Janelle Monáe - Q.U.E.E.N. ft. Erykah Badu

Janelle Monáe’s super taut, futurist takes on old funk and soul from her 2010 album ‘The ArchAndroid’ look to have been both heightened and broadened on Q.U.E.E.N – the first single from follow-up record ‘The Electric Lady’. Monáe prefers to call her singles “experiences” and this one is more bodily and direct, both in its open call for female sexual liberty and the muscular synthetic funk indebted to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, with a breakdown verse from the unmistakable Erykah Badu bridging into a mellower groove and string section for the outro.

To reacquaint yourself further with Monáe’, read our review of ‘The ArchAndroid’ from 2010

Atlantic Records will release ‘The Electric Lady’ sometime soon and the single Q.U.E.E.N is out now