Janelle Monáe is a Kansas-born, Grammy-nominated songwriter and performer signed to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s Bad Boy Records label. The ArchAndroid is her debut full-length album, consisting of Suites II and III of her futuristic, android-fixated Metropolis concept series (Suite I was released as an EP in 2007).

Ben Rogerson says: Monáe’s influences aren’t difficult to spot - James Brown, Outkast and Prince (who’s made a point of endorsing her) immediately spring to mind - but her first album proper (following the Metropolis: Suite 1 (The Chase) EP in 2007) is almost impossible to pin down. Hugely ambitious in both size and scope, The ArchAndroid is funky, endlessly inventive and utterly beguiling.

Listen: Janelle Monáe - Tightrope (live on The Late Show with David Letterman)

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