Singers Janelle Monae and Robin Thicke cover the latest 20th Anniversary issue of VIBE Magazine. And they're only 1 of three covers to come. Get deets on the issue inside.....
Singer Robin Thicke, who arguably has one the biggest song of the summer with "Blurred Lines", covers the summer 2013 issue of VIBE alongside fabulous "Q.U.E.E.N." singer Janelle Monae. Loving the sexy, vintage rat-packish feel of the shoot.
The summer issue also serves as the magazine's 20th anniversary issue (it was launched by Quincy Jones in 1993). VIBE celebrates its anniversary with the release of three unique covers for the magazine’s highly anticipated ‘Juice’ issue featuring Robin Thicke with Janelle Monáe, Nas with J.Cole and Daft Punk with Pharrell Williams.
In the accompanying article, the singers repesent the varying degrees of R&B music with Robin from the blue-eyed soul side of things and Janelle taking the reigns with a funkier-progressive edge. The two talked to the magazine about the new rules of music and how they both push boundaries. Here's an excerpt:
VIBE: How do you define your music?
THICKE: I can tell she’s probably just like me—that as soon as somebody says, ‘Oh, you’re this.’ She goes, ‘Well, then let me show you what else I can do ’cause I’m not just one thing.’
MONÁE: It’s about having fun.
THICKE: Well, not just that, but when you think about Stevie Wonder, or even Michael Jackson, you don’t say, ‘They’re R&B singers.’ You say, ‘That’s Stevie Wonder music. That’s Prince music.’
MONÁE: They tried everything.
THICKE: I hope that after I make my 10, 20 albums people just go, ‘That’s Robin Thicke music. And when they hear Janelle, they know that’s Janelle Monáe music.’ That’s what we both try to accomplish. Even “Blurred Lines,” which is my greatest success…
MONÁE: That’s the jam.
THICKE: Sounds a lot like my other music. I love all kinds of music, so I can’t possibly just make one kind. I’ll make a song called “Shakin’ It 4 Daddy” with Nicki Minaj, and then a song that sounds like Jimi Hendrix that’s all guitar and live music. Most of the music I’ve made is live band instrumentation, no drum machines.
MONÁE: Same with me. We just finished [recording with] the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and then came back and rocked Coachella. I get very bored with the concept of marginalizing music and saying because I’m an African-American woman I [have to] stick to this genre. My iPod [has everything] from Judy Garland to James Brown to Prince to the Talking Heads. It just needs to be great and it needs to move me.
THICKE: In the history of American music, black radio and white radio were segregated. But once everybody had rights…
MONÁE: And could be on the cover of their album…
THICKE: And white people are on the cover of VIBE and black people on the cover of Rolling Stone, there are no more rules and that’s how it should be. We shouldn’t be judged by our color or one song that we made.
MONÁE: We should be judged by the jam. Is it jammin’?
THICKE: Music is exploding right now and always will, because it’s not about the sound. It will always come down to the artist. What are they doing? What are they saying and how are they saying it?
MONÁE: And is it believable?
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Photo Credits: Karl Ferguson