Fans are losing it over Rolling Stone’s latest Musicians on Musicians pairing: Lucy Dacus and Janelle Monáe. On paper, it’s an unexpected duo, but in practice, it’s pure magic.
During their conversation, the two artists dive deep into identity, transformation, and what it means to exist beyond binaries. Monáe describes being nonbinary as “like water and rock — always flowing,” while Dacus jumps in to add her own spin: sometimes it’s “boy day or girl day,” but ultimately, she wants both. “I want it all,” she says. “If I was told I had to be one way, I would be like, ‘Maybe life is not for me.’”
Naturally, the discussion drifts to transformation, on stage and off. Both share a love for Halloween, a time when reinvention is celebrated rather than questioned. Monáe, of course, is a legend of the holiday, having previously stunned fans as hyper-realistic versions of E.T. and the Grinch.
As far as where that creative spirit comes from, Monáe credits David Bowie, recalling how his artistry shaped her own love for world-building and character play.
“I think when I saw David Bowie…”
“You saw him?” the boygenius star asks.
“I did. I traveled back into the 1970s. And saw him do Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and it was incredible.”
“You travelled back?” Dacus clarifies, eyes wide. Let me preface by saying Monáe is speaking about time travel so casually, we can’t blame Lucy for her raw reaction. Anyways…
“Yeah, I was backstage,” they continue. “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 in how we see the world.”
Dacus did not ask any further questions on time travel, and this is not the first time Monáe has spoken about it. The Age of Pleasure singer told The Guardian in 2018 that they “spend a lot of time in the future.
“But to help the future, sometimes you got to go back to the past, and sometimes you got to stay in the present.”
The musicians also share stories of feeling “othered” growing up and how that shaped their songwriting. At one point, they even pull out their phones to compare creative notes — literally.
The full conversation can be found below.
