French Impressionistic Hip-Hop: Classical Sample in Janelle Monáe’s "Say You'll Go"
A deep cut from Monáe’s major label debut moves from late night jazz immediately into Debussy.
Some entertainers are beyond human. Possibly part android? Who really knows what sort of electrical signals are going through Janelle Monáe’s head in order to produce what she does. Her music, her live performances, her activism, her capacity for self-definition & her singular identity. Industry moguls have recognized this for years. Prince quickly took her under his wing, and her latest output still sounds like hers & hers alone, but with the Purple One’s fingerprints all over it. For my money, Janelle Monáe is a legendary entertainer with no equal, possibly the most visionary contemporary artist of her time — and she is only at the start of her career.
External link to Janelle Monáe’s “Say You’ll Go” from the 2010 album The ArchAndroid.
Overview: The last two minutes of the deep cut ballad “Say You’ll Go” are based entirely around Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune.”
Introduction: Janelle Monáe grew up in Kansas City, studied music, moved to NYC to pursue theatre, and then to Atlanta to work as a musician. Her entire musical output has been largely based on concept albums & speculative fiction themes. Her first EP, Metropolis (The Chase Suite), explored these themes, followed by her major label debut The ArchAndroid and sophomore LP The Electric Lady. Monáe considers each of these works to be a part of a larger saga, in which there is a great deal of talk of “the other”, which Monáe communicates as fictional conflicts between androids and humans that parallel real life racism. Her 2018 album, Dirty Computer, received high critical praise, including an Album of the Year Grammy nomination. Her 2023 release The Age of Pleasure was also nominated for an Album of the Year Grammy. Overall, Monáe has been nominated for ten Grammy awards, won two Billboard Music awards, and a Children & Family Emmy Award. She runs her own record label, Wondaland, and also keeps up a significant acting schedule in both film & television. She also serves as a spokesmodel, makes frequent soundtrack contributions, and has written at least one notable protest anthem, 2015’s “Hell You Talmbout.”
“Say You’ll Go” is the penultimate track on The ArchAndroid, and similar to side B tracks on Monáe’s other albums, the track is downtempo, densely arranged, and the lyrics are introspective.
Analysis: The first four minutes of the song contain mostly minor 9th chords, boasting a definite jazz influence. Extremely dense instrumentation & arrangements give away to Monáe’s vocal solo joined by solo piano at 3:29 in the song. At 4:10 in the recording linked above, the piano solo gives way from “Say You’ll Go” directly into Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” (3rd movement from the Suite Bergamasque), which serves as the basis of the last third of the song. The chord progression varies from the rest of the song, although Debussy was clearly influenced by jazz harmonies used by Black composers in the US as he was composing alongside impressionistic painters in France. Played in a different key than Debussy’s original in Db, the slowed down version of the most famous 3rd movement of a piano suite ever plays as Monáe sings. At 5:00 into the song, the solo is joined by choral singers, arranged to mimic the famous piano melody, and fades out until the end of the track.
Can I Play This for Students?: Yes, without hesitation. Monáe is an icon for queer representation in many facets of pop culture, and she has also contributed to the soundtracks of Rio 2, Disney’s live action Lady & the Tramp, and Harriet. She will likely be familiar to students, and better yet, this song contains no objectionable lyrics or themes. It could even serve as a springboard for discussing comparative religions in music, as Monáe makes reference to “the ark” as well as the Buddhist concepts of Nirvana, Samsara, and Dhammapada. And Debussy ::winky face::.
I’m a Fandroid. I considered apologizing but why would I?
Also, this is a really easy-to-digest play along harmonic analysis of “Clair de Lune.” Thanks, Hook Theory!
