Janelle Monae is about to release her next album called Dirty Computer and she has given fans a preview of it with a futuristic new trailer.

The 32-year-old has not released a new album in five years. Her last full-length record was The Electric Lady which came out in September 2013.

During that time, Monae focused on her acting career, appearing on Academy Award-nominated movies Moonlight and Hidden Figures. She was also involved in Rio 2 and Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams.

Her next appearance on the big screen with be alongside Diane Kruger and Steve Carrell in The Women of Marwen, a movie by Robert Zemeckis (Allied, Cast Away).

Dirty Computer Video

In the "emotion picture" created by Monae herself, Tessa Thompson of Thor: Ragnarok stars in a futuristic video. The singer-actress has a gift because the trailer looks like an episode of Netflix's Black Mirror.

"They drained us of our dirt and all the things that made us special, and then you were lost, sleeping, and you didn't remember anything at all," the singer narrated in the video.

According to the press release, Dirty Computer will be accompanied by a narrative film project that will air in selected theaters before a screening of Marvel's Black Panther.

No release date has been set as of this writing but sources told Variety that Monae held secret listening sessions in venues in New York and Los Angeles. That probably means that the album is right around the corner.

Janelle Monae's Rousing Time's Up Speech

Monae was at the 2018 Grammy Awards last month to introduce a performance by Kesha. Over the past years, Kesha has been embroiled in a legal battle against Dr. Luke who, she said, raped her. The singer/actress spoke about the power of a "united music industry" in the wake of the Time's Up and #MeToo movement that shook Hollywood.

"Tonight, I am proud to stand in solidarity as not just an artist but a young woman with my fellow sisters in this room who make up the music industry: artists, writers, assistants, publicists, CEO, producers, engineers and women from all sectors of the business," she told the crowd.

"We are also daughters, wives, sisters, mothers and human beings. We come in peace, but we mean business. And to those who would dare try to silence us, we offer two words: 'Time's up.' We say 'Time's up' for pay inequality; time's up for discrimination; time's up for harassment of any kind. And time's up for the abuse of power - because, you see, it's not just going on in Hollywood; it's not just going on in Washington. It's right here in our industry, as well."

Watch the trailer for Dirty Computer below.

 

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