Janelle Monáe sings about girls and boys in Grammys performance
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Queer artist Janelle Monáe has brought queer visibility to the stage at the Grammys, where she sang about both girls and boys.
The artist sang: “Girl you make me, boy you make me, hey, hey, you make me feel” in the performance as the audience went wild.
When Monáe released “Make Me Feel” last year as the lead single from her latest album,“Dirty Computer”, there were no gender identifying pronouns or terms in the song.
The powerful performance at the Grammys – at which she missed out on Album of the Year and Best Music Video – drew huge attention from queer fans.
As well as referring to both girls and boys, Monáe also had dancers wearing the iconic vagina pants from her music video for “PYNK.”
She also incorporated a segment of “PYNK” in the performance, with the words: “Let the vagina have a monologue” being broadcast from the song.
Fans went wild for Janelle Monáe’s performance
In videos recorded on people’s phones, Lady Gaga can be seen in the audience dancing excitedly to Monáe’s performance.
Ariana Grande also enjoyed the performance, tweeting: “So good so good so f***in real @JanelleMonae.”
Fans went wild online for the performance, where many took to Twitter to share their love for Monáe.
One fan, called @netossoof, said: “quick reminder janelle monae made a really good song about women that included trans women in the narrative and conveyed that a vagina isn’t what makes a woman by having some dancers wear vagina based pants and some not.”
“WHAT DOES JANELLE MONÀE HAVE TO DO TO WIN A GODDAMN GRAMMY??”
– Twitter fan
Other fans were disappointed that she did not win the Grammy for Album of the Year.
“WHAT DOES JANELLE MONÀE HAVE TO DO TO WIN A GODDAMN GRAMMY?? HOW. HOW WAS DIRTY COMPUTER NOT ENOUGH. SHE MADE A DAMN MOVIE,” one fan said.
ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty
The award for Album of the Year ultimately went to Kacey Musgraves, and Childish Gambino took the award for Best Music Video for “This Is America.”
Janelle Monáe: Queer icon
Janelle Monáe became known as a queer icon last year when she came out.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Monáe said she identified as queer, and also said she wasn’t sure yet if she identified as bisexual or pansexual.
She had previously shied away from revealing her sexuality, but a string of songs and music videos celebrating bi and lesbian people hinted at a growing comfort with her identity.
Monáe made made lesbian sex front and centre in “PYNK,” a video which features women touching tongues and Monáe dressed in vagina pants, which Thor: Ragnarok actress and close friend Tessa Thompson emerges from with a wide grin.
Speaking to Variety last week, Monáe dedicated her Grammy nominations to her “trans brothers and sisters.”
She said that when she came out as queer last year, it was about “walking in my truth. People do it every day, my trans brothers and sisters do it every day.
“And they are shunned from these sorts of events. So this one is for them,” added Monáe.
She also revealed that she had been told not to come out before she made the revelation last year.
