Sam Recommends: “Make Me Feel “ by Janelle Monáe

YES.

That’s my response to everything about this song. About this video.

“Make Me Feel” is nothing short of a high voltage, cosmically funked Queer Odyssey. It’s a disco-ball grenade lobbed straight to the feet detonation that can only result in a chronic groove. “It’s like I’m powerful with a little bit of tender, an emotional, sexual bender;” such lyrics simmer over glittering snarls of staccato guitar. The track oozes with that transcendent sensuality that only Prince — a definite inspiration for this track — has ever truly been able to capture.

Until now.

Queerness is tripled-down in the music video. It flaunts it in full colour. Here, androgynous aesthetic threatens to burst out of the screen. Here, San Junipero is cranked up to maximum saturation. Here, Janelle validates bisexuality — and all forms of sexual fluidity — in the wide shot of a single dance sequence, as she pin-balls between two humans. It transforms the allegedly liminal into the brilliantly tangible, letting it carve its own identity. For a sexuality that’s often erased, often scoffed at, it’s a dazzling gesture.

So, whether you’re a he, she, they, or anyone: watch, listen, dance.

And dance.

And dance.

And dance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGRzz0oqgUE(Song recommendation by Sam Jowett)