Janelle Monáe is a ‘dirty computer.’ Here’s what that means to her — and how you can be one, too

What does it mean to have agency over your memories? What do you gain when you put your phone down and pay attention to what’s happening right in front of you? And what’s a dirty computer, anyway? Before Janelle Monáe was a Grammy-nominated artist, she was busy writing short stories. As a kid, she wrote science fiction and horror stories, including one where her grandmother was abducted by aliens. But her love of sci-fi and horror didn’t stop there — it’s something you can hear in her albums, like The ArchAndroid and Dirty Computer. Tom spoke with Janelle when she released her first collection of short stories called The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer.