I think what I'm enjoying about this and also Make Me Feel is that Monae is - attractive, obviously, but very *in control* of her sexual image.
Sexy women dancing is a staple of music videos, but Monae does it in a way which is on her terms, for her enjoyment, and which doesn't seem like it's there to be consumed by the audience. It's like, life goals for women - the idea you could dress up and dance at a club and not have people try and devour you or make you into something they need you to be. She doesn't seem like a victim the way, say, t.A.T.u or early Britney Spears/Christina Agulera seem like they are part of an industry sexualising them for our pleasure and their profit - but not necessarily as part of the performers' sexual understanding of herself.
I don't know how she does it; I suppose being an android helps. But it's generally just a cool thing to see - this is how we could have attractive women dancing in music videos, and it not have complicated misogynistic dimensions; or with PYNK, this is how we could talk about bodies and womens' sensuality in a way that is joyous and sweet and powerful. Like a parallel universe we could create if the patriarchy wasn't a thing.
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Sexy women dancing is a staple of music videos, but Monae does it in a way which is on her terms, for her enjoyment, and which doesn't seem like it's there to be consumed by the audience. It's like, life goals for women - the idea you could dress up and dance at a club and not have people try and devour you or make you into something they need you to be. She doesn't seem like a victim the way, say, t.A.T.u or early Britney Spears/Christina Agulera seem like they are part of an industry sexualising them for our pleasure and their profit - but not necessarily as part of the performers' sexual understanding of herself.
I don't know how she does it; I suppose being an android helps. But it's generally just a cool thing to see - this is how we could have attractive women dancing in music videos, and it not have complicated misogynistic dimensions; or with PYNK, this is how we could talk about bodies and womens' sensuality in a way that is joyous and sweet and powerful. Like a parallel universe we could create if the patriarchy wasn't a thing.