Dirty Computer

Dirty Computer is the third studio album by American singer Janelle Monáe

Dirty Computer is the third studio album by American singer Janelle Monáe, released on and her first album to not be a part of Cindi Mayweather's Metropolis narrative. The concept album was preceded by three singles, "Make Me Feel", "Django Jane", and "Pynk",

In October 2016, Monáe made her feature-length film acting debut in Moonlight, alongside Naomie Harris, André Holland, and Mahershala Ali. Monáe also starred in the film Hidden Figures, alongside actresses Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer; the film was released in December 2016. While filming her two movie roles, Monáe remained active in music with features on Grimes' "Venus Fly" from her Art Angels album and also the soundtrack for the Netflix series The Get Down with a song titled, "Hum Along and Dance (Gotta Get Down)". She was also on the tracks "Isn't This the World" and "Jalapeño" for the Hidden Figures soundtrack. In an interview with People, Monáe revealed that she was already working on her third studio album when she received the scripts for her two first acting roles; therefore, she put the album on hold. She also revealed in the interview that she would be releasing new music sometime in 2017,although by the end of the year no album or single was announced.

It was confirmed by Monáe after "Make Me Feel" was released that Prince, with whom she collaborated on her preceding album, had worked on the single, as well as the entire album, before he passed away. This was confirmed after listeners noticed similarities between the single's sound and the late musician's work. Monae stated in an interview with BBC Radio 1: "Prince was actually working on the album with me before he passed on to another frequency, and helped me come up with some sounds. And I really miss him, you know, it’s hard for me to talk about him. But I do miss him, and his spirit will never leave me." The synth groove in "Make Me Feel", reported to be written by Prince, was played at one of his parties years prior to its inclusion in the single, as confirmed by Prince's DJ, Lenka Paris.

Monáe had been exploring the themes presented in Dirty Computer for a decade before its production, but noted that "earlier it felt safer to package herself in metaphors...The sanitized android version felt more accepted — and more acceptable — than her true self. The public, she explained, doesn't really 'know Janelle Monáe, and I felt like I didn't really have to be her because they were fine with Cindi.'" Monáe considers Dirty Computer to be "a homage to women and the spectrum of sexual identities." The album's 14 tracks can be grouped into three loose categories: Reckoning, Celebration and Reclamation. The first deals with Monáe's recognition of how she is viewed by society, the middle explores her acceptation of "the cards she has been dealt", and the closing tracks deal with her reclamation and redefinition of American identity. Overall, the album is Monáe's attempt to "step into a more authentic self

On February 16, 2018, Monáe revealed her third studio album and the accompanying narrative film, entitled Dirty Computer, through a teaser video released on YouTube. The teaser video aired nationwide in select theaters prior to screenings of Black Panther. Monáe held a series of "top-secret" listening sessions in Los Angeles and New York prior to the album announcement.

homophobic beliefs...In the film, Monáe's character is trying to assert her individuality, which makes her the enemy of a soulless regime – a common tension in dystopian sci-fi." Actress Tessa Thompson and actor Jayson Aaron co-star as Zen and Ché respectively, lovers with whom Jane escapes "the clutches of this repressive society." Tim Grierson of Rolling Stonedescribed that, in the film, "Monáe plays with the conventions and totems of dystopian sci-fi to speak her truth and promote a cultural shift toward a more inclusive and loving society – Monáe is speaking to the present, but for her, the future is now.