Shortlink to this content: https://bit.ly/3gkFqXt

Monday, May 25, 2020 10:00am ET by  
Comments (0)

, , , ,

Janelle Monáe had "anxiety attacks" recording album "Dirty Computer"

Janelle Monáe has revealed that she had "anxiety attacks" over recording her critically acclaimed album, Dirty Computer.

Speaking in a new interview, the 34-year-old singer-and-actress said she contemplated whether or not to carry on with the 2018 record, because she was worried that it might "embolden" the groups of "white supremacists and neo-Nazis" going around when US President Donald Trump was elected, given that the songs speak out against "racism" and "xenophobia". 

She recalled: "It was one of the first times I felt very afraid. 

"Living in Atlanta, Ga., and there were white supremacists and neo-Nazis going around to little black kids' birthday parties and holding up the Confederate flag. 

"There was a lot going on in the country during that time and I didn't know if this was going to embolden them, at the time, to do something to people like me who were speaking out against racism and sexism and xenophobia and Islamophobia, and everything that they represent. 

"I just didn't know."

The singer-songwriter - who worked with the late music legend Prince on the tracks before his death in 2016 - is glad that she stood her ground and spoke up for her community, as she realized she shouldn't have to be "silent and quiet".

She continued: "And so I started to just have anxiety attacks about it, and I'm thankful I didn't let that stop me, because I think what that album represented, especially one of my songs, 'Americans,' ... deals with that. 

"It deals with how I'm not going to back down and we're not going to back down and become silent and quiet and watch this president tear this country apart and tear down the people that helped build this country."

Listen to & stream Janelle Monáe here.

  Shortlink to this content: https://bit.ly/3gkFqXt