Before the March 31 video release of “Tightrope,” Janelle Monáe’s most notable solo compositions appeared on “Metropolis, Suite I of IV: The Chase,” a 2007 space-age themed concept EP starring a female android from the year 2719. It sounded something like Nona Hendryx meets 80s funk/new-wave group The Time meets lost outtakes from Weezer’s doomed “Songs from the Black Hole” project. That is: soulful while art-minded, playful while sharp and unabashedly eclectic. It was good, too — the way elegant, listenable concept albums can be. On her outstanding new single, Monáe takes that basic framework, tones down the oddity, pumps up the danceability and arguably offers her finest work yet.
We have in “Tightrope” a pop song as well-crafted, infectious and plainly fun as any classic Motown track. Monáe, whose style leans toward Aretha more than Diana, offers an exhilaratingly dynamic performance, progressing from spry, rap-influenced verses to wailing, soulful choruses, then soaring highest at the magnificent call-and-response bridge that evokes The Strokes just as readily as it does James Brown.
To my ear, this indie/funk dichotomy is the definitive characteristic of Monáe’s sound on “Tightrope,” and in general. On the latter side, the aforementioned Brown provides the clearest musical influence, though “Off the Wall”-style pop-funk is comparably present. On the indie side, Monáe seems to be flirting with the sort of subtle atmosphere Beach House fans should find easy to love, especially during the track’s dreamlike outro.
Aside from early Strokes, then an effective amalgam of various trendy underground sounds, I hear subtler traces of what was more overt on “Metropolis” — the sensibilities one associates with a notable Pitchfork-reviewed artist of the past couple years: a bit retro, a bit electronic, pointedly danceable, with artistic ambitions. It is this seamless conflation of two distinct musical worlds that makes “Tightrope” such an engaging listen.
Of course, the particular crossroads of art-rock and funk is not wholly uncharted. Nona Hendryx began her career singing girl-group harmonies with Patti Labelle during the 60s before they reformed in the 70s as glam-infused, space-obsessed disco group Labelle, best known for the 1974 hit “Lady Marmalade.” Labelle split in 1976. By 1980, Hendryx was providing backup vocals for the Talking Heads on tour, while developing her own eclectic sound on solo records.
1989’s “Skin Diver,” one of Hendryx’s most-acclaimed solo works, was produced by Peter Baumann, a former member of experimental-electronic group Tangerine Dream. Where Hendryx developed her own concept-driven art-funk sound over decades, Monáe appears to have taken it as a jumping-off point.
The track’s superb music video deserves a full review itself; I’ll simply offer a comparison. Like intermedia queen Lady Gaga, Monáe’s artistic vision seems to extend naturally into the realm of video. Though as noticeably art-minded as Gaga’s cinematic featurettes, the “Tightrope” video makes Gaga’s appear extravagant to a fault. Where, say, “Bad Romance” buries itself beneath layers of CGI, “Tightrope” exercises technological restraint, relying on sharp camerawork, genius choreography and Monáe’s own expressive personality to execute the video’s conceptual imperative, affecting potent visceral and cerebral reactions simultaneously.
Perhaps in many ways it is clumsy to compare the two artists, for they embody different kinds of talent and style, and (as of now) exist on very different planes of stardom. Still, they’re both young, highly stylized female performers who write danceable pop songs and maintain rather highbrow notions of art and self-expression. Both exude a powerful magnetism in their videos.
Janelle Monáe’s debut LP “The ArchAngel” will be out on May 18. Let’s hope the rest of its songs live up to the likes of “Tightrope,” a present-day pop nugget that should appeal to snobby aficionados and casual listeners alike.
