In her song, Q.U.E.E.N., Janelle Monáe acknowledges both her Blackness and her queerness. As she addresses her race, her references can be closely linked to The Case For Black Joy by Hadiya Roderique. The lyrics keep asking if the way Janelle Monáe’s community expresses themselves and their happiness is wrong and worthy of judgement just because it might be different than what is expected of them.
As she goes on and brings her queerness into the picture, questions such as “Hey brother can you save my soul from the devil?” and “Hey sister am I good enough for your heaven?” emerge, suggesting the black community might not embrace her as much because of her sexual identity. This creates a great turmoil, because what exactly can one do when several parts of their personality might not correspond with one another and are generally judged and viewed as wrong?
According to Janelle Monáe, in this case, it is up to this community and this generation to create its new norm and realm and break down to walls that limit them. The people of the present cannot and should not meet the expectations of the past. The circumstances have changed and so have and the individuals who were thus born. Therefore, Janelle Monáe’s Afrofuturism suggests a revolution, the uprising of a completely new world where people are encouraged to embrace themselves as a whole and where it is understood that skin color and sexual identity are not grounds for judgement but for celebration.
