Black, Queer and Neurodivergent: Janelle Monáe’s ‘The Age of Pleasure’ Dives Into Play, Joy and Creativity

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.

The Vibe Was Silver: Beyoncé Brings Afrofuturistic Feminism to the World Stage

Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour has been making waves across Europe for the last month. Many of us were unprepared for the power she would unleash. We had to be in our seats an hour before the show began, and the venue was buzzing in anticipation. When she finally appeared, in a metallic body suit with winged shoulder pads, it quickly became apparent that the vibe of the show was Afrofuturism. Her 2020 visual album Black Is King has already been analyzed through the lens of this cultural movement, and it seems Beyoncé is continuing these futuristic visuals on her world tour.

Afrofuturism is a trending movement in literature, music and the visual arts, seen as a way of understanding the African diaspora, not by looking back, but by looking forward. This gaze towards the future is a hopeful gesture that moves beyond the traumas of the past (and present). Characterized by elements of science-fiction, technology, cosmic exploration and alternate realities, it has been exploding in popular culture.

Shine Bright: Rihanna, the Super Bowl, and Performing While Black and Pregnant

Rihanna’s pop star persona has always maintained this edge of “regular woman” meets “island girl” realness. During her 13-minute halftime show, America rejoiced at the simple magic of a Black woman being herself and resonating across the spectrums of humanity. 

Such hopeful images are especially powerful against the backdrop of disturbing stories of Black women experiencing higher maternal death rates and the realities of how Black pregnant people are devalued in our healthcare system.

Sundance 2023: In Indigo Girls Documentary, Music, Nostalgia and the Search for Belonging Take Center Stage

One of the best things about director Alexandria Bombach’s documentary about folk rock duo The Indigo Girls, It’s Only Life After All, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is its easygoing intimacy. Singer-songwriters Amy Ray and Emily Saliers’ rapport, with both each other and the director, shines through a series of present-day interviews, concert footage, archival videos and recollections that foreground their music and their partnership over the last 40-plus years.