Janelle Monáe Robinson, an American singer, rapper, and actor, was born on December 1, 1985. She has contracts with both her own label, the Wondaland Arts Society, and Atlantic Records. Monáe has been nominated for eight Grammys.
In 2010, Monáe received the ASCAP Vanguard Award and an MTV Video Music Award. In addition, Monáe received the Trailblazer of the Year Award in 2018 and the Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award in 2015. Monáe was appointed a CoverGirl spokeswoman in 2012. In honor of Janelle Monáe’s artistic talent and activism, Boston City Council proclaimed October 16, 2013, as “Janelle Monáe Day” in the city of Boston, Massachusetts.
Monáe appeared on the Purple Ribbon All-Stars album Got Purp? Vol. 2 as well as on OutKast’s 2006 album Idlewild, where she was featured on the songs “Call the Law” and “In Your Dreams”. Big Boi told his friend Sean Combs about Monáe, who Combs had not heard of at the time. Combs soon visited Monáe’s MySpace page and according to a HitQuarters interview with Bad Boy Records A&R person Daniel ‘Skid’ Mitchell, Combs loved it right away: “He loved her look, loved that you couldn’t see her body, loved the way she was dancing, and just loved the vibe. He felt she had something unique to offer, something new and exciting.
Monáe joined Bad Boy Records in 2006. The label’s primary role was to facilitate her exposure on a much larger scale rather than to develop the artist and music, because, in Mitchell’s words, “she was already moving, she already had her records – she had a self-contained movement.” Combs and Big Boi wanted to take their time and build her profile organically, allowing the music to grow, rather than releasing “a hot single that everyone jumps on, and then they fade because it’s just something of the moment.”
Janelle Monáe’s top movies and TV shows
Monáe made her theatrical film debut in two high-profile productions in 2016: Hidden Figures as NASA mathematician and aerospace engineer Mary Jackson and Moonlight. Hidden Figures was a box office success, while Moonlight won Best Picture at the 89th Academy Awards. Since then, she has appeared in Harriet (2019), Antebellum (2020), and Glass Onion (2022).
Janelle Monáe awards and nominations
Monáe received the Trailblazer of the Year award at the 2018 Billboard Women in Music event on December 6, 2018, it was announced on November 15, 2018.
She received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Cast Performance in a Motion Picture in 2017 and the MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction in 2013.
