フォーマット |
CD |
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構成数 |
1 |
国内/輸入 |
輸入 (ヨーロッパ盤) |
パッケージ仕様 |
- |
発売日 |
2018年04月27日 |
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規格品番 |
7567865793 |
レーベル |
|
SKU |
075678657931 |
構成数 | 1枚
合計収録時間 | 00:48:41
Director: Joe Perez . Photographer: Juco. "Yoga" was an ostensibly minor part of the Janelle Monae discography by the arrival of Dirty Computer. Three years old and outshined by another Wondaland release, Jidenna's "Classic Man," it nevertheless became Monae's first single to hit the Billboard Hot 100. That Monae hadn't previously hit the chart as a headliner was further evidence of a flawed industry, given that she and primary collaborators Nate Wonder and Chuck Lightning had been making songs with pop appeal for nearly a decade. "Yoga" did show that Monae was more open to messing with contemporary trends. Moreover, the song's humanized, sexually uninhibited, and anti-authoritarian qualities -- she was earthbound, celebrating her body, asserting "You cannot police me" -- also indicated the course she has taken with her third album. Oddly enough, "Make Me Feel," the one Dirty Computer track on which Monae employs a wholly pop songwriting team including Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter, and Mattman & Robin, is the funkiest and friskiest number here, clearly influenced by the late (and uncredited) Prince. Monae and her trusty Wondaland partners, the album's dominant creative force, colorfully twist and flip new wave-leaning pop with booming bass drums and rattling percussion. They transmit powerful and defiant jubilance in response to "wack ass fuckboys everywhere (from the traphouse to the White House) who make the lives of little brown girls so damn hard," among dozens of other inspirations Monae acknowledges in the essential liner notes. Almost every track is densely packed with quotables delivered in approaches that shift from easygoing elegance to hard-fought, triumphant conviction. The latter approach yields the album's apex, "Django Jane," in which Monae raps throughout with inhuman precision, threatening a pussy riot, declaring "We ain't hidden no more," and uplifting the "highly melanated" while dropping some of the set's few sci-fi allusions, "Made a fandroid outta yo' girlfriend" among them. Not to be lost in all the power moves are indirect and direct references to a romantic relationship -- another form of dissent -- referenced and explored throughout, from the glowing "Crazy, Classic, Life" through the fiery "So Afraid," the only moment of emotional fragility. While this is easily the most loaded Monae album in terms of guests, with Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, and Grimes among the contributors, there's no doubt that it's a Wondaland product. It demonstrates that artful resistance and pop music are not mutually exclusive. ~ Andy Kellman
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1.[CD]
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1.Dirty Computer
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2.Crazy, Classic, Life
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3.Take a Byte
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4.Jane's Dream
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5.Screwed
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6.Django Jane
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7.PYNK
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8.Make Me Feel
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9.I Got the Juice
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10.I Like That
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11.Stevie's Dream
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12.Don't Judge Me
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13.So Afraid
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14.Americans
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キャリア、芸術性、メッセージ、ゲスト、どのトピックも凄まじい情報量。そんな深みと底知れなさに逆行するように、今作の音楽そのものは風通しの良さを増しており、何度でもリピート可能な楽しさだ。独特の美意識を込めた先行曲群と、先人たちからのインスピレーションを表す楽曲群を同一線上で繋げた内容は、これまで以上に自身のバックグラウンドを反映している。そして、プリンス"Let's Go Crazy"への明快なオマージュに彼女なりのポジティヴな愛国心を織り込んだ"Americans"で終幕する構成はまるで、アンドロイドを気取っていた才媛の〈人間宣言〉であるかのようだ。そんな転機の一作をポップで軽やかなアルバムにまとめた手腕にこそ、彼女の天才ぶりが何よりも表れているのだろう。
bounce (C)池谷瑛子タワーレコード (vol.415(2018年5月25日発行号)掲載)
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