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10.0
58580
10.0 |
Evening Standard
Another thrilling concept album about said android featuring some of music’s biggest names
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10.0
58563
10.0 |
Daily Telegraph
This dazzling, daring, psychedelic funk pop opus puts Monáe firmly in the front rank of 21st-century stars
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9.5
58667
9.5 |
The 405
It's easy to see why almost every producer, artist, and critic is hailing Monae as something special
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9.2
58663
9.2 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
A dazzling artistic statement, a fiendlishly clever album that oozes enough feminine charm, wit and charisma to endow dozens of regular pop starlets with
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9.1
58730
9.1 |
Paste Magazine
19-track epic that weaves spoken “radio breaks” with callers, promos and news about Mayweather for a 25th century immediacy
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9.0
58966
9.0 |
No Ripcord
Janelle Monáe has not simply lived up to our expectations here; she has shattered them, delivering a confident, creative, and enormously entertaining record that marginally betters her sublime debut
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9.0
59086
9.0 |
FasterLouder
Rich with musical sustenance both classic and futurist, at times just plain danceable
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9.0
58565
9.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
The songwriting on show here is incredible, and almost every track on the album could easily represent the pinnacle of most other artists' careers
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9.0
58638
9.0 |
PopMatters
This is smart, intelligent, thought-provoking music. And it will make you want to dance
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8.3
58657
8.3 |
Pretty Much Amazing
The Electric Lady is mostly a classic R&B and soul album, sprinkled with some torchy jazz and gospel, and a star-dusting of Ziggy-era Bowie
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8.3
58690
8.3 |
Pitchfork
Monáe supervises and synthesizes a parade of golden touchstones into a show-stopping display of force and talent. And at the heart of it, she embeds some of the most personal pain she's allowed to leak into her music
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8.3
58973
8.3 |
A.V. Club
Full of radio-ready earworms and dance-floor bait that follows in the saddle-shoed footsteps of her breakout single “Tightrope.
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8.0
58749
8.0 |
The Fly
This isn’t her masterpiece (that’s to come in the sixth and seventh suites), but it’s only a sliver away
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8.0
58905
8.0 |
Time Out
Look out for guest turns from Solange, Erykah Badu and Prince who, if you’re looking for reference points, is as good a comparison as any
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8.0
59112
8.0 |
The Irish Times
It’s Monae’s own vision and supreme sense of self which makes The Electric Lady such a wow
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8.0
59172
8.0 |
Drowned In Sound
Beyond all the album’s polarities and shape-shifting, it finds Monáe sounding more human than we’ve ever heard her, and that’s the source of its richest successes
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8.0
59195
8.0 |
Entertainment.ie
Infectious, achingly cool and can be enjoyed in either in a nightclub or with the headphones on
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8.0
60169
8.0 |
Q
It's a record of dizzying scope and Janelle Monae is a terrifying talent at the top of her game. Print edition only
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8.0
58710
8.0 |
Fact
The Electric Lady’s palette is focussed, for the most part, on the earthen environs of pre-disco soul
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8.0
58717
8.0 |
All Music
Loaded with guest stars, the fourth and fifth Metropolis suites are highlighted by less ostentatious, more R&B-rooted second-half highlights
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8.0
58722
8.0 |
Slant Magazine
These two discs capture, in far more disciplined fashion than her debut, the motley delights of this singer and self-styled savant, whose delivery is as impressive and singular as her dance moves
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8.0
58642
8.0 |
The Scotsman
Another audacious, eclectic update of old-school, funk-soul style
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8.0
58650
8.0 |
Consequence Of Sound
Tather than disorient the listener as they step into the depths of an intricately constructed world, she has managed to balance that narrative with what is perhaps her most pop step yet
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8.0
58564
8.0 |
The Guardian
At its best, The Electric Lady is audacious, intrepid and brilliantly executed
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8.0
58596
8.0 |
The Independent
She’s uniquely gifted – one’s only reservation concerns her inclination to pack everything into each track
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8.0
58597
8.0 |
The Arts Desk
All the tracks are exquisitely orchestrated and layered, with a cinematic perspective that gives them richness and depth
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8.0
58598
8.0 |
The Digital Fix
So brimming with ideas, creative energy and the joy of song that you may burn out before you can complete a first listen
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8.0
58600
8.0 |
The Observer
The grooves are as on the money as the references. She's irrepressible and the record sparkles with personality and elan
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8.0
58603
8.0 |
Independent on Sunday
Compared with most R&B records, Monae is still lightyears ahead
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-
8.0
58633
8.0 |
musicOMH
The album is admirably steeped in pop music history without seeming derivative and where The Electric Lady triumphs is in its ability to connect with the listener
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7.5
59110
7.5 |
Under The Radar
She's a time and genre-traveler — frankly all over the place — with a backbone of big beats, big choruses, and big ambition
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7.0
58786
7.0 |
NME
Another entertaining showcase for Monáe's many gifts
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7.0
58699
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
Weaves hiphop soul, Seventies funk, gospel, jazz and rock while dropping references to sci-fi author Philip K. Dick and ghetto-revolutionary politics
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7.0
58669
7.0 |
Spin
Even when [the album] occasionally stiffens and wobbles under the burden of equaling its masterful 2010 predecessor, The ArchAndroid, our ears and eyes remain affixed to this brilliantly realized persona
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6.0
60639
6.0 |
Mojo
There are twists and surprises aplenty. Print edition only
-
4.0
59239
4.0 |
The Skinny
There are some nice moments, but listening ultimately only makes a case for pop’s past, rather than the present
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4.0
58700
4.0 |
State
From start to finish, The Electric Lady feels like a missed opportunity
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