janelle monae
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Janelle Monae Explains Why Getting Out and Voting Is So Important to Her
Singer and actress Janelle Monae is passionate about voting and she wants everyone to get on board. As such, she appears in a new video telling her own voting story and encouraging others to understand the importance of this most important civic duty and right. Monae is a campaign co-chair for When We All Vote,…
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14 Observations From the 2018 BET Awards Before Rain Took Out My DirecTV for the Evening
In no particular order: 1. I don’t love J. Cole as an artist; nor do I care for most of his albums. But his performance at the BET Awards on Sunday night was awesome. I’ve long contended that I enjoy Cole the person more than the artist, and his performance highlighted that for me. Luckily,…
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Blakanda and the Beautiful: The Best, the Boldest and the Bad(dest) Looks of the 2018 BET Awards
“Blakanda” was the theme, and black Hollywood didn’t disappoint at the 2018 BET Awards Sunday night, when black excellence took center stage at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Since several of our Root crew were in attendance, we left it to them to fill you in on all the details about the show, while…
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Is Black Music the Well Many Other Artists Drink From and Profit From More Than Black Artists?
What is black music? For many, it’s soul, funk, R&B, hip-hop and essentially all genres of music that reflect roots in blackness. But the industry doesn’t hear us. Music is very much a culture of “We make it, they take it.” We’ve seen it throughout history in the theft of everything we exclusively create within…
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Exclusive: Janelle Monáe Is Trying to Be as Free and Open-Minded as Possible With Virtual Reality and Pandora
“When the world tells us that the very existence of us, or our skin color, could get us kicked out of Starbucks. When the world tells us that because of your skin color, the police can mistake your cellphone for a gun and you’re murdered, it’s important that I tell my story and I tell…
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Met Gala 2018: How Janelle Monáe Served Flawless Face for ‘Heavenly Bodies’
Chanteuse, actress and perpetual stunner Janelle Monáe is never short on surprising moments—especially with the release of her latest album, Dirty Computer. But no matter what boundary-pushing look she may be rocking, one thing we can always rely on is her makeup looking radiant, thanks in no small part to longtime makeup artist Jessica Smalls.…
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The Met Gala 2018: How Celebs Interpreted ‘Fashion and the Catholic Imagination’
Monday night’s 2018 Met Gala in New York City was an incredible opportunity for deeply spiritual fashion moments. The theme? “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” But while the theme was ripe with possibility, some of our faves fell—dare we say it?—a bit short on delivery. The big winners of the night? Cardi B,…
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The Glow Up Anthem of the Week: Janelle Monáe and Pharrell Got the Juice
We promise, we’re going to stop with the all-Janelle Monáe-everything … just as soon as we listen to Dirty Computer about 200 more times. But seriously: We’ll definitely give you a break next week, but for the second week in a row, the artist occasionally known as Cindi Mayweather has The Glow Up’s hearts—and ears—with…