Dance or Die
harks back to the 24-year-old's original plans to be a Broadway performer. And she thrusts the album between velvet-curtained stage production, big-booties in the nightclub, glittery-dressed soul singers, shiny-shoed funk musicians and even hair-shaking rock'n'roll - some she pulls off better than others.
Tingling your hairs, then tickling your feet, Monae's energetic combination of musical genres urges you to clap your hands, slap your knees. And then, do it double time.
In the sped-up funk and soul of
Faster
, Monae is "shaking like a skitzo". Then in
Cold War
(one of the singles) she is a finger-wiggling pop-star, while in
Come Alive (The War of The Roses)
she is a screeching, dirty rocker - and a schizo again.
There are 18 tracks, but some are one-minute theatrical teasers that bridge the different genres and allow the album to roll together like one long party playlist.
The
Tightrope
music video
