Sandra
Janelle Monàe expressed her deep affection for Prince during an interview on The Jennifer Hudson Show on Thursday (Dec. 14).
The “Water Slide” singer praised the late musician’s support for her and other Black artists, and reminisced about a special moment when he joined her on stage during a concert.
“He admired you. I remember talking about you — he admired you and that just speaks to the type of person he was. I think he was a big advocate for artists, for Black women in particular,”
Monàe shared with Hudson, expressing regret that she did not have the opportunity to work with Prince before his passing in 2016.
The 10-time Grammy nominee continued, “I just remember him calling me, like, ‘Hello, Janelle. This is Prince.’ I opened up for him — I wanna say this was The Forum. I did Madison Square Garden and I also did The Forum, and this was my set opening for him, and he came out during our set and performed our song we have together on The Electric Lady together. The headliner never comes out before its time for them to come, and for him to do that … he never let his mystery get in the way of his mentorship.”
Monáe and Prince continued to collaborate throughout the 2010s, with the late icon assisting her with her 2018 album, Dirty Computer. In an interview about the set with The Guardian, Monáe shared that the “Raspberry Beret” singer was helping her “collect sounds” for the project before he passed away.
“It’s difficult for me to even speak about this because Prince was helping me with the album before he passed on to another frequency,” she explained.
