I Like That
Janelle Monáe
There is an almost archaeological quality to the way this song treats its influences — it excavates 1970s funk and soul with such precision that it feels like both homage and argument, the sound of someone proving they understand the source material better than most of its inheritors. The production is warm and analog-adjacent, all vinyl crackle and tight horn stabs and a bassline that seems to breathe. Monáe's vocal here is playful and self-possessed, a woman cataloguing what makes her singular with the confidence of someone who long ago stopped needing external validation. The lyrical mode is retrospective — looking back at the ways difference was once a wound and finding in that same difference the seeds of pride. The song has a groove that is genuinely irresistible without being slick; it earns the movement it demands. Culturally it is a reclamation, positioning Monáe within a tradition of Black musical autobiography stretching from Sly Stone through Janet Jackson. This is the song for a solo drive on a warm afternoon when you feel specifically and completely like yourself.
medium
2010s
warm, analog, organic
Black American soul and funk, 1970s R&B tradition through Sly Stone and Janet Jackson
R&B, Funk. Retro Funk. nostalgic, confident. Moves from retrospective examination of difference as wound to full-throated celebration of that same difference as the source of singular identity.. energy 6. medium. danceability 8. valence 8. vocals: playful female, self-possessed, warm and conversational, effortlessly confident. production: warm analog, vinyl crackle, tight horn stabs, breathing organic bassline. texture: warm, analog, organic. acousticness 4. era: 2010s. Black American soul and funk, 1970s R&B tradition through Sly Stone and Janet Jackson. Solo drive on a warm afternoon when you feel specifically and completely like yourself.