Okay, so I kept seeing Janelle Monáe and Tessa Thompson pop up everywhere, you know? Like, on my social media, in articles, people just constantly talking about them. It was a whole thing for a while there, and I was kinda curious, like, what’s the actual deal?

My Deep Dive Plan
So, I sort of made it my little mission to look into it. Not in a creepy way, just wanted to understand the buzz. My “practice” here was basically to consume all the stuff I could find and try to piece together what was going on, or at least what I thought about it all. It felt like everyone had an opinion, and I wanted to form my own, based on what I could see.
I started by going back to the source, or what felt like the source for a lot of the talk.
- First, I rewatched the “PYNK” video. Okay, yeah, visually, pretty direct.
- Then “Make Me Feel.” The energy in that one was something else.
- And of course, I sat down and watched the whole “Dirty Computer” emotion picture. That was a whole experience in itself.
Observing the Vibe
And you know what? The chemistry, or whatever you want to call it, was definitely there. On screen, it was electric. I’d see them in interviews together too, and they had this way of looking at each other, this rapport. It was compelling, no doubt. You could see why people were so invested. It felt like a story unfolding.
But then, the more I looked, the more I started thinking, well, this is entertainment, right? It’s Hollywood. These are incredibly talented performers. How much of what we see is the “real” them, and how much is part of the art, part of the performance? It’s hard to tell, and maybe it’s not even supposed to be clear. They’re artists, and they’re crafting something.
I read some articles, saw some fan theories, and it was intense. People were really passionate. And I got it, the visuals, the music, the public appearances – it all built up this narrative. It was almost like they were in on it, or maybe they were the “it” everyone was talking about. It got pretty blurry for me, trying to separate the art from the artists, or if they were even separable in this case.

What I Took Away From It All
So after all that, what did I figure out? What was the result of my little “practice” of digging into the Janelle and Tessa phenomenon? For me, it kind of stopped being about whether it was “real” in the way people wanted it to be real, if you know what I mean.
What I landed on was this: they created something powerful together. Whether it was a deep personal connection, incredible artistic synergy, or a brilliant way to tell a story through their public personas – or all of the above – it worked. They made people feel things, they started conversations, and they produced some amazing art. That synergy, that thing they had on screen and in those moments, that was undeniable.
It’s like, they really knew how to command attention and create a specific kind of energy. And maybe that was the whole point. They got us all watching, talking, and thinking. And that, in itself, is a pretty incredible feat. That was my main observation from my little dive into it all. It was more about the art of their combined presence than anything else for me in the end.