The internet has been ripping into singer Janelle Monáe after a video surfaced of her flashing an audience during a performance. But fellow R&B singer SZA placed the pearl-clutching people in their place.
RNB Radar posted a video of the “Tightrope” singer lifting her shirt and revealing her breasts to her audience during her performance of her latest hit, “Lipstick Lover.”
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Many criticized the singer for her behavior in the video.
“Am I the only one NOT here for all she’s been doing? It’s giving desperation!”
“I swear I thought she was classy wtf, Janelle.”
“To be honest. She can do whatever she wants. But the fact that she started fully clothed in dope fashion all the time to being naked and showing her titties is kinda far from the artist she started as. She started like a Lauren Hill and ended up on some lil Kim. Both respectable in their own rights. But also have the same image. It’s a way to sell sex and sexy without showing your titties like girls gone wild. I can see her doing the Badu naked thing, maybe. Bc it’s artsy. Sad that all the women singers, mainly Black, are promoting this behavior.”
SZA took to the comments to defend Janelle, claiming she supported her “self-renaissance.”
“I love that it’s HER being free [right now] because [people] LOVE to box women in and claim that because you’re articulate, respected and intelligent. You can’t show your body or be sexual or anything else, lol. It’s a ridiculous notion, and I’m ALL FOR HER SELF-RENAISSANCE.
Others stepped in to defend the singer.
“These comments are sad. People are not allowed to evolve and open up their personalities. That’s why folks are so stagnant in everyday life. They remain the same out of fear that their friends and family will remark about them changing or trying something new. Folks are scared to change the way they do anything…on a small or large scale. They can’t even handle seeing other people change how they dress or their hair without launching into conspiracy theories. If you just did things because YOU wanted to, you won’t feel the need to question why others just up and make changes. Just live.”
“She GROWN grown and can do what she wants. She’s beautiful, and them thangs sittin’!”
While Janelle hasn’t spoken up about this particular matter, she posted a clip of her upcoming interview with Angie Martinez, expressing that she’s embracing herself.
“I’m owning all of me,” she said in the interview. “I can show titties. I can show ass. I can be in a suit. I can do all of that. I’m not into respectability politics. I never was.”
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