CJ Monet
Photo by Michael Garcia
This summer, we’ve been obsessively hydrating, sporadically meditating, occasionally dropping in on Redhead Hemp, and—of course—plundering life’s existential dilemmas. Have we met? Time to catch up. In a world oversaturated with mostly pointless information, how does one stay focused on what actually matters? And what is beauty, anyway? Why are we so endlessly obsessed with it? To dig a little deeper, we turned to CJ Monet—an artist with a voice straight out of the jazz age—for her take on it all.
If beauty can be bottled, filtered, and sold, who owns the truth of the face we show the world?
I guess the artist-- I think it’s my job to show you all three. Some days I’m CJ, some days I’m Carly and other days I’m Monet and I present them to the world to pick up whatever mask they need to that day. Truth can always be influenced but the agency lies with the person who crafts it for themselves.
If everyone is “perfect,” is anyone truly beautiful?
The operative word is “truly." I think people are too held up on the idea of perfection but all it really is is an idea. Completion is beautiful. How many artists have we grown to love whose voices weren’t perfect but were beautiful because of that exact reason?
Art is meant to disturb and beauty is meant to soothe, where does your work live?
I would say that I make the music and let people sort it where they may. My job is to create like a child from a pure place in my heart and to let the journalists and listeners critique like scientists lol. I’m just a girl.
In a world where people are engineered for roles, what role is the artist engineered for today? (Can artists escape commodification, or are they just another brand in the marketplace?)
I think artists are engineered to be brands in the sense that artists are world builders--you have to make people want to be part of your world. I want people to feel like they are part of my world through my music, but that that world is built around them just being able to be themselves. You can't escape capitalism but you can use it for good!
Would you rather be truly seen—or flawlessly admired?
I'd rather be seen--admiration puts you on a pedestal and my music is made from a place of me being real with myself about how I move through the world. I make music for real people and real flawed human experiences.
Could a wrinkle be a form of rebellion?
A wrinkle is a plot twist: it's ear candy or an unexpected note and I think those are the things that always resonate with me most in music and life. I don't know if I would use the word rebellion, but I do think it's a cute little middle finger to the expected.
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