Janelle Monáe & Nate Wonder

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30:46Those who lack expertise lack the expertise they need to recognize that they lack expertise. And then as we try the whole thing out for real. Wait, what? Oh, that's the runway. I'm looking at this thing. Listen to No Such Thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We're back with Janelle Monae and Nate Wonder. Once you put the album out, how did you guys feel about the response to it? You know, obviously we were very vulnerable. And I feel like that was like a big point of conversation around that. But was it sometimes you just do things feeling like that's the right thing to do.

31:30And then it's like, oh, shit, I got to talk about this. Like, how was the process of going out and talking about the album and getting people's responses to the project? You know, I think it's a beautiful thing that when people see themselves reflected, that was the most beautiful thing. I think a lot of people coming up to me, some of them whispering, some of them more vocal about it, like, thank you so much, you know, for for sharing more of who you are. There's there's this quote by Bethann Hardison that says, you know, people don't change. They become more of who they are. and what I got an opportunity to do is become more of who I am and write about it and write about it with other people who were discovering more about who they were yeah and us having a safe space that was really important I think with an album called the age of pleasure there is no pleasure without safety yeah when we don't feel safe and taken care of you cannot be free in the way that you move or express yourselves at least for me to your point earlier about unpacking a lot of the traumas and stuff just feeling safe within yourself exactly you know what i mean exactly yeah i feel a lot more how do i put it i did put it i see it float i feel like i've i've like i've like floated and anything that used to bother me it doesn't touch me the same yeah it's kind of scary and also really really awesome yeah how was it writing on this record with janelle with given just the way the songs were coming out.

32:59It was a real blessing. Before we started working on the album, I remember I told my management team that I really wanted to focus this time that I have right now on making music for Black women and Black non-binary folks. I want to make music that makes them smile. Like, I want to make music for them specifically. Like I really just want to be of service to that community. And there's so many reasons why. But one reason is because when I, I go to the grocery store as like a little side activity. I love going to the grocery store. I do. I love it. I do it. I love it. This is great. I love this.

33:45Cause I do not like going to the grocery store. No. You go under here. My mom used to have me in a grocery store way too long. I was like, I'm ready to go home. So anyway, but when I would go and I see, like, black women at the grocery store smiling, it just makes me feel a certain way. Yeah. And sometimes it'd be like when a certain song would come on, it would be like you see them singing their song and it's like, man, so good. And Janelle, of course, has like done so much work as a leading voice in terms of activism, in terms of being on the right side of history, in terms of speaking it up for marginalized people.

34:29Early too. Early. Always. It's been herself. But I also was thinking about how much that can weigh on a person. and I told Janelle, I said, I really, like for your next, I would really love, I would love to see you smile more. Like I would love to just see you smile. Like it really would mean so much. I think that you smiling is a really special thing. I love when I see you smile and I would love to see what that energy is to like really put that into a space. And I hadn't really considered that. And I looked at all my album covers and I was like, I'm really not smiling. Did it kind of fuck with you for a second?

35:11Yeah. I was like, what? What is going on? Like from the Ark Android to Electric Lady to Dirty Computer. And if you look at the cover for The Age of Pleasure, I am right in this pool, swimming, topless and smiling. yeah you know it's a layered idea but i do think that giving somebody something that makes them want to smile is its own resistance it's its own protest it's its own like giving people affirmations is its own version it's a certain form of work yeah it's a certain type of healing and so is pleasure like yes to you like it's like i want you to smile it's like to your point then too it's like i don't know i fucking smile like i went topless in this pool right yeah and smiled yeah and it's like both of those things are yeah can be subversive can be absolutely you know what i mean absolutely it is to make an album called the age of pleasure in the middle of a pandemic is a subversive piece of art because it is just kind of being like no it's just like because there's been you know when you're dealing with so much trauma from elections to it's just so much that happens and it feels like your energy when you wake up is going to be stolen from you yeah yeah definitely it feels like it's gonna be stolen right you're like it's not yours exactly and so it it was like a big like no you cannot have all of my day yeah you cannot have all of my time.

36:52I'm going to take some time to enjoy life as best as I can under whatever the circumstances that I have are. I'm going to try my best to do what I can to appreciate this moment as simple as it may be. And what I think that we were finding in the writing process was that just having time to hang out with your friends was the thing that we needed the most. just seeking time to appreciate each other to smile at each other to laugh with each other to do like the simple stuff with each other felt like this is like worth my time way more than whatever that other thing was that was driving me and de-centering my joy yeah yeah yeah i mean that's what that stuff does right like when you think about racism when you think about sexism when you think about homophobia, all of it.

37:47It literally, in addition to just being pure evil work, it distracts you from living your life because you spend so much time fighting. And I definitely found myself, and I know I'm not the only one. There were so many of my friends and people who were out marching. You have to understand George Floyd had been murdered. It was so much. Breonna Taylor, it was so much. And I was working with Say Her Name and I put out protest music. it was so heavy, man. And I was like, but somebody has to do the work, but I think balance is important. And what I was realizing is I was not getting the balance that I needed.

38:24And so once we made a decision to not center white supremacy, to not center, you know, all, all of the things that again, come to distract and destroy and stop us from just living our lives as, as humans having this earth experience and be clear and stand on that. That's when I feel like the songwriting got focused yeah and with this project i said i want to make music for that community for that community of folks who suffer time poverty like they don't have time poverty is a great phrase it's a it's a real thing in our community people don't have the time or the leisure time to just be yeah you know what i'm saying to just be one with their friends or their families because you're spending so much time working you're spending so much time fighting and it's Like, when do we say, OK, well, we're going to carve out this little space for us.

39:12And so I said, I want to create music that we can all listen to, take with us, hold with us. That is the balance in everything that we're dealing with. And if the people that I invite over are not dancing to these songs, if they are not moving, if they're not trying to Shazam, if they're not asking who is that, then it's not working. yeah it's not like i want them to really really really really love this music obviously i we have to love it right but it was so important that the community of people we were right writing it for loved it yeah and um that's how we put together the age of pleasure we had nona quabana who worked on some of the music who was also a dj and our friends with everyday people i don't know if you know about everyday people parties i've not been but i know yeah yeah like i have to give a shout I'm just entering my age of pleasure.

40:06So I ain't I've been working too hard in my dad's house. I have to give them a shout out because during the pandemic, they couldn't find a place, you know, to have their parties. And when I say parties, it's not just like I mean, everybody's dancing and singing and having a good time. But people are feeding each other at the parties like their food vendors. It's the diaspora. It's Pan-Africanism from around the globe, from, you know, Nigeria, Ghana, the Caribbean, Jamaica, Atlanta, New York. LA and Cape Verde like all in one place it's just nothing like going to their parties and so when they asked they had come by Wonderland they were like you know they were having a hard time getting the space and we were like come here let's figure it out because we're going through it too like not being able to see people like how can we do this and that was a big you had to know who was coming or like okay for sure it was very small because that would be a little Yeah, it was, we needed to know.

41:06It was small and it was safe. Yeah, safe and small. And that's where the music was tested first. Hearing all of the backstory, I'm just going to say it because I feel like it's even in the music, like a more human album. It's funny because as we're moving into an age now, the future looks a little bleaker in terms of technology. I feel like you might have called that a little early. and it feels like the project is away from Computer and Arch Android and Metropolis and like this it feels like Janelle the person you know or it feels like to me listening to it like I even just feel myself coming alive more just feeling more me you know what I mean I know a lot of people who've listened to the record a lot of friends a lot of people the same like it makes them feel a particular way as a living creature you know yeah you know from the beginning there was this conversation around android rights yeah and cindy was always being was always fighting to be perceived as a human and to be respected as a human so i guess there's a certain truthfulness to being like yeah you're human and kind of being like yeah finally i mean the definition of of an android and if you're listening and you don't know any of my work.

42:25It's rooted around Cindy Mayweather, who represents the other. And the other is a parallel. You know, the android is parallel to black folks, to, you know, marginalized folks that I want to amplify, the voices I want to amplify, and the music I want to write. The definition of an android is a robot developing human characteristics. So I really think it tells such a continuation, a beautiful continuation of the story. And it's not finished. It's very trippy to see because when I put out Metropolis, we were reading The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil. And if you haven't read that, please do.

43:04But it talks about this moment that we're having with AI and it talks about the singularity of like not being able to differentiate AI by recording a song by Janelle Monae or Janelle Monae, really mapping out that voice. And it's so interesting that it's happening now. And when I think about the album, how, I hate to say it, we knew that when this moment of integration happens, humans were going to be frantic about it. As you can see right now, like it's a lot going on in my business when it comes to using the likeness of an actor's face without paying them. Like AI is in that conversation heavily and people are afraid and they're scared.

43:49And I totally get that. And I also think that there needs to be more conversation and more laws and rules to really be agreed upon. Because not all humans are bad and not all AI is bad. So I think there needs to be a real conversation around who's programming AI. But the thing that I realized in knowing that the singularity was going to happen was that it's nothing like that human to human connection. It was so important for us to gather and have experiences that cannot be created by AI. We can only have these, the barbecue experiences, you know, sharing food together, wrapping our arms around each other, being there for each other in these times.

44:33These are moments that that humans have such a deep connection to and can talk about in ways that I can. And that was my hope, too, is to encourage more community, to encourage people to be with each other. Like our stories are all we have. It is our stories that will set us apart and continue to make us believe in humanity again. Yeah. How have you guys, you know, playing guitar on the steps? Barely finishing college, having to shell out some money to do it. You guys found each other. Over those years, you guys have amassed a body of work, all very different from each other, genre-less, as you said from the beginning.

45:15Money comes, success, time, new people, new relationships, new opportunities. It's incredible to me that you guys have managed to stay close. There you go. Yeah. I don't think that happened. You guys aren't a bait. You're not the Rolling Stones. It's not like if you separate the legal entity of the Rolling Stones, you know, it's like, y 'all have no real responsibility to each other. But we do. But we do. Yeah. But that's very I'm happy that you brought that up. It's so true. And when I look at some of the collectives and, you know, we don't have to dig into names, but even even some of the most iconic collectives ended up not working with each other anymore.

45:59And I just remember the time when they were and how that felt and how I felt when it wasn't the case anymore. And I just it always was important to me to nurture my relationships like I invest in people, you know, not because they're of course, everybody is very talented. But I think they are really, really great people who happen to be very talented. And when you come from a big family like me, I have 49 first cousins. so I was brought into a community you know that runs through my blood and it's loyalty and it's growth and transparency and communication and all those things yeah and respect as somebody who has ideas obviously I'll always have the final say if we're working on something with what I want to do you know on my music but I love listening I love being able to hear how Nate's mind is working to hear how Chuck's mind is working with Sensei Bueno is thinking, no, no.

46:56Like I love to see how they interpret certain things and how they sharpen my sword, you know, when it is time to creatively fight for an idea. So I love that. I love what this community has done, not just for me before the rest of the world. Questlove pulled us aside a few years ago and he was like, listen, man, you guys have something really, really special, but just so you know, the most important thing you guys can do, like, just trust me on this, just stay together, just stay together. I remember that. And he went through his stories of like what happened, like all the things that happen to you can change you but just know that you guys have something very special and it's worth protecting stay together don't get distracted by whatever else comes yeah just stay together and the other thing is that we have this um credo a wonderland credo that was written a long time ago like very very early and in there it discusses our responsibility to each other and to our broader community but specifically to our to to each other how we need to take care of each other how we need to look after each other those basic things are written into our credo of how we understand Wonderland, like at its foundation, it must at least be a community where artists can be taken care of and thrive.

48:36And of course, challenge each other around our ideas, but that we feel at least safe to have our ideas. Yeah. That's how you make your best music again, when you feel safe with the people that you're with. Like when you feel like you can just go there and try new shit out. Like, fall in love with music, fall in love with art, and I think that's what we love at our core. First of all, you guys are living the dream. I mean, that you guys found each other. Yeah, it's hard work. Unique individuals you guys are. Now, let me tell you this. It is hard work. It is not easy. Art is hard. Art is hard, right.

49:13Art is hard. Depending on what process you're in, it can be frustrating and just like you can lose your confidence and second guess yourself or you could be having the best time of your life. You wake back up and listen to that demo or you wrote the night before. You're like, oh, this shit is fire. Like, thank God. And you play it for people outside, you know, who were not a part of the process and you get that feedback. It can be disappointing or it can be like, yes. When do you start playing stuff for people? Is it usually like earlier in the process or is it like dark? I try to play as early as possible.

49:46I like people sitting in the studio when I'm working on music. I gotta feel something. Yeah, he's different. I don't know. But with Age of Pleasure, I was more open. But with all my other albums, I would be in there engineering myself. I engineer myself a lot on this project, too. Yeah. Just because you wanted to be by yourself. When she goes in, it's like, close it, and Janelle will go in there and will engineer. And then I'll call them back in once I have all my takes that I feel like are highlighted and good. Or I'll ask them to highlight in green which ones you think are the best. But I'm always searching for that feeling.

50:21And sometimes I need to be alone to get that feeling. Yeah. We're going to pause for another quick break and then come back with more from Nate Wonder and Janelle Monae. In today's super competitive business environment, the edge goes to those who push harder, move faster, and level up every tool in their arsenal. T-Mobile knows all about that. They're now the best network, according to the experts at an OOCL speed test. And they're using that network to launch Supermobile, the first and only business plan to combine intelligent performance, built-in security, and seamless satellite coverage. With Supermobile, your performance, security, and coverage are supercharged.

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52:41Whether you're booking your next big trip or we can escape, Chase Sapphire Reserve makes travel more rewarding. Discover more with Chase Sapphire Reserve at chase.com slash sapphire reserve. Cards issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC. Subject to credit approval. Terms apply. Imagine that you're on an airplane and all of a sudden you hear this. Attention passengers, the pilot is having an emergency and we need someone, anyone to land this plane. Think you could do it? It turns out that nearly 50 % of men think that they could land the plane with the help of air traffic control. And they're saying like, okay, pull this, pull that, turn this.

53:23I can do it with my eyes closed. I'm Manny. I'm Noah. This is Devin. And on our new show, No Such Thing, we get to the bottom of questions like these. Join us as we talk to the leading expert on overconfidence. Those who lack expertise, lack the expertise they need to recognize that they lack expertise. And then as we try the whole thing out for real. Wait, what? Oh, that's the runway. I'm looking at this thing, see? Listen to No Such Thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. we're back with the rest of my conversation with nate wonder and janelle mona we were talking about the diaspora earlier and one of the beautiful that on the album diaspora is like really represented from shayun cootie yes to uh yeah to sister nancy grace jones uh patra nia long i'm a ray ck ck doji doji let me not forget Horns Unlimited.

54:28From Atlanta to Ghana to Nigeria to Jamaica and so on. I mean, it's just, we're so blessed. All our friends on there. Yeah, some of the musicians that play. Talking, yeah. The interlouge, where did those come from? Corey Henry. From us. So the French 75 is us in New Orleans during Essence Fest, not this year, but last year. And we woke up and we started talking about the night that we had. And it was my first it was like my first time getting beads. And so if you've been to New Orleans, you know what getting your beads means. Like it's so fun. And I was it was so liberating and just really, really cool.

55:05I guess for the uninitiated. I mean, maybe there's some who don't know. I know. Right. I guess what does it involves you going down on in the French quarters? And if you lift your shirt up, they would throw you some beads. And it's a part of the New Orleans culture fun. And it was Fran because as somebody who's like, oh, my God, I'm famous. I can't do these things. I'll end up. And nobody even really posted it until like years later. No, no, no. Nobody found it. Actually, nobody found that video. Maybe one person. No, no, no, no, no. Not not my beads. Oh, I've done that on several occasions. No, it's not.

55:40Really? Yeah. The beads one too? Yeah. I thought, OK, well, that's awesome. It made me smile. Remember, I said this album, we are smiling. This season, we are smiling. And with that being said, I wanted to just have authentic conversations with my friends. And I just asked them if it was okay if I press record. And it was authentic because the people who were there, they're really my friends. And so to have these conversations with the people who are directly involved in inspiring the songs and the songwritings, they were all in the studio when we were writing them. They were the first people that I think.

56:16Everybody on the interlude, they were some of the first people that heard the songs. So when we did Float, Champagne Shit, those were the lipstick lover. Like when we were writing those songs, I always looked at how they moved. I always looked at the body language. I always looked at like when they would go play other artists songs, would they ask to play this song again? Because I liked their taste and I knew that they were like key in helping us nurture that audience that we wanted. Like what were the examples, something you might have tweaked? So you're looking at your friends and playing them.

56:49They might not quite groove the way you're expecting. So what do you do? You just go back in and... You know what? I don't feel like we had a lot of those moments with this album. I know one song that that happened with. And we just changed the song. We were in the middle of trying to figure the song out. It was hot. Oh, wow. You changed that one? Yeah. That went through a lot. But there's actually a David Bowie vocal that was supposed to go on that. It was a quote from an interview that he had done. Right after Janelle says, they say I look better than David Bowie in a Moon Age Dream. I love that line.

57:28Because I think Edward had taken us to the movies to see Moon Age Daydream. Because he knew Janelle was a huge fan. No, I. Oh, you took everybody to see it. I took Edward Norton to go see him. Okay, I'm sorry. You took everybody to see the David Boyd film, Moon Age Daydream. Did you say you took Edward Norton? Yeah, because we had just, so when we wrote The Age of Pleasure, right before that I just filmed The Glass Onions. And we were in Greece and Serbia, and I was having Nate send me music there. Yeah. Because I was like, when I get back, I'm writing this album. Yeah. Wow. I'm writing this album.

58:07I'm so inspired. I know I'm clear on where I am, who I am and what I need to do. And so he sent me all the musical, some of the musical beds and I picked what I loved and liked. And as soon as I got back, I was in the studio. It's poetic that you're working on a glass onion and you're becoming clear about who you are. Lesson is clear. Like what you want to do. It's like, why are you in this glass? Let's pull back the layers. Let's pull back the layers. Yeah. So David Boyd quote, it says, I think it's terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people's expectations. If you feel safe in the area you're working in, you're not working in the right area.

58:46Always go a little further into the water than you feel you're capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your own depth. And when you don't feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you're just about in the right place to do something exciting. yeah so that was the the end of that was the quote that was on the in the record we should put that back in at the time if we do the deluxe it was great but of course like when you're at a party yeah you may not want to go into the like yeah it was just like cerebral i'm sure bowie appreciates not being the one to fuck the party up no that film i don't know if you've seen it but it really incredible doc it was amazing it to be because this is somebody who like myself yeah you know is a world builder yeah and somebody who believed like ziggy stardust in the spiders from mars gave me the courage to do cindy mayweather and metropolis in the ark android and to create these versions of ourselves you know these thousand versions of myself and we're all fine that's if you don't know that's from phenomenal on the age of pleasure sorry uh so so so to be able to watch him say, I know that I could be Ziggy Sardust for the rest of my life, or I can become more of who I am and give you that and not be afraid, you know, to, to break it down and rebuild and reimagine who I can be.

1:00:12So that really also helped inspire me as well. Did you ever get a chance to meet him? I feel like I did. I feel like our spirits absolutely met each other. I know that he knew who I was because I did a cover of Heroes and his wife Iman told me and he had to clear it and uh his wife told me that he really he really loved me and I was like oh I wish I could have told him how much I really loved him but I think he knows it they they are aware yeah did you pretty naturally fall into I mean 2019 you're feeling like you want to start writing for women people, color, non-binary folk. Was it easy to slide into that mentality?

1:00:52Was it easy to, like... I felt compelled. And again, when I feel compelled, I'm like, oh man, I'm doing it. Was it a messy start? Did it feel always right or natural? Fill myself playlist. That really encouraged us. I mean, both of us had the same thought. So we were listening to Spotify. We had an opportunity to listen to a lot of music. I started back working out. and there were a lot of black women on this playlist that were just like sounding extra liberated and super tapped into their well of honesty and truth and sensuality and sexuality and grit and softness and hardness like I loved hearing that all on one playlist and it encouraged me to tap into my many different sides and I think Nate would see me listening to Filling myself playlist around the studio and as I was working out and it was like I've never remembered and that's the beautiful thing with playlists you can really curate your own world yeah your own soundtrack and when I felt that vibe I was like I want more of this and I want the people that are listening to this who are feeling like they have not been able to walk in their greatness as black women as non-binary folks as as marginalized people they haven't been able to really own all of them i want to lead by example and i want i want to highlight them i want and highlight them by creating music that speaks to their hearts yeah yeah you know i got two daughters and i don't want them to feel ashamed of pleasure or whatever right like as they get older or not it's like yeah but society for so you know what i mean yeah and and and it's still that it's still a lot of work to be done in that area but i you know one of the things i noted was that playlist like when you go to like a rap caviar or the other like big hip-hop the biggest hip-hop playlist sometimes they'll even have like a woman on the cover but then you go through the actual playlist it literally out of a hundred songs it might be like three songs by women and it really i just took so much issue with it yeah i was just like this is wild yeah like literally they'll put megan the stallion on the cover of it and then i have to go like down 30 songs to get to her song it's like this is crazy this is wow and that was another reason why we wanted to make sure that you know black women were represented on this project yeah generationally from dochi to you know the king of of jamaica grace jones grace's albums really out come on exactly yes ridiculous let me tell you she i spent 72 hours with grace jones that's how we got her on the album i was gonna say how'd you get it she don't move she don't do much you know i i'm still like just bowing down to her.

1:03:5172 hours with her. 72 hours. Where I was like, oh my God. How did that come together? So I went to her concert at the Hollywood Bowl and I ended up, she was somehow, it was like one of her last songs and they were calling people on stage and of course I'm going to jump on stage. And if you look online, if you look online, you will see. I've seen that video. There's video of me running through Grace Jones' legs, her smacking my ass, us dancing, Like just being the free spirits that we are. And I had met her years back, but we didn't really get to connect. And she did call me. She called me years back and I was so shocked.

1:04:30I was like, how does she even get my number? And she just called me and she told me she loved me. And I was just like, I love you. But we never got to connect again after that. I think maybe she changed her number or, you know, maybe she just went to another planet for the springtime. Who knows? It's Grace Jones. and so when she came this time though we went backstage and we really connected and she she was just like hugging me i was hugging her and and she was just saying you know i'm in town for a few days we she invited me to her hotel where they had like a small little gathering to celebrate her incredible performance live if you ever get a chance go see her she nobody nobody touches her i regret not going i was supposed to go to that you always you just always say yes and so that night when we went back to our hotel I was like you know I had you know I had to leave and I just said I'm just gonna invite her to Wonderland what what she can just say no and if she says no I'll be like yes Grace Jones told me no yes that's the mentality you gotta be so great and so I said listen um I have to leave but I don't know you know what your schedule is tomorrow but I would love to have you for lunch at Wonderland at our studio and she was like is there a pool there?

1:05:43And I was like, indeed, there is a pool. And then she was like, okay, I will call you. I'm going to come. And I just, I was like, okay. And I was like, she says this to everybody, I'm sure. Cause she doesn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. And she called, she had, she had her assistant text and asked if it was a heated pool, if they, cause she swims every day is her exercise. And I asked them, well, what does she drink? What does she like? Like I'm scrambling. I'm like, How am I going to host Grace Jones? Everybody. Send her to the grocery store. We need to have a meeting. Right. Go to the grocery store.

1:06:16What are we doing? And he sends me this list, like her wine list is immaculate. Her champagne list is immaculate. And so she came over and we really had lunch and we really got in this pool. She took her top off. I know we're talking a lot about all of the toplessness, which is really great because as we know, we live in a world where there's a double standard. Yeah. You know, where the liberation that grace has been able to do did not come with open arms. You know, it came with a lot of scrutiny. This is somebody who was raised under a pastor, you know, who was a bishop and in a very conservative community.

1:06:56And for her to say, I'm going to live my motherfucking life and to show us that, like that was all I needed to see and hear. and she really, by being her and by hanging out with her and her encouraging me to be me and sitting in the studio listening to the songs, like her getting up dancing and moving and telling us which ones she loved and her hearing the instruments and talking about that, like she is a musical genius. It was all the affirmation I needed. First of all, her taking off her top in your pool is a real... Legendary. What an honor, you know what I mean? That you curated the... It's just a typical Tuesday for her.

1:07:33Yeah, that's an honor. So then you pull in the studio. When she's listening, you asked her to? Yeah. I told her, I said, I would love to get you on my project. She was like, okay, well, where is it? And I was like, well, since you asked, there's a studio right in here. And so we went in there. But I will say, recording Grace Jones, because I had to wrangle her in, it is like having the most beautiful panther in the studio that then turns into a tiger, that then turns into like a bird with the biggest wings that will flap around and you just you cannot contain that energy you just have to have everything on record and get what you can wow you know what i'm saying you don't you can't really tell her what to do but even in the moments where i was like okay can you do more of this or do more of that or no say it like this or talk french because she speaks french fluently and that's what we and that was the thing that's what i I said, oh, that's the sexy shit that I want on this project because I don't think we've really gotten a chance to hear her in that way.

1:08:34And we've actually recorded more. Like I have at least two hours of recording with Grace Jones. Definitely. Can you guys make an album out of that, please? I really, really want to. She's working on her album, which is going to also be incredible. She played us her album. Like I got to hear Grace Jones's album. We did. It's really beautiful. Wow. That's incredible. well man you got i mean the fact that you went as far as to pull grace jones in the studio for your album nothing we can say but thank you there's nothing we can say but thank you and congratulations on not just the grammy but congratulations for that but just what i've seen to do to people's spirits over the last eight months you know uh that's all we want it's incredible.

1:09:19That's all we want. Thank you so much. Can I ask not to put you on the spot, Nate? Sure. I love We're Far Enough From Heaven. Oh my gosh. You are a Deep Cotton fan? I fucking love Deep Cotton. Oh my gosh. And y 'all pulled the EP. I don't know where the fuck the... I lost my copy of Love. I love this. You are... I knew I liked you, but now I love you. I love Deep Cotton. This is my shit. This song is... I feel like I don't even... I don't know how to explain my love of this song. It's so good. It's really good. We're far enough from heaven now We can freak out There's a world under your zipper And it wants to freak out You can join here Bang bang Uh We're far enough from heaven now We can freak out There's a world under your zipper And it wants to freak out There's a killer in the hall And he's marching it off Bang bang Go his jaws And he's hungry for more You can see it, you can feel it, let it do your head Might as well kiss the monster, laugh and fuck till you're dead Young Nikashi, oh I got this brand new idea Let's take up further's mansion, tell some stories in here Who can cook, who can clean, who will paint the fence?

1:10:35Who can cook, who can clean, who will paint the fence? Who can cook, who can clean, who will paint the fence? I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will And we're far enough from heaven now We can freak out. Yeah, we're far enough from heaven now. We can freak out. Yeah, we're far enough from heaven now. We can freak out. Yeah, we're far enough from heaven now. We can freak out. Freak out. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. Oh, my God. This is such a fucking crazy song. Man, it's so crazy. You have excellent taste. I love it. Y 'all got excellent taste. That's fine. V. Patton.

1:11:10I love it. I love it. When I heard their song, actually, when Nate was saying, he met me performing on the library steps with the guitar I was heavily just like on some acoustic big afro I guess you would say neo soul vibes and when I heard their music it changed my whole life it changed the way I saw us I love it because I hadn't seen I mean with the exception of like Andre because Norris Barkley wasn't even around yeah at that time but with the exception of like the love below and what Andre was doing and you know some some some indie artists in atlanta nobody was stretching it and is sounding good like it was either too alternative for me to get to you know to get into and there was no melody there was no soul but when i heard their stuff i was like it was up temp there were like up tempo records that sounded like japanese funk i don't know that's the best way to describe it and all I knew is like I want to make music like that and so that I really have to credit Deep Cotton for why I like up-tempo songs and why I make up-tempo music and stretch when it comes to genre.

1:12:18The textures are incredible no one really no one really plays like acoustic like that like on like an up like it sounds like some Frank Black like it's like whoa it's like these weird bizarre like phrases. And Chuck is an incredible writer like him and or their partnership. We actually had, it's crazy. We actually are finishing our album right now. We actually just got the album cover done for it and everything. It's amazing. Yeah, they coming out with an album. Shit, my dreams is coming true. Yes. I cannot believe. Ten years I've been waiting. Yeah. Yeah, I love that song because I love the line who can cook, who can clean, who will paint the fence.

1:12:56I mean, there's so many other things about the song that are great, but also who can cook, who can clean, who will paint the fence. because it takes like this idea of like taking over the mansion and tell some stories and then all that kind of stuff which is cool idea right but then like it's the responsibilities that you have to each other like who's who can cook who can clean who paint like who's doing the real work that it takes to like stay alive so we can you know take over this mansion and tell some stories I love it thanks so much guys thank you thank you so much thank you so much this is beautiful incredible

1:13:31Thanks to Janelle Monae and Nate Wonder for the invite to Wonderland to chat about her latest album, The Age of Pleasure. You can hear it, along with our other favorite songs of Janelle Monae's and Nate Wonder's, on a playlist at brokenrecordpodcast.com. Subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash brokenrecordpodcast, where you can find all of our new episodes. You can follow us on Twitter at Broken Record. Broken Record is produced and edited by Leah Rose with marketing help from Eric Sandler and Jordan McMillan Our engineer is Ben Tolanay Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries If you love this show and others from Pushkin consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription that offers bonus content and ad-free listening for$4.99 a month Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple Podcast subscriptions And if you like this show please remember to share, rate, and review us on your podcast app.

1:14:28Our theme music's by Kenny Beats. I'm Justin Richmond.

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