Watch Janelle Monáe recreate classic Black Girl Magic vibes of 1980s “Control” era Janet Jackson from the very first beat drop, as she steps into her glory to become this generation’s living embodiment of Prince.
This is pure, unadulterated black bisexual happiness. It’s gonna make you smile. Here, have some joy with your day.
Carmen Phillips is Autostraddle’s former editor in chief. She began at Autostraddle in 2017 as a freelance team writer and worked her way up through the company, eventually becoming the EIC from 2021-2024. A Black Puerto Rican feminist writer with a PhD in American Studies from New York University, Carmen specializes in writing about Blackness, race, queerness, politics, culture, and the many ways we find community and connection with each other. During her time at Autostraddle, Carmen focused on pop culture, TV and film reviews, criticism, interviews, and news analysis. She claims many past homes, but left the largest parts of her heart in Detroit, Brooklyn, and Buffalo, NY. And there were several years in her early 20s when she earnestly slept with a copy of James Baldwin’s “Fire Next Time” under her pillow. To reach out, you can find Carmen on Twitter, Instagram, or her website.
Carmen Phillips has written 716 articles for us.
