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YMMV / Janelle Monáe

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  • Awesome Music:
    • The ArchAndroid in general. Especially the likes of "Cold War," "Mushrooms & Roses," and "BabopbyeYa".
    • Dirty Computer, in its entirety.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
    • The of Montreal collaboration "Make the Bus", while rarely considered a bad song, is often considered tonally out of place within The ArchAndroid. That was probably intentional, but there's something of a Broken Base as to whether it works.
    • The interludes on The Electric Lady also fall into this for some people; while amusing, they're uncharacteristically repetitive musically and are sometimes considered to be tonally out of place.
  • Broken Base: The song "Yoga", which she did with Jidenna. It's either a sexy, awesome song, or ridiculous and not up to her standards.
  • Critical Dissonance: Although she often gets rave reviews from critics, she's not particularly well known to the general public. Or at least wasn't until Dirty Computer raised her profile substantially.
  • LGBT Fanbase: Has had one for years, but gathered an even larger one after the song and videoclip for "Make Me Feel" resonated with members of the community, particularly bisexuals.
    • Her coming out as pansexual almost certainly increased this even more, though honestly, the revelation probably wasn't a surprise to anyone who'd listened to songs like "Q.U.E.E.N." (whose Working Title, to drive the point home, was "Q.U.E.E.R.").
  • Narm: Her line "You cannot police me, so get off my areola (Ola) (Ha!) Get off my areola (Ola, ola, ola)" from "Yoga".
  • Nightmare Fuel: ...And on the flip-side, we have the "Guards" from the video for "Tightrope" — tall, cloaked figures with mirrors for faces. The first time they show up, it almost looks like they're headless, with gaping holes at both ends of their hood, and generally everything about them is incredibly surreal and creepy. It's even more disturbing when you think of the implications; if you're looking straight at them, you'll see your face in their hood...
    • The video for "Dance Apocalyptic", which has a TV announcer break into the middle of the performance, talking about what is heavily implied to be the end of the world. During the segment, she's attacked by zombies, while the screen is distorted and keeps flashing in with images of strange puppets (including one with a giant eye for a head, and another half monkey/half human hybrid who laughs maliciously) before it jumps back to the Electric Lady performing. Then at the end of the video, four "Horsemen" ride in on their motorcycles, and the Lady gets on the back of Horseman #4's motorcycle while pumping her fist and urging the others on. There's a little bit or Fridge Horror when you start wondering if it was the Lady who started the apocalypse herself, and summoned the Horsemen to help out. Then you start wondering if the fact that she's dressed all in white makes her "Conquest" - "Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, 'Come.' I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer." (Revelation 6:1-2)
      • The distorted voice at the very end:
      "What's the matter? Your chicken taste like pork? You have triplets instead of twins? Does your food taste like plastic? Granddad, I think I wanna dance."
  • Sweet Dreams Fuel: Her discography is not only inspiring and positive, but very tender and soothing as well. This trope can be invoked as a bedtime playlist.

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