Janelle Monáe’s Bold Look in “I Like That” Video Marks a Liberated New Chapter
Janelle Monáe has always been a force to be reckoned with, but the lead-up to tomorrow’s release of her third album, Dirty Computer, has proved she’s indomitable. “Being a black queer woman in America . . . someone who has been in relationships with both men and women—I consider myself to be a free-ass motherf**ker,” she told Rolling Stone today, officially coming out as pansexual.
And the future-soul singer’s emancipation isn’t just materializing in new music, with the help of a few high-profile collaborators (the album’s title track features living legend Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, while the heavy synth on single “Make Me Feel” was bestowed upon her by Prince before his death), or the stirring 44-minute short film that she’s been teasing to Internet-breaking effect, but her above-the-neck aesthetic as well. Particularly her metamorphic mane, which was on full flex in her “I Like That” music video released earlier this week.
An empowering, addictively groovy anthem, the track explores the intricacies of being a self-assured woman: “Depending on my mood or my attitude / Sometimes I wanna roll or stay at home / Walking contradiction, guess I’m factual and fiction / A little crazy, little sexy, little cool / Little rough around the edges but I keep it smooth / I’m always left of center and that’s right where I belong / I’m the random minor note you hear in major songs.” The video opens with Monáe wearing a triangular, gaze-concealing Dead Lotus Couture headpiece with two hip-grazing pigtails, her lips accented by a single stripe of metallic pigment drawn down the middle, and from there, Monáe takes her hair to playful new heights in collaboration with her hairstylist Nikki Nelms.
The next look is a trio of thick, sky-high braids dyed with a gradient black-to-white effect towards the ends, a nod to her signature color motif. “The style was inspired by how I used to wear my hair when I was a little girl,” explains Nelms of the complementary plaits. “It’s super cute and fly, but more minimal for [Janelle].” So, relatively speaking, is the voluminous, off-center Afro—her deep side part embellished with silver hair pins to play off a geometric metal body piece—that follows. And fun fact: It was an homage to The Cosby Show’s lesser-known beauty muse: Vanessa Huxtable. “Vanessa had a haircut that was very asymmetrical and sharp lines within her Afro,” says Nelms. “I always thought that was really advanced for the time.”
Just as striking as Monáe’s more elaborate styles are those that are more pared back, starting with the wispy, piled-on updo of glossy ringlets she wears while lounging in the video’s lush living-room-meets-the-jungle setting. “It’s rare form,” says Nelms of Monáe’s softer, more understated vibe. “The world has seen her all different ways, but this look had a quiet beauty, yet was still powerful and commanding.” And adding to that feeling were the models on either side of her, their faces obscured by ornate, braided masks sculpted by Brooklyn-based artist Joanne Petit-Frère, who repurposed the pieces from her Redressing the Crown capsule series, which seeks to construct further discourse around the consciousness of African-American hair.
But perhaps the most awe-inspiring moment of all is when Monáe, laying down in a bathtub with her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, spotlighting her luminous glow, raps: “Do you remember? Uh, I remember when you laughed when I cut my perm off / And you rated me a six / I was like, ‘Damn’ / But even back then with the tears in my eyes / I always knew I was the shit.” Enough said—because whether it’s conversation-stoking hair, speaking freely about her sexuality, or the seamlessly executed lead-up to a boundary-pushing new album, the artist has never been more unapologetically herself.
