Artist branding is important and impactful. When Janelle came out as the very mature, sound breath of fresh air that she was in a time where female singers were starting to wear less and less, we appreciated her resoluteness to not fall into industry standards and still attain success. Plus, she had some of the greats mentoring and supporting her. Now, that she has changed/transformed her look, it begs the question WHY? I understand that, over the past several years, there have been soft launches of what we are now seeing, but Janelle is not mainstream enough for us to have witnessed this like we did Janet and Beyonce. This is like going off to college and coming back for Christmas and your baby sister has sprouted boobs your size. Its catching a lot of people off guard. But back to the question of why...because her why before was to pay homage to the working class. Is she no longer doing that? What is she doing now? Does she have to have a reason? Well, since she gave us one before...yes. And why did she have to explain being covered up in black and white in the first place? I'm on both sides of the fence here. I agree that she's not doing it for the attention of men since she's a lesbian but she is doing it for some attention, which she is getting. Overall, I think people are uncomfortable with things they're not used to seeing. For example, people had a big problem with music videos becoming promiscuous in the 90s. That did not stop the show, literally, cause look at just heterosexual videos, IGs, and performances today. It is almost expected now. As I mention in my article about Da Brat's pregnancy (https://zora.medium.com/the-studulinity-of-da-brats-pregnancy-has-people-s-panties-in-a-bunch-c5d15494e61c?sk=75893c937505376c8ebf312ee9771ecd) people are really uncomfortable when black LGBT people do things publicly that they're not used to seeing. Janelle, like Da Brat, is pioneering and trailblazing the way for others like them to do the things they're doing, i.e. kiss a woman in a video, have a lesbian orgy party and show the world, and be pregnant as a stud lesbian. It makes people uncomfortable; so they criticize it and pick it apart. Its human nature to fight-or-flight in uncomfortable or threatening situations and a lot of people are choosing fight instead of flight, as in look away if you don't like it. I'm cool with both. I say live the life you love everyday! Their life doesn't affect me so why should I judge? My rights stop where another person's start and it is not my right or privilege to tell someone how to live in their right to life.
