Make Me Feel
Janelle Monáe
The Prince comparison is unavoidable and the song knows it, leaning into an explicitly Minneapolitan palette — synthesizers with that particular 1984 sheen, a guitar tone that cuts rather than warms, a rhythm track that is both robotic and deeply sensual. What Monáe does with the inheritance is remarkable: she doesn't replicate but rather queers the template, her vocal navigating a fluid space between masculine swagger and feminine pleasure that refuses to settle into either pole. The production is tight without being cold, every element serving the central groove, which is one of the more physically compelling things recorded in the 2010s. Lyrically the song is about desire as a form of self-discovery, the erotic and the political tangled together in a way that feels honest rather than programmatic. There is genuine joy here — not the performed happiness of pop but something more like relief, the specific pleasure of no longer disguising who you are. This is music for dancing in your own apartment at a volume that is perhaps inconsiderate to neighbors, which is entirely appropriate.
fast
2010s
slick, electric, sensual
Black American funk, Prince's Minneapolis sound queered and reclaimed
Pop, R&B. Synth-Funk. euphoric, sensual. Builds from irresistible funk groove through fluid erotic self-discovery to joyful relief — the specific pleasure of no longer disguising who you are.. energy 8. fast. danceability 9. valence 9. vocals: fluid female navigating swagger and pleasure simultaneously, seductive, dynamic, genre-defying. production: Minneapolitan synthesizers with 1984 sheen, cutting guitar, robotic yet sensual rhythm track, tight and precise. texture: slick, electric, sensual. acousticness 1. era: 2010s. Black American funk, Prince's Minneapolis sound queered and reclaimed. Dancing alone in your apartment at a volume that is inconsiderate to neighbors, which is entirely appropriate.