Janelle Monae on NPR: Arch Android, Science Fiction

The Janelle Monae audio interview on NPR today (audio below): “We like to think of The ArchAndroid as an ’emotion picture’ for the mind…”, and she discusses the term “Thrivals”, Octavia Butler, and.. welljustlisten:

In an interview with All Things Considered host Michele Norris, Monae talked about the role of fantasy and magic in her music.

“I believe that imagination inspires nations,” she says. “It’s something that I live by. And I’ve always been a lover of Walter E. Disney, Salvador Dali, surrealism, Octavia Butler … you know, science fiction in general.”

Monae has gathered a crew of fellow creative thinkers — “thrivals,” she calls them — in Atlanta’s Wondaland Arts Society, an artist collective and her record label. The organization’s ranks include visual artists, graphic novelists and screenwriters.

“I think it’s very important that there’s another blueprint to how an artist can actually break into the music industry and shift the energy — in a very positive way, of course,” Monae says. “So, yeah, we wear black and white. We wear tuxedos. And music is our weapon.” [link]