Janelle Monáe wants second concept album to be listeners' 'drug of choice'

Janelle Monáe has begun work on a new record, another concept album with even "bigger ideas" than her debut, The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III), which was the Guardian's favourite album of last year . "This album will have very strong concepts and bigger ideas and the music will just go forward to another level," Monáe told MTV Hive . However, the singer doesn't want to take her music up a blind alley of esoterica. "My message is that I want to reach the people – the people who work each and every day," she said. "I want to create music that will be their choice of drug whenever they feel oppressed or depressed." If Monáe wants Suite IV to be higher-concept than The ArchAndroid, she has her work cut out. Together with a 2007 EP, Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase), Monáe's releases tell the story of an android called Cindi Mayweather and her enemy, the evil robot Maria. "Cindi realises her superpowers ... and understands that she can be the One, sort of like Neo in the Matrix, to change the android community," Monáe explained in 2009 . "I parallel that to what we're going through today. You and me – what are our superpowers?" The ArchAndroid mixed Parliament-Funkadelic's Afrofuturism with Fairport Convention's Brit-folk, plus hip-hop, big band horns, choirs and strings. The 25-year-old has already started writing, recording and "playing the instruments" for the new record, which will probably be released, like The ArchAndroid, under the mantle of Diddy's Bad Boy Records. "I don't plan on stopping the formula or stopping myself from creating new formulas," Monáe said. "[I want to] create something that will remain timeless, hopefully, and the next generation can be inspired by it … But it will be jamming. I will say that much. It's gonna be jamming."