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The actress and singer Janelle Monáe has gone viral for saying that she time-traveled to see David Bowie in concert, more than a decade before she was born. Why It Matters Monáe shared her time travel anecdote while sitting down for an extended chat with Lucy Dacus for Rolling Stone’s Musicians On Musicians. Monáe, who started her music career back in 2003, has received 10 Grammy Award nominations and was awarded the Trailblazer of the Year Award from Billboard Women in Music in 2018. Monáe identifies as non-binary and came out in 2022. Dacus is known as a solo artist, but also for her work in Boygenius, the supergroup that features her, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, her partner. What To Know During the interview, Monáe said, “I think when I saw David Bowie,” to which Dacus replied, “You saw him?” Bowie, one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, died of cancer in 2016. He performed his final full-length concert in Germany in 2004. And while it’s not implausible that Monáe may have seen Bowie in one of the later concerts of his career, that’s not what she was referring to. “I traveled back into the 1970s and I saw him do Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and it was incredible,” Monáe said, referencing the 1972 record The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. A rather puzzled Dacus then responded: “You traveled back…?” Monáe responded, “Yes.” “I was backstage, and I was like, ‘This is what I want to do.’ And so I jetted back to the 2000s and I was like, ‘I can have the musical, make the music, create the lyrics,’ and create a community around transformation and being queer and, not even in sexuality but just in how we see the world.” Monáe has long cited Bowie as an influence on her work, telling NME in 2014 after covering Bowie's iconic track ‘Heroes,’ for a commercial in connection with the 2014 FIFA World Cup: “I’m a huge David Bowie lover and comrade and he has been part of my musical DNA for quite some time.” “The song just emboldens me as an artist, and I wanted to embolden the people as well," Monáe said. "It makes me feel as though we can break through any chains we may have shackling us as a humanity. It’s very hopeful and inspirational, and I think we can never have enough of that.” A clip of the interaction between Dacus and Monáe has gone viral on X, amassing over 3 million views after being shared by the account Pop Crave. What People Are Saying Social media user @mogutweet replied with a famous picture of the actress Jemima Jo Kirke, which she posted on Instagram, which has the text overlay, “What the hell, sure,” in a post viewed over 50,000 times. Social media user @fopminui on X: “During a conversation with Lucy Dacus, Monáe made the playful revelation, saying she experienced a vivid “creative vision” that transported her to Bowie’s era — calling it “one of the most inspiring moments” of her life. Is Janelle hinting at a retro-inspired project, or just celebrating her love for Bowie’s timeless artistry?” Social media @KillingSwiftly on X: “notice how us non binary people got superpowers.” What’s Next A Musicians on Musicians live event is taking place on October 23 in New York, and may well produce more viral moments as the likes of Jack Antonoff, Hayley Williams, and Role Model will be in attendance.
