Janelle Monáe returned to the Late Show Friday to deliver a transfixing performance of her Dirty Computer single “Make Me Feel.”
The rendition opened in black-and-white video with Monáe delivering a Janet Jackson-like dance routine before the performance of the Prince-inspired song wiped to full color with backup dancers, backing band and, at times, a Hall of Mirrors-esque camera effect.
The “Make Me Feel” performance follows similarly inventive “Americans” that she brought to The Late Show – with help from Colbert – when Dirty Computer was released in July.
Monáe recently talked with Rolling Stone at New York’s 92nd Street Y about her acclaimed new LP. “I came back to Dirty Computer after I felt like I had enough time to live,” she said of why it didn’t immediately follow 2010’s ArchAndroid. “I needed to experience more things in my life before I dug into this album. I knew it was going to require a significant of understanding.”
The singer will close out her tour in support of Dirty Computer this weekend at New Orleans’ Voodoo Festival. In December, Monáe will co-star in the Robert Zemeckis film Welcome to Marwen alongside Steve Carell.
