Janelle Monáe On Receiving Advice From Prince
Janelle Monáe has spoken about receiving advice from Prince in a new interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music.
The singer and actor, who released their new album, The Age Of Pleasure yesterday, said they picked up valuable lessons from the musical great, “Cut it down in half. That’s what Prince would say to his band,” Monáe revealed. “He would be like, sometimes when people have jitters or nervous or whatever, they play too fast or they’re talking fast. He’s like, ‘Cut everything down in half.’”
“And I take that approach in life, cut it down in half,” Monáe added. “Sometimes you have to say no. Sometimes you’ll miss out on opportunities that you think could have taken you to the next level. Because it’s always like, well, what if they don’t call me anymore? That fear, you got to deal with that. I had to deal with it. I was like, you know what? I have to realise being present for me is my north star.
Monáe went on to discuss balancing music and acting, “If I’m split between all these different worlds, and I’m always thinking about what’s next? What’s next? What’s next? Was I here? Did I live? Did I really live, or was I sort of spending so much time planning and worrying and worrying and rehearsing what could happen and what I need to do next?”
Of their past troubles, they added: “My fear was always messing up publicly or doing something that feeds into that perfectionism, that feeds into, I had to deal with rejection, abandonment issues, all of that. I literally had to go back to the root of where is this stemming from? But I didn’t even know I was dealing with it because I was so in it.”
JANELLE MONAE – THE AGE OF PLEASURE TRACKLIST
01 Float [ft. Seun Kuti and Egypt 80]
02 Champagne Shit
03 Black Sugar Beach
04 Phenomenal
05 Haute
06 Oh La La
07 Lipstick Lover
08 The Rush
09 The French 75
10 Water Slide
11 Know Better
12 Paid in Pleasure
13 Only Have Eyes 42
14 A Dry Red