Janelle Monae on Advice from Prince About Music and Life

June 18, 2023

Prince performs with Janelle Monae at Mohegan Sun Arena on December 29, 2013 in Uncasville, Connecticut. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage for NPG Records 2013)

*Janelle Monae famously worked with Prince on her 2013 album, “The Electric Lady.” In a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, the multi-hyphenate artist revealed what the late icon taught them about powering through nerves, in music and life.

“Cut it down in half. That’s what Prince would say to his band,” said Monáe, who uses “they” and “them” pronouns. “He would be like, sometimes when people have jitters or nervous or whatever, they play too fast or they’re talking fast. He’s like, ‘Cut everything down in half.’ … And I take that approach in life, cut it down in half.”

The 37-year-old musician said Prince also told her, “Sometimes you have to say no,” and “Sometimes you’ll miss out on opportunities that you think could have taken you to the next level.”

“Because it’s always like, well, what if they don’t call me anymore? That fear, you got to deal with that. I had to deal with it,” they continued. “I was like, you know what? I have to realize being present for me is my north star.”

“If I’m split between all these different worlds, and I’m always thinking about what’s next? What’s next? What’s next? Was I here? Did I live? Did I really live, or was I sort of spending so much time planning and worrying and worrying and rehearsing what could happen and what I need to do next,” they added.

“My fear was always messing up publicly or doing something that feeds into that perfectionism, that feeds into, I had to deal with rejection, abandonment issues, all of that. I literally had to go back to the root of where is this stemming from? But I didn’t even know I was dealing with it because I was so in it.”

Monáe worked with Prince on her track “Givin’ Em What They Love” off “The Electric Lady.” Their Grammy-nominated 2018 album, “Dirty Computer” also featured sprinkles from Prince — specifically on the single “Make Me Feel.”