50 Fun Facts About Janelle Monáe

Which pioneering NASA engineer does Janelle Monáe portray in the 2016 film Hidden Figures?

Mary Jackson became NASA's first Black female engineer in 1958, and the agency's Washington headquarters was renamed in her honor in 2021.

Which chart-topping 2012 anthem by the band Fun features guest vocals from Janelle Monáe?

We Are Young topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six straight weeks and won the Grammy for Song of the Year. Monáe recorded her vocals in Bristol, England.

Which Dungeon Family rapper, half of a famous duo, guests on Janelle Monáe's single Tightrope?

Big Boi raps on Tightrope, though for the end credits of the animated film Happy Feet Two his verse was replaced by one from a child rapper.

Which garment did Janelle Monáe adopt as a career uniform, in tribute to her working-class parents?

The tuxedo is Monáe's signature look: she has joked that she bathes in one, swims in one and could be buried in one.

Which detective, played by Daniel Craig, does Janelle Monáe's character hire in Glass Onion?

Benoit Blanc persuades Helen Brand to pose as her dead twin Andi at a tech billionaire's island party, so Monáe plays both sisters.

Janelle Monáe first acted on screen as Teresa in which Academy Award winner for Best Picture?

Moonlight took Best Picture only after La La Land was announced by mistake. Monáe's Teresa helps shelter Chiron, a bullied Miami boy.

Janelle Monáe was fired from which retail chain for answering a fan's e-mail on a company computer?

Office Depot fired Monáe over that e-mail, and the song she wrote about it, Lettin' Go, caught the ear of a rap star who helped launch her career.

Which late music legend mentored Janelle Monáe and helped create sounds for her single Make Me Feel?

Prince worked on Dirty Computer with Monáe before his death in 2016, after guesting on The Electric Lady and calling her Q.U.E.E.N. video the best of 2013.

Where in the Midwest was Janelle Monáe born and raised, in the working-class community of Quindaro?

Kansas City, on the Kansas side of the state line, runs through Monáe's music: critics hear its boarded-up housing projects in her dystopian songs.

Janelle Monáe plays boarding-house owner Marie Buchanon in a 2019 biopic about which abolitionist?

Harriet Tubman is played by Cynthia Erivo. Monáe's Marie, a freeborn Philadelphia landlady, takes her in after her escape from slavery.

Which android heroine from the year 2719 is Janelle Monáe's alter ego across her early concept records?

Cindi Mayweather is on the run in the Metropolis saga for falling in love with a human, a crime that gets an android sentenced to disassembly.

Which neo-soul singer joins Janelle Monáe on Q.U.E.E.N., the lead single from The Electric Lady?

Erykah Badu inspired the song in private conversations with Monáe about how marginalized groups are treated, and the pair closed the 2013 BET Awards with it.

Which actress joins Janelle Monáe in the Make Me Feel and Pynk videos and the Dirty Computer film?

Tessa Thompson plays Zen, the lover of Monáe's character Jane, in the Dirty Computer film, and has a cameo as a dancer in the Yoga video.

Which heroine of a classic Hollywood musical has Janelle Monáe cited as a musical influence?

Dorothy Gale of The Wizard of Oz is the influence Monáe names. She dreamed of performing from early childhood and learned to sing in a Baptist church.

Janelle Monáe opened which 2020 awards ceremony with a musical number featuring Billy Porter?

The Oscars began that year with Monáe saluting the nominated films and several the Academy had snubbed, among them Dolemite Is My Name and Midsommar.

Which actress stars as a NASA mathematician in Hidden Figures with Janelle Monáe and Octavia Spencer?

Taraji P. Henson headed the trio, and the whole ensemble, Monáe included, won the Screen Actors Guild Award for best cast in a motion picture.

After leaving a New York drama academy, Janelle Monáe moved to which Southern city to make music?

Atlanta is where Monáe enrolled at Georgia Perimeter College, performed around campus and sold her demo album from the trunk of her car.

Whose 1998 solo debut album did Janelle Monáe buy twice with her first paycheck?

Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill supplied the songs Monáe performed at Juneteenth talent shows, which she won three years in a row.

Janelle Monáe's Metropolis series takes its name from a 1927 silent film by which director?

Fritz Lang's Metropolis, which Monáe called the godfather of science-fiction movies, also inspired the cover of The ArchAndroid, modeled on its famous poster.

Janelle Monáe founded which arts collective and label, which partnered with Epic Records in 2015?

Wondaland began as Monáe's independent label, and its joint venture with Epic led Billboard to call her a mini-mogul.

Which hip-hop mogul signed Janelle Monáe to his label after being won over by her MySpace page?

Sean Combs loved that her look and her dancing felt new, and his Bad Boy label chose to build her profile slowly instead of chasing one hot single.

Which pop star co-headlined a 2011 tour with Janelle Monáe after they shared a Grammys stage?

Bruno Mars rejected several requests to open for other artists in 2011 and chose to share top billing with Monáe instead.

Which reggae-tinged Janelle Monáe album was led by the singles Float and Lipstick Lover?

The Age of Pleasure was road-tested at parties, including Monáe's Met Gala after-party: songs that did not work on the dance floor were left off.

In which 2020 horror thriller does Janelle Monáe take her first lead film role, as author Veronica Henley?

Antebellum casts Monáe as a sociologist who is abducted and held on a Louisiana plantation run by Confederate soldiers.

In season two of which Amazon thriller did Janelle Monáe replace Julia Roberts as the lead?

Homecoming's second season opens with Monáe's character adrift in a small boat, with no memory of who she is or how she got there.

Which late-night host praised Janelle Monáe's work ethic after she danced on his desk in 2013?

David Letterman called her the hardest working woman in show business after she sang Dance Apocalyptic, climbed onto his desk and made a theatrical exit.

In a 2010 NPR interview, Janelle Monáe said she believes in and champions which sci-fi idea?

Time travel drives her Metropolis saga too: its android heroine is sent back to free citizens from a secret society that suppresses freedom and love.

Which Canadian art-pop musician is the featured guest on Janelle Monáe's 2018 single Pynk?

Grimes sings on Pynk, whose desert-set video features distinctive pink trousers and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Music Video.

Which rock band is credited on Janelle Monáe's Pynk because it interpolates one of their songs?

Aerosmith's members share the writing credit because Pynk borrows from their song Pink. Monáe has called pink the color that unites all of humanity.

The Palace of the Dogs in Janelle Monáe's Tightrope video is what kind of institution?

Asylum it is: Monáe plays a patient who can walk through walls, and she said the Palace's past residents included Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix.

Janelle Monáe's dancing in the Tightrope video has been likened to that of which soul legend?

James Brown is the comparison critics reach for: one interviewer called Monáe a cross between him, Judy Garland, André 3000 and Steve Jobs.

Which R&B singer duets with Janelle Monáe on PrimeTime and plays her love interest in its video?

Miguel plays Joey Vice in the video, opposite Monáe's android heroine. The duet was the third single from The Electric Lady.

Which singer, once a backup dancer for Destiny's Child, guests on Janelle Monáe's Electric Lady?

Solange sings on the title track of Monáe's second album, whose video sends Monáe to a sorority party and ends with her leading a marching band.

Janelle Monáe's 2022 debut book, The Memory Librarian, takes which literary form?

Short stories fill the book, which is set in the world of Dirty Computer, and each of the five was written by Monáe with a different coauthor.

On which web series hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith did Janelle Monáe come out as non-binary in 2022?

Red Table Talk is where Monáe said she does not see herself as solely a woman. A representative added that she continues to use she/her pronouns.

Which rapper, known for the hit Classic Man, shares the 2015 single Yoga with Janelle Monáe?

Jidenna delivers his verse from a diner in the video, and Yoga became Monáe's first single as a lead artist to reach the Billboard Hot 100.

In the animated sequel Rio 2, Janelle Monáe voices a character named Dr. Monae who has which job?

Veterinarian Dr. Monae was her first film role of any kind, and Monáe also sang What Is Love for the Rio 2 soundtrack.

Which stray Lhasa Apso does Janelle Monáe voice in Disney's 2019 remake of Lady and the Tramp?

Peg is a friend of Tramp's in the remake, the first Disney one to skip theaters and debut on the Disney+ streaming service.

Janelle Monáe wrote a childhood musical inspired by a 1979 plant-themed album by which Motown star?

Stevie Wonder's Journey Through The Secret Life of Plants inspired the musical, which she finished at about 12 in a theater program for budding playwrights.

Which Glass Onion actor hosted Saturday Night Live when Janelle Monáe was musical guest in 2013?

Edward Norton hosted that night, and nine years later he played tech billionaire Miles Bron, the man Monáe's character sets out to expose.

The opening of Janelle Monáe's Many Moons borrows from a counting tune on which children's TV show?

Sesame Street's Pinball Number Count, sung by the Pointer Sisters, is the source. Many Moons went on to earn Monáe her first Grammy nomination.

Janelle Monáe sang on Call the Law and In Your Dreams from which 2006 Outkast album?

Idlewild served as the soundtrack album to Outkast's musical film of the same name, which reached cinemas that same month.

In 2011 Janelle Monáe sang in Oslo at the annual concert honoring the winner of which award?

Nobel Peace Prize concerts were held each 11 December from 1994, the day after the award ceremony at Oslo's city hall.

Janelle Monáe and Paramore both opened shows on the 2009 summer tour of which rock band?

No Doubt insisted the 2009 trek was not a reunion tour, because the band had never broken up.

Janelle Monáe and Nile Rodgers guest on Pressure Off, a 2015 single by which British new wave band?

Duran Duran made Pressure Off the lead single from Paper Gods, reuniting with Nile Rodgers, whose remix of The Reflex gave them a number-one hit.

Janelle Monáe appears in Autofac, an episode of a 2017 series adapting which sci-fi author?

Philip K. Dick is also among the inspirations Monáe drew on for her Metropolis albums, alongside Alfred Hitchcock.

Janelle Monáe won a Children's and Family Emmy for which Netflix series executive-produced by Barack and Michelle Obama?

We the People teaches civics through animated music videos, and Monáe sings the episode that shares the show's title.

Which 2015 EP from Janelle Monáe's label shares its name with a slow, high-arcing baseball pitch?

The Eephus introduced her label's roster in five songs, among them the hit Classic Man, and reached number 22 on the Billboard 200.

Which Janelle Monáe single has a video consisting of one unbroken shot of her against a dark wall?

Cold War arrived online one day after Tightrope, and its one-take video of Monáe moving through raw emotions was praised as a piece of art.

Which Beach Boys co-founder is among the guest contributors on Janelle Monáe's album Dirty Computer?

Brian Wilson joins a guest list that, by one critic's count, made Dirty Computer easily the most star-loaded album of Monáe's career.