Jared Siskin | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Janelle Monae attends the Warner Music Group Pre-Grammy Party in association with V Magazine on January 25, 2018 in New York City.
For the then-aspiring singer, money was tight; explaining to Fast Company that promoting her work to fans online was tricky — especially as she didn’t own a computer. So, she had to find other means of keeping her ambition alive.
“I couldn’t afford a computer, so I used the company’s computer – the display computers that were out there. And they (the fans) were writing me on my site, like ‘Hey, when are you performing? What time are you going to be there? I loved your songs’,” she said.
As she was responding to let her fans know when she’d be available, Monae heard her Office Depot superiors over the intercom, requesting her to come to the back-office.
“I went back, and my supervisor, manager just said: ‘Look, we know you don’t want to be here. We see you using the company’s computer for your personal business. We know that you want to be an artist — we’re going to let you go. You’re fired.’ And it was devastating,” she recalled, explaining how she loved selling the office supply products at her job.
As many incredible artists do, however, Monae took this difficult experience and turned it into art.
“So, after I was fired from Office Depot, I wrote this song called ‘Lettin’ Go’ and it was my first single that I put out. And Big Boi from Outkast, who’s a mentor, like a brother to me, heard it and he put it on this compilation CD.”
“And that was like the first song that I had that was available around the world. It was a big deal.” The song ‘Lettin’ Go’ featured on Big Boi’s compilation album “Got Purp? Vol. 2,” which also featured her track “Time will reveal.”
Be the first to comment