Pure Heroine by Lorde

I have to admit, I'm not usually into number one hits, but Royals by Lorde has been a definite exception.  Even after hearing it on the radio every ten minutes, I listen to it on loop on my iPod.  I definitely like her as a person - she's said some pretty cool stuff about her views on the music industry today - and with the fact that she writes all of her own music and is only 16 years old, I have to give her some credit.  Today, her new album Pure Heroine came out.

The album starts of with one of my favorites, Tennis Court, a heavily synthesized song with booming bass and heavy hip-hop influences.  The lyrics ponder her newfound fame, calling for a moment to show people "how little we care", a different kind of typical teen rebellion. The head raiser, however, is her melodramatic "I fall apart, with all my heart / And you can watch from your window". It's pretty clear commentary on teen star breakdowns. The sound is very similar to Lana Del Ray's, but with the combination of heaver bass and her strong lyrics, it does provide some differences so they don't sound too similar.  She brags about how easy it is for her to make music: “Making smart with the words again? Well, I’m bored,” she casually boasts.

400 Lux is a little less strong musically, very repetitive and more Lana Del Ray-esque with its soaring orchestral backup.  Lyrically it is still pretty strong, telling the story of a boy driving her home after a tiring party. She tells enough to establish a dreary suburban Auckland where the kids dream hard and sneak drinks. (The sentence "We're hollow like the bottles that we drink" shines.) This backdrop supposedly lasts for the entire album, which I find intriguing as few albums ever have a  specific setting.

Next up is everyone's favorite, Royals.  As we all know, this one is fresh and catchy, with the strong snapping beat and stacked vocals, and the topic is pretty interesting.  Like Tennis Court, it talks about celebrities, discussion how distant they are, what ridiculous lives they lead. While not coming across as hypocritical by admitting to love loving Nicki Minaj and Lana Del Rey, Lorde doesn't condemn pop music; she just wants an alternative. She says she and her friends love the fantasy, are "driving Cadillacs in our dreams". It's just that the fantasy needs to make it clear that it's exactly that...and in that way, she's brilliant.

Ribs...bleh.  Not very strong music and kinda weak lyrics as she complains about being afraid of getting old.  The rhyme scheme and fragmented lines are interesting, but musically I really don't like this one as much as the others.

With Buzzcut Season, Lorde casts a haunting, sleepy spell with the melancholy piano and soaring vocals, recalling an incident of hair burning, and reporting how the men on the news say "that we will lose". She again mourns her fame. Her lyrics "I'll live in a hologram with you" really stick with you.

Things pick up tempo again with Team,  which comes around the halfway point of the album.  It also has a strong hip-hop beat and another atmospheric anthem of a chorus: “We live in cities you’ll never see on screen, not very pretty but we sure know how to run things.” It’s a recalls the “Royals” chorus: “We’ll never be royals, it don’t run in our blood, that kind of luxe just ain’t for us, we crave a different kind of buzz.” This seems to be a pretty strong point for her, her want to “run things,” her want to “be your ruler,” but not with the extravagant, fancy life that traditional pop stars demand. 

Glory and Gore, my absolute favorite and a hauntingly beautiful song, uses the battles of the Coliseum and gladiators to describe our culture's obsession with celebrity drama.  While artists may not actually kill each other, Lorde reflects that people really do enjoy this "bloodshed" of drama. 

With Still Sane, Lorde again reflects on fame and makes a decision to risk her sanity with "I'm little but I'm coming for the crown". She wonders about the possibly coming off as a jerk, wondering, "Only bad people live to see their likeness in stone / What does that make me?"

White Teeth Teens is a second part of The Love Club, my favorite song off of her first EP.  It describes the lust for perfection, especially with teenagers and (is this a theme I'm noticing?) their want to be like celebrities.

The album closes out with A World Alone, a fantastic album closer. Its stark guitar hits home about how dark life can be.  She describes her and her friend's bad habits and how people hate on her and them, their jealousy, and how they ignore it.  She closes out, answering the first line presented in "Tennis Court" with "let 'em talk", pulling the whole album together nicely.

The main things that stood out with album were the raw emotion, amazing lyrics, and the very similar sound and feel of each of the songs.  There is a pulse running throughout the album.  A steady drumbeat flows through every song, its tone ranging from hard hip-hop to the driving indie rock sound that is present in a lot of music right now. It's very percussive, but that sound never really takes the center of her lyrics, though it is always in the background.  The music is almost hypnotic sounding, with the many harmonized vocals and beat that just asks you to sing along.  However, this strong flow and similar sound within the songs is what seems to hold this album back from greatness. The album feels a bit incomplete, with too many songs winding along without any significant build.  Ribs and Buzzcut Season in particular are very similar styles - slower beats, dark choruses and hypnotic percussion. There is some contrast, though, with White Teeth Teens and A World Alone's upbeat and energetic feel with a chord progression almost recalling Vampire Weekend.  

Lorde’s clearly a gifted songwriter for her age, but don’t let the novelty affect your view of Pure Heroine. It’s a very mature album, and if you like indie/pop music, you definitely should try this album out.  She seems to really write from her heart and care about what she communicates in her music. What with all of the on Pure Heroine talking about her exploits as a teenager, pre-fame, then what will her songs be like post-fame, as an adult?   This normal life that she yearns for and seemingly lusts for definitely wouldn't be easy to achieve if she keeps gathering fame. While it’s no masterpiece, Pure Heroine is unique enough to keep conversation going, and despite its somewhat monotonous sound, I do really like it.

And now, cookies

Is a cookie recipe a weird thing to blog about? Maybe, but I have about five minutes of free time and I'd rather use it to bake than to write a coherent blog post.

I've made these cookies at least once a week for the past six months, and I'm still not sick of them. They're less bready than regular chocolate chip cookies because they have oats and coconut, but they still taste super chocolatey and delicious.

 

Ingredients: 

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs (the batter is delicious, so you can use powdered or pasteurized eggs if you don't want to die)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups flour 

2 cups oats

1 cup shredded coconut

2 cups chocolate chips 

Mix the butter and sugars, then add the eggs and vanilla extract. Dump everything else in the bowl, stir, and then use your hands to roll the batter into little balls. Put them in a 350 degree oven for eight to ten minutes. This makes almost four cookie sheets worth of cookies, so you might want to freeze some.

Obviously this is very complicated and time-consuming, so it might be better to just play
 Cookie Clicker for six hours instead. Maybe that would explain my lack of free time...

~Maya

Again, the world has been changed much for the better....

...because this happened.  Joseph Gordon Levitt, Jimmy Fallon, and Stephen Merchant had a lipsyncing battle and it was beautiful.  Make sure to stay through to the end for the absolute best part!

Lifelike

A few weeks ago, my family and I went to the Lifelike exhibit at the Blanton art museum. I have to admit...I didn't really have high hopes for this exhibit. At the risk of sounding like a persnickety, "get-off-my-lawn-whippersnappers" old man, I don't really understand modern art. Why is a blank yellow canvas considered to be a masterpiece? I just don't get it.

Another reason I'm wary of showing too much appreciation for modern art is that I've heard about so many art museum pranks (like Banksy's awesome caveman prank). I'm afraid that I'll be the tourist standing in front of the fire exit, stroking my chin and murmuring "interesting criticism of modernity."

One of the pieces at the exhibit that perplexed me most was what appeared to be a piece of cardboard, leaning against a wall. When I first saw it, I thought I could do that - and then immediately hated myself. I sounded exactly like a narrow-minded Polluck critic.

Then I learned that the cardboard sheet had actually been painstakingly crafted out of bronze and I immediately thought, oh, maybe it is worth something then. Then I was horrified. Is that how I measure the worth of art? I wondered worriedly. Just because more time.money/energy was spent on it, it becomes more meaningful? How do you even define art?

The more I saw, the more questions I had. What is art? I puzzled. Is modern art in a gallery more important than a street art mural? If so, why? How does our perception of art affect artists? What sets the difference between art and graffiti? Is it a matter of personal taste or are some things simply not art? Are everyday objects art, or does a person need to create them with artistic intent? If that is the case, then does photography count as art, if it's just capturing something that someone/something else has created? If art changes through the ages, then is street art the next step?

After watching Exit Through the Gift Shop multiple times, I felt like maybe I could have a bit more of an opinion on modern art (especially street art). I loathed Mr. Brainwash (Thierry Guetta) for copying the ideas of countless others before him, using street art as a way to get rich quick. He wasn't even making the art, I thought scathingly. He stole an idea from someone else, told a crew of underpaid carpenters to build it, and slapped on a three million dollar price tag. But again, I was measuring a worth of the art by the time and skill it took to create it.

Mona Lisa, arguably one of the most famous paintings to this day, is simply a woman with a mysterious smile in front of a nondescript background. It isn't necessarily the focus of the painting that has helped it to be considered a masterpiece for so long - it is da Vinci's skill in painting her. Artists like Andy Warhol take common objects (soup cans, gallons of milk) and change them in a way that will get people to notice them.

Visiting the exhibit raised many more questions than answers. After a while, though, I came to the the tentative conclusion that perhaps the true measure of art is how long it can stay with you after you leave, and how much each individual piece can alter your perception of the world, rather than the amount of time, money, energy or skill used to create it.

~Maya

PowerUP

Last night, a few friends and I went to see PowerUP, a show combining music, dance, and spoken word in a production showcasing the workers or Austin Energy.  It showed all that they do for the city, from the commitment and passion the employees have for their jobs to showing how much they do every day just to make sure you can have power. It featured a score from the fabulous Graham Reynolds, accompanied by Austin Symphony Orchestra with Peter Bay and the amazing Todd Reynolds, featuring the real workers of Austin Energy.

Spot the guy at the top?

They did exactly what I think they were aiming for: they opened my eyes completely to how difficult the job truly is. In one particularly memorable sequence, a man climbed all the way to the top of an enormous pole, sat precariously on the edge, and climbed all the way back down, the music all the while setting the scene by sound very horror movie-ish.  They spoke of how many hours they worked overall, particularly when they are in manholes, the injuries of the job and how they are handled, and how much math and scientific knowledge are needed.  All the while music swirled beneath the dramatic scenes, ranging from basic classical to Spanish and gypsy sounding themes.  Todd Reynolds, the solo digital violinist, stood out as especially amazing as he took many solos over the orchestra.  All in all, it was a fantastic performance from everyone involved.

Procrastination

A compilation of the top fifteen funniest, truest things that the internet has to offer.

1.

Truth.

2.

Every. Day.

3.

4.

The awesome part is coming up soon!  Really!

5.  

"Your hair is naturally curly?  You are sooo lucky."

6.

This applies with texts, too.

7.

Arachnophobia sadgdsdgSdjhakjd.

8.

I'm very, very glad to hear this isn't just me.

9.

Yep.

10.  

Or, worse yet, your laugh.

11.

Twitter, I blame you.

12.

...

13.

In fact, I think several people think that's just my face.

14.

You'd think I would eventually learn...

15.

And this, my friends, is why I don't have a good blog post for today.

Bonus picture:

And anything else the lovely Danisnotonfire has ever had to say.

  

Manic Pixie Dream Girls

I got the idea a few weeks ago to write about the manic pixie dream girl cliche, so I started researching, but that research inevitably led me to a New Girl marathon on Netflix, which got me thinking about the characterization of "whimsical" female characters in media, which inspired me to write this post which led me back to (500) Days of Summer and Breakfast at Tiffany's so I've been stuck in kind of a vicious circle with this post.

Anyway, the term manic pixie dream girl was originally coined by Nathan Rabin in a critique of Kirsten Dunst's character in Elizabethtown. He says: "The Manic Pixie Dream Girl exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures." Ever since he wrote this in 2007, the manic pixie dream girl trope has been examined, analyzed and critiqued to death - so, naturally, I decided the internet wouldn't be complete until I added my own thoughts to the mix.

Manic pixie dream girls are often youthful or childlike, and are characterized by their free-spirited, whimsical ways. When taken over the top, they can seem shallow and frivolous, but usually they're eccentric and lovable, with an unquenchable enthusiasm for life.

Zooey Deschanel is basically the manic pixie poster girl.

At first, these characters might not seem negative. They're unique (or at least appear so), they're comfortable being different from the herd, and they're contrary to the shallow female stereotype commonly found in other media. They even seem inspiring. I mean look at them, running around dyeing their hair cool colors and wearing adorable dresses and living life to the fullest. I'd love to re-create (500) Days of Summer - running around Ikea is a lifelong dream of mine, and I wouldn't mind inspiring Joseph Gordon-Levitt to dance in the park with bluebirds and fountains.

Ironically, the main flaw in the manic pixie dream girl character is that, well, she has no flaws. She is totally in control, completely balances her (off-stage) life and job, and is basically a paper doll in vintage boots; her life is reduced to a series of quirks. She experiences no character development, because she is not meant to be a developed character - she's written to help the male protagonist find himself and fully realize his potential. She'll go on adventures only to drag a sensitive, nerdy, lost man behind her, infusing his previously drab life with sparkle and shine. Basically, manic pixie dream girls exist to inspire men. They're an idea, a muse whose presence will complete the lucky man they're with.

This concept of a perfect woman falling in love with a flawed man and "saving" him, helping him to explore his world, or just encouraging him to relax, has been around for centuries, and is harmful for many reasons. Not only is this concept detrimental to women, preaching that a women exists solely for the benefit of a man (and that she must settle for a man who isn't her moral and intellectual equal), it isn't great for men either: it teaches that he can only reach his full potential if he finds his dream girl to complete him.

But dream girls are just that: a dream. They can't exist in the real world, because no one can (or should!) exist only for the benefit of someone else. Clementine, from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, summarized this notion perfectly: "Too many guys think I'm a concept, or I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive. But I'm just a fucked-up girl who's lookin' for my own peace of mind; don't assign me yours."

Being quirky, impulsive or whimsical doesn't make a character a MPDG - it's when she exists only in regard to the male protagonist. A great example of this is Lorelai Gilmore, from the show Gilmore Girls. She's quirky, childlike, and playful, and she has a business, a relationship with her family (particularly her daughter), and interests and hobbies; she is a fully developed character in her own right.

So how do you know if a character is a manic pixie dream girl? It's pretty simple, really. Does she ...
-Have a life separate from the man interested in her? (cheating on him with someone else doesn't count)
-Have a plot separate from that of the male character?
-Have a job, interests, friends that aren't directly related to the male character?

This video, the first in a series that discusses tropes of women in pop culture, is the perfect summary of a manic pixie dream girl.

~Maya

p.s. I got way too carried away researching this post, mainly because honestly, I like reading about this and I really like some aspects of these characters. I just don't like how they're portrayed in relation to their luuuuurve interests. So, in no particular order, here are some of articles I found about the manic pixie dream girl trope:
The original MPDG critique, by Nathan Rabin, can be read here.
You can find a list of MPDGs in movies here.
A defense of the MPDG can be found here.
Some reasons why it's time to retire the term manic pixie dream girl can be seen here.
Finally, some consequences of the cliche can be see here.

The world is a much better place as of yesterday.

The world was made a much, much better place yesterday, and all just from a few short videos...

It all began with this.




Then this, when I realized it was going to be a series and almost died.



Then this one....




Are you reading his captions to these, by the way?

Oh my god, the dancing.



Then the grand finale.



And no, as far as I know, there's no particular reason he did this. But I'm very glad he did.

Interview with special guest, Minerva Giderva!

One of Minerva's many cats

Today we have a very special guest - one of my best friends, the hysterical, the eccentric, Minerva Giderva! I asked her the same questions I asked to Simon and Maya a while back. Enjoy and please follow her on Twitter if you want to hear more from her!

1. What do a raven and a writing desk have in common?

Goodness, this is not an intensible beginning.

2.  Make up a tongue twister.

Eat some ice cubules, then drink some very hot soup. Your tongue will be twisted quite!

3.  Pick two celebrities to be your new parents.

Oh dear… that would have to be The Grouchy Cat and Myself, of course.

4.  What is one book everyone should read?

The manual. It was complimentary with my lawnmower, and it was engripping.

5.  If you were a superhero what would your power and name be?

Oh my! How raunchy! Well, I would be called The Cat and Fruitcake and Lawnmower Lady, and I would provide fruitcakes and lawnmowers to cats. I might also like to float in water.

6.  If you could meet one person who has died who would you choose?

Aunt Jemima, May she rest in Peace.

7.  One food you would never eat?

Betty Crocker.

8.  Pet peeves?

Oh, I have no peeves with my pets! We live in a harmony.

9. What you're most likely to do when your parents aren't home?

This is a bit naughty of me, but I suppose I would have to say I lick the floor.

10.  Is there a song you could say is the theme song for your favorite book or any of the characters?

The Neon Cat, sailing throughout Space on a Rainbow.

11.   Favorite body part?

Whiskers and tails. (NOT claws).

12.   All of the sudden, you've developed virtuoso level guitar skills and every band in the world wants you to join.  What band do you pick?

Cat Stevens, of course.

13.   Favorite youtube video ever?

Well, I’m not sure what my tube is (or if I even have one, oh dear), but I have made an exclamatory “home video” of a cat eating a worm in a fruitcake that I find quite explicable.

14.   If you were a giraffe, whose window would you stick your head in at 2 am?

My own, so perhaps I could at last change the lightbulb.

15.  If you could get rid of one state in the U.S., which would it be and why?

Alaska. I’ve never liked islands.

16.  What song best describes your work ethic?

Ring Around the Rosy.

17.  If you could invite any 5 people to dinner who would you choose?

Muffins, Fluffins, Snuffins, Pluffins, and Steve.

18.  If you could be anyone else, who would it be?

The wonderful lady from the show nominated as “Hoarders.” Can anyone think of a fate better than to die among their cats?

19.  Sell me this glass of water.

Actually, I would suggest tea as a curement for ails rather than water, which, if I must say: fish urinate in. (Forgive my inpardonable language, but it is a fact).

20.  Say you are dead — what would your eulogy say about you?

Actually, I have already planned my funereal proceeds. It begins with a salute, by Muffins and Pluffins, then Snuffins and Steve

21.  If you were a salad, what kind of dressing would you have?

Tuna Feast.

22.  Please spell appoggiatura.

ctrlC+ctrlV

ctrlC+ctrlV

Oh dear, this doesn’t seem to be working! Newfangled devices and such give me such troubles.

23. Describe yourself in three words.

Iamafelinepsychiatrist Andafruitcakeenthusiast AndIhaveaneffinitywithlawnmowers

24.  If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?

Why would you want to have done that?

25.  A penguin walks through that door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?

What? Where? I must warn my cats. Birds of any kind become them into turmoil.

Thanks again to Minerva for chatting with me!

Who in the world am I?

“Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.”

-Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland 

“Finding yourself” is a theme present in almost every coming of age story I've seen. Some, like An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns or Going Bovine demonstrate a dramatic cross-country road trip as the best way to find yourself. Holling's older sister Heather in The Wednesday Wars ran to California to find herself, and Colby in The Disenchantments traveled from San Francisco to Portland, and then throughout Europe, in an attempt to discover who he was. Lindsey Weir in Freaks & Geeks set off to follow the Grateful Dead to Texas in a VW bus (although we never learn if she really did find herself during that trip, because the show was canceled before the next season - but that's a post for another day!).  

In A Beginner's Guide to Living, one of my favorite books, Will is deliberately attempting to learn about himself, to find something so true he would live or die for it - he is aware of his journey, but he doesn't know where's he's going or what he will discover when he eventually gets there. 

Even more commonly, however, the self discovery process seems almost incidental. The protagonists of The Catcher in the Rye, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Old School, and Looking for Alaska aren't specifically trying to embark on a transcendent journey of awakening self awareness - they're just teenagers feeling lost and alone and trying to understand how they fit into the world.  

It's not just teenagers who want to discover who they are, though. The thought that we don't necessarily know ourselves is a pervading theme throughout almost all literature, and thousands of self-help books claim to help you discover your "true self." Bob Marley said that "When you smoke the herb, it reveals you to yourself," and just googling self discovery will lead you to pages suggesting anything from meditation and religion to beauty pageants, kayak trips and group retreats.

In All the King's Men (a political novel which definitely had some self-discovery elements), the narrator, Jack, says “They say you are not you except in terms of relation to other people. If there weren't any other people there wouldn't be any you because what you do, which is what you are, only has meaning in relation to other people.” Similarly, Mahatma Gandhi said that “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” 

Dorothy Parker disagrees, writing:

“In youth, it was a way I had,
To do my best to please.
And change, with every passing lad
To suit his theories.

But now I know the things I know
And do the things I do,
And if you do not like me so,
To hell, my love, with you.”     

Trusting others to define you never leads to real self awareness. In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, the narrator says: "All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naive. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself.” 

In the end, no amount of books or quotes or sayings (or even blog posts) can help you find yourself - but they can provide you with inspiration throughout your own journey.

~Maya

The Electric Lady by Janelle Monae

The Electric Lady by Janelle Monae

For those of you who have been having a good new music drought (like I have), I finally have something for you to listen to!  

I'd been hearing a lot of buzz about Janelle Monae lately, but I hadn't really paid much attention to it until I heard a preview of her album online a few days ago.  I was very impressed and today the album came out and I gave it a listen.

The album begins with Suite IV Electric Overture, an short instrumental piece whose instrumentation ranges from classical instruments to electric guitars to a choir, recalling a 60's jazzy sound. The song flows directly into the next track,  Givin Em What They Love, so much that at first I didn't realize the first one was over. This song features Prince and begins with a percussive opening, leads into some amazing powerhouse vocals from Monae, and exits on an orchestral note similar to the first track.  Apart from a few verses, Prince mostly keeps to backing vocals.  This song flows into Q.U.E.E.N. featuring Erykah Badu, which from its fun, funk feel to the great, feminist lyrics ("tell me what's the price of fame/Am I a sinner with my skirt on the ground", "are we a lost generation of our people/Add us to equations that will never make us equal") is my absolute favorite on this album.  It flowed right into The Electric Lady featuring Solange, which is neck-and-neck for the spot of my favorite with the previous track.  This one has a great dance-y feel to it to match its funny, slightly dirty, yet still girl-empowering lyrics ("she can fly you straight to the moon or to the ghettos/wearing tennis shoes or in flats or stilletos").  While this one doesn't have the same jazzy feel of Q.U.E.E.N., it includes a retro rhythmic style and brass section. 

Throughout the whole album the strong jazz and funk tones remained, like in Dance Apocalyptic, which presented a very retro, funk vibe to it, along with Look Into My Eyes. This one is another favorite of mine, with its very Spanish jazz sound and Monae's spectacular vocals.  The same sound can be heard in the next track, Suite V Electric Overture, another instrumental, but a much more prominently jazz sound than the first. Those same jazz vibes were present in Dorothy Dandridge Eyes featuring Esperanza Spalding, a fun, smooth jazzy song that brought in Spalding's style.  The album closed out with What an Experience, a very Michael Jackson-like song, with 80s vibes and a smooth ending to a great album as the music fades away.

Apart from the jazzy dance songs, there are a few slower and balladlike songs, such as Primetime featuring Miguel, It's Code, Ghetto Woman, Victory and Can't Live Without Your Love. Though they were slower and sadder songs with powerful lyrics, like Victory's: "surrounded by the schemes and senseless lives/and blaming others, feeling victimized/oh tomorrow, one day they'll know/to win you'll have to lose all the things you know."  They maintained her individualized sound with the strong vocals, orchestral and choir backup and the slight jazzy feel.  While they often could easily have been written out in the 60's, there were clear Jackson 5 influences in the vocal style and structure of the song.  Ghetto Woman went back to a faster speed but with a similar style to the last song with huge Michael Jackson and Prince influenced sound.  The only song that I didn't really like was We Were Rock & Roll. This one was not as strong as the others, from the lyrics to the more poppy sound and almost disco vibe to it, save the bridge, which includes a choral breakdown and guitar solo. 

The album includes three interludes, including Good Morning Midnight, The Chrome Shoppe, and Our Favorite Fugitive.  They were pretty weird - in fact, at first I thought they were Spotify advertisements - because they are backup music with dialogue over it that sounds like radio station.  However, upon closer listening, you can still hear Monae's style shining through as the first one closes with "Love not war, we're tired of fires, quiet no riots, we are jamming, dancing and loving.  Don't throw no rock, don't break no glass, just shake yo ass."  They could easily have been commercials on an old radio station.  

Separate from the music, the album addresses social issues using the excuse of telling the story of a fantastic world of Metropolis, full of androids and zombies (hence the title, electric ladies).  Using this concept, Monae tackles heavy topics like gender, race, and sexuality in a context apart from our own.  In one of the interludes, a caller rants, saying "robot love is queer!" The D.J. responds to him with laughter and the question "well, what I wanna know is how you know it's queer if you haven't tried it!"  In Q.U.E.E.N., her lyrics ask "say, will your God accept me in my black and white?/will he approve the way I'm made?/or should I reprogram, deprogram, and get down?" Monae raises discussion about issues without them seeming forced or angry.  She's feminist, a civil rights activist, opinionated and yet still approachable without the messages being shoved in your face.

All in all, I give this album a big thumbs up.  I haven't heard an artist with a sound much like this before.  It's new and modern while still recalling very retro sounds, from 60's-esque jazz, to the Motown style of the Jackson 5, to the good 80's pop of Michael Jackson and Prince, and even classical music with its near constant orchestral backup.  It was extremely cohesive in a way I haven't heard anyone pull off so well ever before.  While it didn't have an exact shape but flows like a classical piece with a big opening, high points scattered throughout the piece, and a quiet ending.  I would definitely recommend buying this album.  Monae is right - what an experience.