'' The Guardian '' s Alexis Petridis called '' The Electric Lady '' an " audacious , intrepid and brilliantly executed album . " Holly Gleason of '' Paste '' described it as a " 19-track epic that weaves spoken ' radio breaks ' with callers , promos and news about Mayweather for a 25th-century immediacy . " Peter Tabakis of popular music blog , '' Pretty Much Amazing '' , gave it a B saying that the album is a " more focused epic " compared to her debut album , '' The ArchAndroid '' . Ben Wener of '' OC Register '' praised Monae 's " outta-space idiosyncrasies , " saying the record " hits hard like Janet Jackson . " In his '' Pitchfork '' review , Jayson Greene wrote that " taken as a whole , '' The Electric Lady '' is a convincing argument for the virtues of micromanagement , but some of the most powerful , tender moments come from acknowledging limits " , and continued writing that " Monáe 's not singing to exorcise pain , which will hang around until it 's good and ready to go , she 's just passing the time until it does doing the thing she does best . " Jez Collins of PopMatters mentioned that " as with '' The Archandroid '' , Monáe refuses to wear a musical straightjacket " and continued to give a positive review by adding " Monáe is acutely aware of her history , and it 's a history to be understood , respected , re-appropriated and re-purposed . But this is never merely pastiche , Monáe takes her history and updates it , makes it relevant and vital for today . This is smart , thought-provoking music . And it will make you want to dance . " Monáe 's music video for " Q.U.E.E.N. " won Best Art Direction at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards . Monáe has also been nominated for the Best R&B / Soul Artist at Soul Train Awards , as well as The Ashford and Simpson Songwriter 's Award , Best Dance Performance , Video of the Year , and Best Collaboration for " Q.U.E.E.N. " . '' Paste '' magazine placed " Q.U.E.E.N. " at number one on its list of " The 50 Best Songs of 2013 " . '' The A.V. Club '' ranked '' The Electric Lady '' at number fourteen on its list of " The 23 best albums of 2013 "
2013 MTV Video Music Awards
2013 MTV Video Music Awards
The Electric Lady