One Grammy Act Not to Miss: Janelle Monáe

It’s easy to be cynical about the Grammy awards — but if there’s one reason to watch the show this weekend it’s Janelle Mone.

The Grammys are just a bunch of record industry suits celebrating boring, safe acts who made it big (or jumped the shark) long ago, right? If you look beyond the most well-known categories, though, there are some suprises. Janelle Mone’s debut full-length, The Arch Android, is nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album, and The Wall Street Journal just called it “superior to any nominee in the Album of the Year category.” We couldn’t agree more. (The supremely danceable single, “Tightrope,” is also in the running for Best Urban/Alternative Performance.)

Mone is a phenomenal live performer who mixes classic soul and funk with futuristic scifi themes — picture the 27th century lovechild of Prince and James Brown. I was first mesmerized by Mone’s funkiness and far-out-ness at the SXSW music festival in 2009. Later that year we invited her to perform live for a show we did about time travel in WNYC’s Greene Space. Check out the video below of her rocking the Shirley Bassey-esque “Sincerely, Jane.” Mone performs on the Grammys this Sunday.