'm in a space as an as an uh an
entrepreneur artist where you know my finances come in waves like if I'm not working or doing anything you know you you try to set aside money and do all those things but for the most part I have to keep I have to keep working and not just that but as an entrepreneur you have you choose to surround yourself with people with who share Vision yeah which means
that everybody moves as a team you're not moving into an existing corporate infrastructure exactly you are the corporate infrastructure oh I don't like that it's a terrible term but it might be a corporate I tried you know what I try not to be we have a super the the people that that are with me now have been with me when I was sleeping on a couch and on the floor and
living in a boarding house and your right side pull me up on that it's a terrible term but but the point I'm trying to make because yeah that is not the vice not the vibe but but the vibe is is that you choose to be responsible for each other yes we have to take care of each other and not let the business model yeah the corporate infrastructure
decide whether or not we can take care of you right this is safety and risk in that it's all risk when you run your own board yeah yeah you know I have an independent label uh Wonderland that's right and we we we still move like Indie folks we still you know put the ideas over you know uh you know uh you know money and how things will sell obviously we want to be able to pay rent and
mortgage and all those things but we still still believe in in ideas and and being of service and creating quality creative you know Innovative things that feel good to us first and then hopefully you know folks um are on that same frequency and have a need for it in their lives it's working um so I've been fortunate to do that um but we keep a super family Vibe you
know super small still and a lot of us had to go through this pandemic like just really opening up you know what I mean like talking about like hey I need to take a break like I need to get some therapy for myself and I feel like all of us have had to make Lifestyle Changes yeah all of it all of us have had to just say rethinking just because you know you're
in The Matrix of this music industry you have this film industry you know how to make sure that we're not of it and how to redefine what success feels like for us to redefine what balance looks like for us to redefine how do you how do you play also while having fun like I mean while working excuse me and having fun like how do we make this sexy again how
do we make this the best self to the table every time and not a version of yourself others become attached to it's it's really easy I think when you have success being yourself for us to want to keep yourself there yeah yeah you've got to turn up every time and say look this 2023 me is very different there's been a lot of me in between that and 2018. the same not the same you know I think I
didn't change like those lyrics for float yeah lit like I was like I have to put this out now like this is exactly how do I honor how I'm feeling and who I am now not Janelle Monae you know I think about the past not even thinking about the future but like right now because this is this is all we have that's what we have Mr present moment my therapist always tries to bring me back
to it he's always like I can tell when you're getting ahead of yourself and trying to project and protect because you talk too fast oh look I'm now I'm going to be watching I'm taking notes that's what Prince would say to his band he would be like you know if they got sort of like sometimes when people have Jitters or nervous or whatever they get
how to play too fast or they're talking fast she's like cut everything down in half and it's a good mental yeah and and I take that approach in life cut it down in half sometimes you have to say no sometimes you'll miss out on opportunities that you think could have you know taken you to the next level because it's always like well what if or what if but what if this what if what if
what if I don't they don't call me anymore that's fear you got to deal with that we're gonna deal with that I dealt with that too yeah I had to deal with it I was like you know what hey I I have to realize being present for me is my North Star if I'm doing if I'm split between if I've slipped between all these different worlds and I'm always thinking
about what's next what's next what's next you know was I here did I live did I really live or was I spending so much time planning and worrying and worrying and rehearsing what could happen and what I need to do next and so where's it where is the Perfect Chemistry between those two things because we can't be talking about this new song in relation to a body or work
which comes with a complete uh aesthetic Vision because you move in multiple colors in multiple layers um you gotta you've got a plan you've got to dream that up you do you do but then you've also got to find a way to be true to the moment so you know that it's it's the most authentic version of each each building block so that I think is
where if you get inside the process it's it's hard sometimes to for me at least to see how you glue those things how do you do it well what I did this time around is I I allowed myself like I had I had to surround myself with friends who kept me present and centered because I remember going through a chunk of my career I could be at a party and
be thinking about like an award show or thinking about a photo shoot or an idea or a song or what's next what's next and my friends would be there I'm looking at them they're having so much fun they're like living their best lives it's almost like you're facilitating their good time and and to pay for it you've got to be thinking about where can I go yeah yeah like man and it and
that happened so much and I think what what I what I had an opportunity unique opportunity to do because again not everybody had this opportunity right they could not do this but I was just like if I'm here if I'm in this house like let me really engage with my friends let me just like let go like it was good the world you know shut down a little bit and it was like let me
just use this time to exercise my being present muscle and I would have friends that literally would be like you're not you're not present like this is game night you put all of us together we have like murder mystery parties and you know uh we would do it like stuff that I just was excited about and then at first it took some real like come back you know Janelle
like come back we're about to take a shot you're what are you thinking about you know and uh after after a little bit I was like oh I get it yeah I get it like there's so much joy in being present because I'm not thinking about the future like did you hear that that um there's like a quote where they say if you're thinking about the future you're you're sitting
in anxiety if you're thinking about the past you're sitting in depression but when you're present you know especially when the circumstances are are beautiful for you um you're at your happiest it's acknowledging and accepting that change is isn't is inevitable in every second of life and that we um anxiety is the byproduct of us trying to catch the change and get ahead of the change or at
least catch up to see it and it's just a simple fact that we're always going to be behind it and that's what the present teaches us is that is that being in the moment is as close to that without trying to control it as possible yeah right that's where the magic happens you know I used to I I was I was a really really hardcore perfectionist in OCD and
super like if things didn't go exactly how I plan to in my head throw it all away you know whether it was a performance and and looking back I'm like that was such a beautiful amazing performance but I couldn't see it there because I was so I had already structured what I wanted to be I wasn't allowing the moment to have that surprise and I think that's what I'm on
now like I'm I'm like what and my fear was always messing up publicly or doing something that that feeds into that perfectionism that feeds into you know I had to deal with rejection abandonment issues all of that I I literally had to go back to the root of where is this stemming from but I didn't even know I was dealing with it because I was so in
it well you would you you found the most beautiful distraction of all time right which is yeah because I can relate yeah abandonment issues obsessive compulsive disorder a desire to control the environment which is out of control then it needs a host so the Arts is a great host yes it's a beautiful house because it's expression right and it requires discipline and it requires you to put
ship outside of your own reality develop an identity but all those things go with you yeah and so if you're telling me you're at a point now and I'm hearing this music and there's freedom in your identity that's just oh my God thank you I've always wanted somebody to do that for me thank you no seriously man I thought I was I mean I don't know I I
definitely feel like I've tapped more and more into my free ass Spirit like I I think I was at a point using it as a talking point but now I'm living it yeah and I'm able to get through yeah think like it's not like it doesn't happen things happen all the time we're not in a world where it's accepting that it's actually accepting that it's gonna happen it's going to
happen how are we going to um how do you how do you say that uh self-regulate back to the moment the moment how do we pull it back to the moment how do we not allow other people's energy to shift our energy because you thought you and your mind had well this is how it's supposed to go people no you have to create you literally have to just say this is this is the narrative
in which I am living because we tell ourselves stories every day so of course [Music] that's what the identity wants us to do it keeps one it wants us to write it for itself right it for itself yeah I don't know I feel like I'm talking so ah like I'm just so you know there and everything but the truth of the matter is the things that that I've I find that
really make me happy is when I can really be with loved ones and friends and have and and I know that serving is still my thing serving serving the people that I love the people I care about and I think with with this project with music and with art I love to be able to create things that we with like that we like and that's it and that's kind of how I
started to write all these songs best you know my name yet throughout life there are lots of clones lots of clones the best one yet uh you know admiration was was was there from the get all of that discipline and perfectionism got the world's attention we all saw it we all heard it we were all like it was just we just all we admired you so much and and that remains it never
goes away but it's so much fun to see you enjoying the process yeah and leaning and like I said you hear it in these songs what I loved about float as well is even though you're dancing with in in space with your friends and searching for that freedom there's poignancy in there too the idea of letting people go oh the idea of moving on from toxicity and finding the right
people in your life so I love that even though your light on your feet you're still heavy with the pin um yeah oh yeah oh yeah no man like with with float ah it's like um how do I put it yeah it's really it would be like my thesis my thesis as I shed and transform into this next you know version of of of who I am um and you know a lot of a lot of a lot of what
like in float when when I it was a lot more than I really wanted to say but I did I don't sometimes you don't need to say everything um and it was just for some things are just for me but um I think with some of those lyrics you know you all you you have to yeah being able to say like or I don't know let me let's re-ask this what did you what were you saying you
were just you just made a comment I don't even need to respond to that you just made comments look at me so yeah let me just relax and relax I'm doing too much I'm trying to have a response for that okay when you um when you decide it's time to come out and and make music and talk about music being such a full creative Spirit yeah and applying yourself to your point entrepreneurial activities
how do you make time for music and oh let me rephrase it how do you know when it's time for music to dominate your focus and not the other things that yeah you're a committed compassionate passionate about right yeah well one of the things that happened was I went to go shoot a film a little film called Glass Onion congratulations which I had so much fun
doing thank you so much thank you I love I love that experience and before I went though I was having some illegal parties as in you're only supposed to have like 25 people at your house you know we're in the pandemic are you Raven but wait listen hey we had I had to figure out how to like I'm a person creatively I thrive off being around people yeah and
then going back by myself right charging right how are you gonna make music and like on an island unless you live it unless I live it you gotta live it I have to live it so my friends you're gonna Live It Up Live It Up live it through Live It Down live it around so I have friends who have this um this party collector called everyday people have you been to Everyday People no oh you
would love let me tell you the most beautiful brown and black folks from the continent you know South Africa Nigeria Ghana Atlanta L.A Jamaica the Bahamas like coming together and just partying and partying as strangers as people who probably have never met but they're smiling at each other it's just so incredible and the music reflects that yeah so it's like
you know I'm a piano is is reggae it's dancehall it's trap it's like and these are all my friends and so when I had an opportunity because they could not find a venue to host them because of the pandemic and they really I was like oh you're gonna come up come to my house come here we're gonna do it here at Wonderland and so we tested everybody we did do that yeah and we had an everyday
people Wonderland party and it was at that party thing that I was like oh this is who I want to make music for this moment right here I want to make the soundtrack to this lifestyle they get it this is what we fight to protect all of like my work that centers around protecting Community like my communities that that I'm a part of you know from the lgbtqia plus
communities to to to being black to to like all of that I was like this is the diaspora like and I'm on like this mushroom trip I'm not gonna say literally or if figured figuratively but I'm looking at just I'm looking at God right now yeah and it was it was at that party that I had yeah I'm looking I'm looking at God like work and and say like these are this this is
what you you need to capture if Nina Simone said like an artist's job is to reflect the time boy was a time hat yeah which is amazing you created an environment in order to cap in order to create a framework you can work with a chosen family right yeah yeah chosen family people that got like it wasn't about people were you know people were working you know office day
jobs some people were you know working in local it wasn't about what people did I wasn't Janelle Monae to them yeah I wondered if you could slip into that environment and just and just be one of everybody oh I wasn't the everyday people I was one with everybody listen this was the type of party I don't even know about like you come in you know it's a four at four four o'clock at
start and you got one DJ by the time and it's one sort of Music everybody's coming and getting their drinks like I'm gonna set the scene for you coming and you're getting your drinks there's a pool outside it's palm trees everybody's coming in fully dressed clothes you know shaking each other's hands there's food being prepared like there there's
chicken patties there's oxtails there's plantains people still drinking then you go into like the evening where the sun is going down it's getting more shifts exactly the music has the shift I might there might be a different DJ coming on around that time then people are getting more loose they're in the pool clothes are coming off then it's dark we're
going into like midnight like I can go on and on what I did with this album is I I time boxed it to a way where if you listen to it from four to four in the morning to six in the morning it'll all it'll sound like your whole night amazing it'll soundtrack your whole night and that's and that's what I wanted I wanted to capture the time that we had sprinkle it on this record and
like I I wanted I want I want the world to feel our frequency boom frequency is a funny thing isn't it you know because we because we are open to it as well as as we're trying to search for our own on the dial yeah but in doing so you cover a lot of static a lot of different a lot of different feeds yeah I don't want those feeds yeah and I focus you want the feeling I want the
feeling the feeling and that's what I did too I was like you got to focus on the feeling this is a so this is the conversation is being had around me at the moment a lot and around everyone in the creative businesses is what are we going to do about this AI and and what's interesting to me is because I'm not an enemy of progress or of growth I
understand that things are going to shift around us and the best thing we can do is work out how to apply and adapt right but when I I log on and I see like a headline literally an hour ago that says and it was so glib it was so throw away that I didn't even know how to how to take it it said it's it's something like it just this is the headline here's the Beatles and beach boys
collaborating wow with AI it's just it's so glib it's not like oh we just took two of the greatest creative groups of all time and imagined what it sounds I was like oh by the way here's them just collaborating and it's just being generated right right and the reason I raised that is because we're talking about frequency and feeling to me the fundamental reason why
this is this is never going to resonate within the the Arts is because it fundamentally lacks the feeling because the feeling has to come from you and what inspires you is while I'm trying to get close to yeah and that tiny bit of distance between what you've created and what I'm hearing yeah is the feeling that's it that's it our stories yeah our stories we have the stories
what are we looking for no no you cannot there's no there's no way and we have to make sure that we're telling them and we're having them that that's it that's what will set as a part of me and listen you're talking to an Android you know five seven eight two one yeah Cindy May weather right I've dedicated yeah my last like since the beginning it's
really of my career I've been talking about this moment and the fact that we're in it yeah how do you feel I've been talking about Ray Kurzweil and the singularity is near and you know how we're going to have to figure out how how we're going to integrate because it's not going away like we're we're going to live in a world right now where you can't differentiate the Beatles from
the the the AI Beatles from um The Beach Boys Like if we put it out they put it out excuse me if they put it I said we sh they put it out and you hear it in some and you're like oh like that's really them that's really them but I mean you can you can map out you can hear did you notice a difference though when you heard it some of them I can't tell
because I will say I like I didn't even listen to it what was an hour ago but I Was preparing to talk to you but okay I I'm not gonna lie I want to listen to it I know but the thing is I'm horrible but I don't know but I'm fascinated with your take on this because of everything you just mentioned which is that you have been in this in this narrative a hit of
schedule yeah you're really you're a living breathing feeling human being it's what we are all drawn to am I am I but you also understand the the way that things can be wired and the way the Android works so I'm fascinated to know like how are we supposed to relate to this change when all I want is to talk with you about what you've made here's the
thing I I I I feel you I hear you I mean you know Android is a human has human characteristics right like the computer the thing that is like people are saying like robots don't have real feelings in humans but I mean Androids are robots developing human characteristics that's the definition of it cyborg is the other way around what I do find Value in is I love where
we can stretch and evolve and understand the technology is always moving exponentially and wow look what we can do like look what this is I was at a a convention where I saw from Boston Dynamics the robots like there's a um what is the robot name uh he did they do the flips yes and uh yeah I saw this in person have you seen it in person yeah not in person I've seen the video it's
incredible because I thought the video I mean I knew I I knew about I knew about these robots but to see it in person was like oh can I ask you a really simple question at this moment in time were you excited were you inspired were you nervous were you confused was it all of it like I was tickled I was happy I was happy I was happy listen I'm a I must I Must
Die Hard sci-fi I know like like a fan to my heart like I read Isaac Asimov Ray you know because you you you you're able to consume that and absorb it and adapt it to your life are you scared what yes what happens if it starts to adapt and absorb you to the point where I lose touch with what I'm capable of and this is why music this is why the Arts this is why parties
this is why real human and human connection is so important yeah because this is really the only time I think we'll have to like super connect before it goes to the next level and that's not to be feared it's just is just to know that like we will be living in a different world we will and when I even think about this album this is like the last album that probably I'll I'll have
before the world is completely integrated yeah but you know that you can work with anything right well you know you have programmers too I think that's important I'm not programming I'm not worried about my future on my job or any of the stuff that I know other people are concerned about right it's it's I'm I'm fortunate in the sense that I'm of an
age now in my life and what I do where I'm like no I'm not like oh man my number's up like I'm not thinking about that I'm thinking about how I choose to be inspired in my life yeah yeah and and ultimately what I yearn for which is I want to try to experience what your experience yeah experiencing yeah and I find it deeply inspiring to do that through the Arts some people do it
through Athletics some people do it you know they they champion and cheer for a team and that's yeah that's a huge part of their identity right right when they win and lose it's life and death sometimes it feels like you know even that's not mine is the Arts and um I guess where my trepidation exists is and where you don't have any is I don't know what you
know and and I and I and I get worried that I'm like what if this just removes some of that joy for me what if what removes some joy for you like the way the art is created distributed and discussed and talked about and all of a sudden the narrative becomes less about yeah the the why and the when and The Who and it really only becomes about the what because I only
really can get the what out of it no I get that yeah yeah no I get that and I won't say you know I have my feelings I'm not going to share them all here of course we can talk about we don't we don't know either that's the thing you know more than I do we can talk offline but I think it is just super important that we continue to tell stories that we continue to have like connections with
each other we make it a point to like have those moments um we don't get those back um and and just enjoy each other like why enjoy each other while we can what am I gonna jam with you oh my goodness yeah listen you can listen robots will not be invited to all the parties okay because one of the things that you do have to have at least come to my parties
is you you you you have to like understand the Vibes and the energy and that's even Some Humans can't come I haven't even been invited to one of the parties yes no you're always invited you're always invited but you know what I'm saying like yeah every everything will have its order in its place and yeah I think that you know just like with the internet
when the internet came it's it's a whole different thing now from when my space was out and I get a chance out of the bottle you go in you give what you need to give you take what you need to take and get out this is the thing I love about this is where we can end it is yeah you're absolutely right we can't ignore the role of discipline in our life yeah how we choose to live our life
yeah there's no you know you can't give over any responsibility just because it's available true yeah you have to show discipline in your life to have discipline and balance and to each its own you know like what is it to each its own favorite Janelle Monae yeah this is awesome I'd love to talk some more about um where this music is it is for you you
know I mentioned before that you take your time and I respect that I know there was time that disappeared for us all in a lot of ways and um what is time even well exactly do we even believe kind of where I was going with it like I don't even the only time I believe in time is when I feel like I'm losing it so if someone's not well or you know like true like I'm in that place right
now where like my identity yeah I understand that and that's a that's a fear you know of mine and and you know especially with your loved ones your parents and your people around you and it's just it's sort of like it's inevitable but also what do you believe in terms of how energy is is is reincarnated how how do we you know how how energy Never Dies how
it goes like it's honestly what you choose to believe that I think will help you have the best Earth experience can we sit there for a second with you and just and just without going into personal detail and to preserve those feelings that you that are just purely yours but um how how you've developed your own sense of energy preservation and how you
choose to remember and recall things and how it influences you and ultimately how you want to be remembered that's the beauty of music like I always I'll always have a song I'll always have something that that I want to create and I think through Creations through ART through you know through music through my storytelling all of that is what what will be left behind those will be
the artifacts living the breeds that's what I hope and and for me I feel like you know in terms of purpose sometimes the mission changes but what's being been steady with me has been my job is is to Unite you know is to unigned and to and to also show hmm to also to be a free ass mother like that's how I want to be remembered I wasn't afraid to take risks and to completely like
crumble up the page and write a new one for myself no matter who is watching like being able to change my mind on my thoughts and my beliefs and evolve and honor the present version of myself not the past not the future like I mentioned but just really like honoring what it what it means to be mentally spiritually free from this sort of like or I don't know
scratch that scratch it I'm going back around what was the question it was good you know what that was let's just leave it then let's just leave that and I was God was there and get me saying leave that just leave it I was going somewhere I was going somewhere but I think that's really powerful um not that I was perfect or I did everything well that's not it it's like
how did I get up when things were not good for me the word that I always think of when I from the second I saw you perform I heard your music was that I I you have Maverick energy you have this the sense of to your point this kind of freewheeling creative spirit that cannot be contained and as soon as people think they've figured you out you're on to the
next thing straight away you said it right you said it and but then you also have this ability to exist in something as rigid as Hollywood you know which is about the most rigid creative environment there is right um they're not even ready to pay their Riders properly so it's like yeah so when I see you on a big screen yeah in the theater yeah and you're able to
adopt that role yeah I'm super blown away because you've you've pivoted again completely into something else how do you find that experience working in cinema well one I love again we're artists right we love music we love like sort of curating experiences um and telling stories that's that's the umbrella in which I work telling stories through music through film through
fashion through all of it and I always say I'm in it but I'm not of it like there are certain things that perhaps you know I will have to just walk away from or fight for or you know stand up on stand on and and and compromises and you're probably willing to make for the result as well here and there and if they are appropriate yeah I mean you know I I can
I can go get some fries and if they don't have no ketchup all right I'm gonna eat my I'll eat my fries you know whatever I'm not gonna go in and go talk to the manager what the okay you know there's some things like I I I I I I once you understand the Matrix yes that is this then you pick and choose what you are willing to deal with yeah and and that's how I've how I've been
and I've never lived a life where I wasn't singing and acting and and Performing so um you know I was just thinking about like Middle School I was do this is I'm I'm literally doing exactly what I was doing when I was in the sixth grade I was doing Talent showcases singing cover songs uh after school Shakespearean programs doing the musicals um and then with my with my friends
throwing parties yeah sixth grade seventh grade like I was throwing parties in Middle School making people charging people a dollar to get in oh and I just had a thought I used to hide in the bathroom because I didn't think anybody would come to my party oh that's abandonment I know I was dealing with it then I'm just dealing with it right now I'm getting over it
first Milestone party yeah this year amazing first time I've ever thought yeah I'm proud of me too yeah I mean you know for the longest time I was the guy that would never be be you know drawn to the to the planning table it's it's it's uh nerve internally it's like the you're again I have anticipate well I have anticipated anxiety about stuff is ridiculous
um but we're getting we're getting through it we're self reflecting and correcting and we're we're working through it right yeah of course that's all we can do otherwise you know we're stuck in it yeah we don't get the music we don't get the uh we don't get the benefit unless you do the work which is why again the time you take is worth every second of us to wait for it you know the
age of pleasure ah what's the name of this project this album right the age of pleasure which is sick it's kind of to me it conjures up real kind of like um bill can I show you the album cover yeah I'll show you the album cover oh yeah age of pleasure the age of pleasure yeah to me it's like it's it's it's it's it's the headiness of Hedonism right it's
it's not the ism the ism's where things go wrong we put isms on the end of things and most of them end up being quite negative true but the headiness is like that's that if we could have just stayed there and it's so crazy like I'll have to show but the cover is it's so interesting how we deal with um how how you can promote guns and violence and ah well you just think
about so much but how in certain regions I've had to turn down yeah it's just like it's bizarre I'm so and I'm over it we protect the constructs that make money and kill people but we deny the natural yeah you know inclinations of humanity I'm over it because I was so excited about this I don't want to give too much hints away yeah but let me um here's where we are I actually should
have had this okay here we go here we go here we go I just want to see a little photos she's scrolling past like that's what I was saying so you've got about 300 photos down I'm like and you've been telling me about these parties after dark I'm like to see those photos well it's just you know well you can't see all of them things oh here we go you got it okay
here it is yeah [Music] it's amazing I'm so obsessed but now you see what I'm saying about like yeah why people be myself people might take offense to that it's Bizarro it's so annoying but it's like to me that's odd it's a stolen moment ah that was a real moment it was a real moment it was a real story moment it was and that's that's what I'm about oh the other thing
and I know you'd appreciate this because you were such like the DJ yep when I was writing the age of pleasure I wrote it with friends four friends I was just like is if my friends with this this is for us because when we are together this is like I want them to want to play it yeah you know and what I would do is if I knew we were having a party like on that Friday or Saturday on
Monday and Tuesday I'd be like all right we're gonna write three songs if the songs can't work at the party they're not going on the album done I was like if if anybody if people are not trying to Shazam because I was like don't say it's me like don't if they know whatever I need them just drop it I have my friend who's my DJ yeah um DJ Nana kwabena he worked
on some of the songs on the project with me I was like just play it put it after this song like we put it in the set list and that's how we made the album we were we were playing I was walking around I was so scared I almost went to the bathroom one time but we like float we did like that lipstick lover we did like that um I have a song called champagne that's
on there um I don't want to give away too much but basically every song that you'll hear on the project yeah that's how I did it I was like I want it I was like these are the people that I'm making it for I'm not trying to it's not you know hope I want it to be so specific to this this this pan-african crowd who were my friends this I wanted to be like a love
letter to the diaspora um if and if they put it like it's it's good I'm great do you remember what it was like when you play lipstick lover the party for the first time yes I do can you describe it it was a lot of winding up here it was a lot of closeness um this is so funny that song Lipstick lover oh I should I'm like why didn't I write this on years ago because
I if you know me today I don't have on any red lipstick but I'm always in red lipstick yeah and there have been so many instances where I've made out with like somebody at a party [Laughter] and like it's dark nobody notices it but when the lights come on whoever I've made out with lipstick all over their face and then I've also been on the receiving end of you know
or like I'll get home and I'm like oh my God I have lipstick every all over my face and I've also been the lipstick lover you you know exactly who I kissed that's amazing everywhere so that song was written all the songs were written from such an honest space and what I'm super excited about you know with with the age of pleasure is when you say way better
than I did that was awesome the age of pleasure yes um is that you know like listen I've had my age of depression I've had my age of anxiety you know I've had my my age of struggle um and again it's not like life is pleasurable every single day but I think I have actively just sought out the pursuit how do how how do I create a space for myself how do I redirect my
mind on how I'm thinking about things how do I realize that right now in this present moment moments that we'll never get back this is where you need to find your pleasure this is your moment don't let it get confused at like five minutes later you know we're gonna try to go into doing something different and again this is just my experience where I'm at
even through despite what I may be going through there's going to be a moment where it is bad moment I won't even be around to even discuss it I won't you know and that's it bam it gets back to that that um concept of mortality and ultimately what you're going to recall and what's going to be the most Vivid yeah reminder of a life well lived yeah and there's so many things around us
that Dominate and occupy our time again the time thing it's true and that if if I I feel when you find a place when you're genuinely happy or you're experiencing pleasure or you're with the people that you care about or by the way you know I experience I get sometimes I find myself sitting on a patio outside in a field with three or four people and the conversation's so
engaged and we're all just so happy to be around each other yeah I'll cry like I'll cry like not because something triggers me that someone said but the emotion I get it in conversations with artists with something so dialed in I'll feel my eyes starting to that to me is a form of pleasure that's that's a form of like that's what I was going to ask you
yeah I'm so happy you're saying that I mean interrupt but give me like I'm gonna softly play I'm gonna softly play I need you to give me like give me some moments that bring you pleasure like you can say work related things but I want to know that that's fun and and I get that I I get genuine pleasure when I get to find Kindred um spirituality with the people that
inspire me when I feel like it's a it's a genuine moment and it's not a trade that is real that's a real emotional like yeah that's that's very rewarding for me that's pleasurable for me you know and I get real pleasure from you know maintaining and building upon and striking new connection with my wife even at 24 years of marriage beautiful like congratulations yeah to be able to
know that their bond is like as strong and getting stronger every day that's a very high and sense of pleasure for me and then just being one of my being all my family and my friends and seeing my kids seeing our kids grow up in a way which is just I see their eyes open a little bit every day and I see what they're seeing is the right stuff yeah asking the right
questions questioning the right things choosing the path that is pleasure and then and then and then keep talking and then there's a there's a piece of sushi that they make at matsuhisa which is a seared beef which is exceptionally expensive and this may not make the edit because I don't want to flex but four pieces of that and I'm done and on that note ladies and gentlemen
all right now I want I want you can just give me one beautifully described while I strum for you I would like to hear from you Janelle Monae about something that ultimately very recently has given you great pleasure oh something recently has given me great pleasure ah well first of all seeing your face Zayn it's been too long oh you're the best
[Music] um and what else has given me pleasure um one of my friends who is an aspiring model and actor was told that they had um some work that they were going to be doing in New York that they were excited about like they've been really low and down about it so that gave me pleasure to like celebrate her in that moment you know because you know I get a lot a lot
of people some people celebrate me some people don't but sometimes I like to be able to and my friends celebrate me a lot like they're always in my corner and I love that I can like do that for them because they're to see life turn around for somebody too to realize that like just when you they they're starting to feel at their lowest point that life has a
trick up a sleeve that's the thing but it's the magic we never truly can understand yeah what else gave me pleasure um has been given me pleasure oh I was I did a meatball after party and that was fun how was the Met was it fun it was cool I loved it I went with a designer who you know had sent me things at the beginning since the beginning of my career when I had no suits
cool right yep such an imagination so when he and I got together it was just like endless ideas that gave me great pleasure I was happy you know to to like wear something that had a story to tell and it spoke about my transformation and my Evolution you know as a kid by the way thank you thank you so that was cool and then the after party I decided I
wanted to be on top of a bar I was hosting in a bikini I wanted to do that like I I and that's that's the thing like my friends have gotten this is also important my friends have got an opportunity to see a different side of me yeah that nobody else gets to see yeah and this album this moment that I'm having I'm allowing I'm allowing myself to show that version of Janelle that my
friends get to see all the time like I'm not I want to own all of me and be all of me I don't want to just you know um reserve some things I reserve for for just specific people but I think it's so important that I'm smiling you see that that I'm laughing you see that that you knew that while Janelle Monae lived she had a good time she had a good time you're the best