Janelle Monáe’s Latest Video Is More Than Just an Explicit Ode to Queer Sex
Any day with a new Janelle Monáe song is a good one — and today’s one of those days. The afro-futurist singer released her latest single and video today. It’s a chilled-out groove that’s all about queer sexuality and feminism — since it dropped an hour ago, we’ve had Janelle Monáe Pynk on repeat.
The video for “Pynk,” which you can watch below, features Monáe and her dance squad wearing parachute pants with a particularly vaginal theme. Later in the video, we see Monáe’s squad in their panties (complete with merkin hair sticking out), each pair of underwear branded with a different slogan — “Sex Cells,” “I Grab Back” and “Great Cosmic Mother.”
And, as is always the case with Janelle Monáe, her lyrics are packed with meaning — and rather explicit. Monáe sings lines like “Pink like the inside of your, baby / Pink like the walls and the doors, maybe / Pink like your fingers in my, maybe / Pink is the truth you can’t hide / Pink like your tongue going round, baby” while the backup vocals reminds us that “deep inside, we’re all just pink.” While the sexual meaning of the lyrics is clear, Monáe wants you to know that she’s not just singing about that.
Monáe describes the song:
PYNK is a brash celebration of creation. self love. sexuality. and pussy power! PYNK is the color that unites us all, for pink is the color found in the deepest and darkest nooks and crannies of humans everywhere… PYNK is where the future is born….
“Pynk” features the indie singer Grimes on the chorus. This isn’t the first time Monáe and Grimes have collaborated — in 2015, Monáe appeared on the Grimes song “Venus Fly.” Like “Pynk,” that song also had a feminist bent; Grimes said it was about “being too scary to be objectified.”
“Pynk” is the third single from Monáe’s upcoming album Dirty Computer. She calls it an “emotion picture” — described as “a narrative film and accompanying musical album.” While we’re excited to see what that entails, we won’t have to wait much longer. Dirty Computer comes out April 27.
