'I Just Feel More Light': Janelle Monáe on Honoring Her Queer Identity

Janelle Monáe is offering up some thoughtful advice to anyone struggling with their own identity or hoping to have a more authentic understanding of themselves.

The singer chatted with E! News recently ahead of receiving the Trailblazer Award at the 2022 Outfest Legacy Awards, touching on them coming out as pansexual back in 2018 and nonbinary earlier this year.

“I’m patient and as long as I know who I am and how I identify and I honor that, I just feel more light,” she said of her journey. “I feel freer and I feel like there’s a lot more work to do when we’re talking about nonbinary storytellers and communities. If we can get more visibility, then I think a lot of people will be more educated.”

Monáe’s music has frequently delved into themes of identity and authenticity and understanding who one is both in terms of society/community and on a more individual level. To hear her talk about doing the internal work to explore those things personally absolutely tracks with what any fans of hers would expect.

And that’s also reflected in the advice she has to offer for others who may want to set out on their own journey of self-discovery.

“You can have an internal conversation with yourself until you feel okay,” they told E! News. “I had to talk to me and then I had to talk to my family and loved ones before I even started to allow it to spill over into my art because you don’t want to be working out those sorts of things with the rest of the world.”

She also suggested being “patient with yourself and [loving] yourself through every phase of it,” something that is frequently easier said than done, but good advice for LGBTQ+ people at every walk of life to carry with them.

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