Janelle Monáe and Billy Porter open the Oscars with a snappy, reference-heavy musical number
Aux Features Film
The Academy Awards are really dedicated to this “no hosts” thing, which means it has to do something big and exciting to open the show that will make everyone forget that Billy Crystal isn’t about to be hamming it up on their televisions for the next few hours. This year, the Oscars did that with Janelle Monáe, who took the stage with a Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood routine (opening the door, putting on a sweater, etc.) that turned into a riff on “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” that then turned into a big, dramatic musical number about the Oscars themselves, complete with back-up dancers dressed like the Joker and Queen And Slim, a big Midsommar flower dress, a call-and-response thing with the audience that Leonardo DiCaprio almost participated in, and some predictably impressive assistance from Billy Porter. Who needs a host when you can get Janelle Monáe? Well, she could just do this and host, but it’s not our job to tell the Oscars what to do.
33 Comments
That was sure one very average musical number!
Well, I was sure almost adequately distracted by it.
It was so bizarre that they picked one of the more throwaway tracks off her ten year-old first album to have her sing.
I think that that was a smart choice, as you can more easily accept the number as an Oscars bit and not just a Janelle Monae promotional bit. Perhaps they also deemed it the easiest to segue into ‘I’m Still Standing’ and/or to alter the lyrics to fit the situation.
Janelle Monáe’s a huge talent so fun to see her, but the dancing Jokers was SUPER cheesy. So odd! Felt like something straight out of the ‘80s.
Haha! Yes! Given her love of Prince, it makes sense more sense now.
like….a Batdance, perhaps?
So, are we just going to pretend the blouse thing at the beginning didn’t happen?
It looks like she missed a button, then realized it and buttoned it up after she put on the red sweater. What’s the big deal?
Not to put too fine a point on it, but it was a load bearing button.
Ah, so your comment was more about “Eh, eh, boobies, eh!” than any actual commentary.
So a near miss on an almost major live wardrobe malfunction warrants no comment? Sure thing, boss.
I mean, there was no wardrobe malfunction. Not even a “near miss.” What, did you think a missing button was going to make her shirt fly apart and reveal her bra?
It’s more the irony that it was open during a Mr Rogers tribute that made it noteworthy. I wasn’t hoping for a peek as you seem to be implying.
…that’s not irony. Do you…do you know what irony is?
That’s a perfectly fine example of irony, actually. An inadvertently salacious moment or mishap during an homage to a notably wholesome entity can accurately be described as ironic. You seem to just be picking a fight, but all the same, you may want to find a different hill.
That’s not irony, though. At best, what you are describing is similar to “situational irony,” when there’s a sharp discrepancy between what you think is going to happen and what actually happens. However, since Janelle Monae’s shirt didn’t fly open during the segment, there wasn’t any discrepancy and therefore no situational irony. The potential for a wardrobe malfunction does not a situation make.
Sorry, what was that? Situational what now? If you have to put unnecessary quotation marks around phrases and italicize a half dozen words in a single comment just to keep yourself from disproving your own point, you should maybe reconsider whatever it was you were even trying to prove in the first place. Now are you going to charge us with something, or are we free to go?
Thank you, I’m going to quit responding at this point, as I clarified and at least someone else understands. The other poster can continue shouting into the void if they like. Have a great day.
relax
It’s not so much that Jonae’s button popped – which she depopped smoothly, it happens – but also that she was put in a pre-cardigan jacket with nigh-untakeoffable sleeves, AND she was given a cardigan whose buttons proved to be a right bastard to do up wearing nails. Someone in Costume Design failed, and failed bad.
I think the reason this is not worth discussing is that to modern tastes, if she had come out with all the buttons up to and including that button undone, the resulting look would have been….barely scandalous? We’re decades away from the sight of a bra being interesting, aren’t we?
The first minute was a costume disaster. Don’t they rehearse? Removing jacket, putting on sweater, buttoning up sweater, fixing shirt button… every one a failure. She looked frustrated.
Did Janelle Monae come out as non-binary and start using they/them pronouns? I’ve been finding conflicting reports about this.
She came out as “impossible to describe by Governor_Explosion”, while everyone else is free to use even the most offensive words to refer to her. Some have called this quite innovative, while others objected that she’s partly just imitating Prince.
It was a rewritten version of ‘Come Alive’ off her sophomore release The Archandroid.
I always get the feeling that Leo DiCaprio would rather be anywhere but wherever he is right now.
Given that if he wasn’t there he would probably be on a yacht doing coke with models, yeah, probably.
“That sure was a great opening number, right? So with that, we’ve made up for not nominating more POC, right everyone? Good, because we’re not going to do any better next year.”-The Academy, probably.
I watch the Oscars because I’m a huge fan of movies.I had never heard of either of these performers.They did fine, and the understated movie references is the costuming were a delight, but Billy Porters contributions seemed entirely disposable.
It’s always great to start an award show with a big fat turd.
She is a goddamn national treasure. More talent in her pinky than most of the people in that room.