Looking nothing short of a classic beauty on the cover of the latest issue of Essence, Janelle Monáe was humbled at a the magazine’s celebratory dinner party in her honor. In a teary-eyed moment, the songstress said that she never imagined her life being what it is today and stays true to her message.
“This didn’t have to be my life, I’m genuinely moved and touched. There are lots of beautiful young women of color out there who would look just as gorgeous or even more gorgeous on this cover and for you guys to see something in me — and for my story to connect in a way that you allowed me to tell and have this platform to tell my story to your readers, is just something I won’t take for granted,” she said.
Rocking her signature pompadour up-do, Monáe looked absolutely stunning in a tuxedo inspired black and white pantsuit. While it is not unordinary to the 27-year-old singer’s style choice, she calls it a “dedication to uniformity” citing the generational working class roots of her family.
“I’m a minimalist by heart,” she said “but a lot of it had to do with me wanting to have a uniform like the working class, like my mom and my grandmother. My grandmother had 16 sisters and brothers and they all had to share one pair of shoes,” Monáe explained. “And so that’s the family that I come from — I don’t ever want to be detached from that. I use it as motivation for my music and to just keep me centered, grounded and to stay on message.”
