Luxuriating in unlimited Black queer potential for pleasure—while staying present, even taking pleasure in life’s inherent uncertainty—Janelle Monáe’s The Age of Pleasure experiments with a therapeutic process as much as an artistic one. The album celebrates neurodivergence and sun-kissed, ocean-deep, lusciously melanated Black queer love.
Author: Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley
Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley is professor of Black studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is the author of books including Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism (2016) and The Color Pynk: Black Femme Art for Survival (forthcoming).
Who Taught Beyoncé to Love Herself? ‘Renaissance’ Pays Tribute to Trans Sisters, Gay Uncles and Black Self-Love
Beyoncé returns on Renaissance to challenge listeners to ask a life-saving follow up question: Who taught you to love yourself? And she tells us: If you want to learn Black self-love, listen to Black queer and trans voices.