- I've always wanted people to ask questions about the music. Some songs you get. Some songs you may not. And I think that's the beauty of art: to question and to ask, to understand the deeper meaning after two or three or four listenings. I appreciate that as a writer because sometimes the mystery, when it's gone, is not as interesting. I love the mystery behind things.
- I feel myself becoming the fearless person I have dreamt of being. Have I arrived? No. But I'm constantly evolving and challenging myself to be unafraid to make mistakes.
- [observation, 2014] I'd be honored to experiment more with holograms and maybe make a whole band - but I love my band. I wouldn't want them to be holograms.
- I've never viewed myself as "just" a musician or singer. I'm a storyteller who wants to tell untold, meaningful, universal stories in unforgettable ways. I want to do it all, study it all and find my place in it.
- I had a strong visceral reaction to the Moonlight (2016) script, partly because I felt I knew all of these characters. I grew up with a drug dealer like Juan in my neighborhood who was a mentor to local young people. I had a family member who was addicted to crack, like Paula. Chiron himself reminded me of my little cousin - they were all characters I could relate to from my upbringing. And I've played the role of Teresa in real life: my family and friends always have a shoulder to lean on with me.
- We have to do something about gun laws. And we also have to do something about police brutality towards African American people. We need more allies. People need to continue to speak out about the way African American people are being treated. An injustice to one black man or woman is an injustice to everybody.
- My grandmother had 11 children and although we didn't have a whole lot of money, what we did have was a lot of love. My grandmother was the matriarch. If you didn't have a place to stay, if you needed food, if you were just coming out of jail or rehab, you went to her. Watching her in our family and our wider community was what inspired me and still does.
- [on meeting Karl Lagerfeld] We liked each other from the first second on. Not just because of our style, but also the name: Janelle rhymes with Chanel, no?
- Statistics would say that I'm not supposed to be where I am today ... Neither one of my parents had college degrees, but they really pushed and designed me to be better than them ... I think about that Janelle [her Kansas self] and how blessed she is. She can't let herself or her community down.
- I think there's a lack of diversity. People think that we're all monolithic and it's hard for young aspiring girls, who don't necessarily want to sell sex and strictly sing crappy R&B songs. They need to understand there's a different blueprint that you can create. I think it's absolutely necessary for the balance of the universe that there are other representations and a different perspective of the woman.
- I only date androids. That's great, they can claim me as well as the straight community, as well as androids. I speak about androids because I think the android represents the new 'other'. You can compare it to being a lesbian or being a gay man or being a black woman ... What I want is for people who feel oppressed or feel like the 'other' to connect with the music and to feel like, 'She represents who I am'.
- [I am only] part feminist. Never will I go into a situation thinking that the world's against me because I'm a woman. I don't like over-emotional girls sometimes - like some of my friends when they're about to start their periods. But I have both those sides of me - the 'Get it together' side and the 'Ah, I just want to be hugged' part.
- I don't allow myself to get lazy, believing that I've made it. I always work hard. It's in my DNA. Both my parents were janitors. I'm a big believer in turning nothing into something.
- I'm not into politics actually, I'm really not.
- The Janelle Monáe [sitting] here [on the sofa] is the person who is working to make sure that Janelle Monáe is heard. It's important that she's [the Janelle Monáe on stage] out there doing what she's doing. I think that music needs it and I think that Janelle Monáe is absolutely necessary. I'm not like that offstage. What happens on stage is kind of an out-of-body experience.
- That's the great thing about being an artist. Your job is to comfort, your job is to be the voice, your job is to bring awareness, your job is to be a rebel, your job is to start a revolution.
- [I will make a definitive declaration about my sexuality or my relationships] in due time, when I'm ready to have a family and be out in the public with my family. As for now, my music, my performance, my voice, my message and what I'm representing as a young African-American woman is what's most important.
- [I wear my "uniform"] to pay homage to the working man and woman.
- I used to judge people who were using drugs, but now I'm trying to steer people in the right direction through music - saying, 'Let music be your drug'. When you become dependent on something your family goes through a lot ... I dealt with that in my life so I call myself as Dalí calls himself. I am the drug, I am the hallucinogen, take me.
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