24 year old Kansas native Janelle Monáe is about to be huge. Or at least should be. The genre-mashing American's debut album proper, The ArchAndroid - (Suites II and III of IV) comes out tomorrow. So what better time to debut on US network television and put in the kind of performance that shifts the trajectory of a career forever.

 
Janelle Monáe - 'Tightrope' live on Letterman

Now if that's not performance perfection I don't know what is, whatever your musical stripes. What punter in their right mind does not want to experience that? And count the references: James Brown, Outkast, Chaka Khan, Michael Jackson, Sharon Jones...Elvis.

They don't stop there:

“Musically, The ArchAndroid is an epic James Bond film in outer space,” describes Monáe, “in terms of influences it’s just all the things I love— scores for films like Goldfinger mixed with albums I adore such as Stevie’s Music of my Mind, David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, and jamming experimental hip hop stuff like Stankonia.”

Here's her short for 'Many Moons', if such a headspace seems fanciful:


Janelle Monáe - 'Many Moons'