Dirty Computer is an abstract collection, released in 2018, much more than an album: deeply futuristic, full of imagery, full of societal critique and personal identity again within a coherent and genre-defying experience. She uses the metaphor of a “dirty computer,” which refers to those not meeting mainstream expectations in society quite objectifying because it deems them unworthy or otherwise “flawed” or “dirty.” Matters of this magnitude fall under Dirty Computer, primarily defying norms with the appreciation of individuality, freedom, and love.
At its roots, Dirty Computer is an ode to all these marginalised identities. Coming out as pansexual shortly after the date of its release, Monáe explores fluidity in gender and sexuality with the cuts “PYNK” and “Make Me Feel,” which sound like something of an anthem for self-expression, sensuality, and rallying ’round queer identities. Identities of Blackness and queerness thus literally become the centre of Monáe’s self. And the album becomes a call to arms for all those who have been thrown under the bus; shame stigmatised those identities.
To that and the viscerality of an album, also a 48-minute “emotion picture,” a term coined by Monáe, works further in heightening the project. What the film offers here is the dystopian view of “dirty computers,” those not matching up according to societal norms, being hunted down and ripped of their individuality. Once again, a very thematic view that dovetails a bit too much with current anxieties around surveillance, control, and policing of both body and identity. By building a world in which difference becomes an object of erasure, Monáe forces one to question urgent questions concerning the state of freedom in the real world, particularly about communities who are marginalised.
In addition to sonic resistance and rebellion, Monáe seasonally includes such throughout the album. “Django Jane” speaks to black womanhood and her might, while “Crazy, Classic, Life” presents the call to freedom. It speaks about structures in which oppressions thrive and is thus a power anthem in and of itself. Where visual representations inform Monáe’s politics, it is sound that communicates her story; this is what makes Dirty Computer seminal material.
In Dirty Computer, Monáe compiles an album that functions at once as the mirror of society and one to herself. Its importance lies in its unbridled adoration of difference, its criticism of social and political structures, and the interpolation of genres and mediums in order to create some powerful, forward-thinking artistic statement.
