As the first hint of cool mornings creeps onto the East coast, many New Yorkers have only one thing on their minds: Fashion Week. Artist Janelle Monae is one of those people, and not because she has a love for the catwalk; the 27-year old singer/songwriter will be performing a live set during Rebecca Minkoff’s show on Friday as she unveils her spring collection.
Monae, whose new album The Electric Lady will be released on the 10th, says she has been working constantly on the project and can’t believe it’s been three years since her last album, The ArchAndroid, was released.
“Has it been three years? It’s been that long?” she said in an interview. “I don’t keep up with time like that, because I’m constantly working. It’s a release for me. I used to know when Monday was Monday and Friday was Friday, but I don’t even know.”
Monae says that whereas her first albums spoke about her experiences and what she learned from them, the new one focuses more on questions that don’t necessarily have answers.
“A lot of what I say on this new album isn’t necessarily authoritative. It isn’t coming from, ‘This is how I experience these things.’ I’m merely posing the questions.”
Monae’s performance is part of “American Express Unstaged“, a program which brings together artists from different genres and gives them a platform to share what they do through social media. Monae and Minkoff will be giving previews of behind-the-scenes madness as well as sneak peeks of the show via Instagram and a live web cam on Friday at Lincoln Center.
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