POP star Janelle Monae claimed she travelled five decades back in time to see David Bowie as his alter ego Ziggy Stardust.
The singer and actress said her career was inspired by Brit icon after she hopped back to the 1970s to watch him live.
Janelle Monáe has revealed she travelled back in time to see David Bowie liveCredit: Rolling Stone
Janelle Monae at Glastonbury Festival 2024 last yearCredit: Getty
Bowie died in 2016Credit: Getty
Bowie’s final performance of album and the Spiders From Mars took place in 1973 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, and was caught on film.
Janelle said she was backstage at one of his Ziggy Stardust gigs, and seeing the legendary artist live “was incredible”.
She said she didn’t hang around for a chat, but “jetted back to the 2000s” knowing she could also be a versatile performer like Starman singer Bowie.
told Rolling Stone : “I think when I saw David Bowie …”
Interviewer Lucy Dacus twice interrupted Jannelle, 39, to ensure she’d heard her right.
Lucy interjected: “You saw him?”
Janelle continued: “I did. I travelled back into the 1970s and I saw him do Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. It was incredible.”
Lucy stopped her a second time and asked again: “You travelled back?”
“Yeah, I was backstage,” Monáe responded.
“I was like, this is what I want to do.
“I jetted back to the 2000s and I was like, I can have the musical, make the music, create the lyrics, and create community around transformation and being queer – not even just in sexuality, but in how we see the world.”
The Make Me Feel singer, who is non-binary and uses she/they pronouns, previously said their 2010 album The ArchAndroid was heavily influenced by .
Fans have been commenting on the video in their droves.
Actress Amanda Abbington begged: “Why didn’t Lucy pull the David Bowie thread more?????”
A second defended Lucy, saying: “Lucy is using superhuman strength here to keep a straight face.”
And another viewer reacted: “I love whatever’s wrong with her, keep going Janelle!”
Janelle previously claimed to be “timeless” saying Rock Cellar in 2022: “I identify as being timeless.
“Timeless, timeless. You know? I think that my cells respond to feeling and believing and knowing, but I’m timeless. I’m a time traveller. I move through space. I move through time.
“What is time, actually? It’s whatever we say it is. It’s wherever we say it is. What agreement we have in whatever community we’re in.”
The star performs onstage during his “Ziggy Stardust” era in 1973Credit: Getty
Bowie’s Ziggy Stardustsubject of a new movie.
The book, Me And Mr Jones: My Life With And The Spiders From Mars, came out last year, and has now been auctioned to be made into a major motion picture.
Author Suzi Ronson explained last month. “It hasn’t been bought but we are hoping it will be soon and it will be a great movie about the Ziggy Stardust days and his rise to fame.”
Suzi is famed for transforming Bowie into his hugely successful stage character and she opened up about her secret behind his look — including the spiky red hair.
She explained: “I used to do David’s mum’s hair and I got introduced to (his then-wife) Angie to cut David’s hair off.
“I never thought I would be talking about him 52 years later.
“He had long wavy hair at the time. He was like a hippy kid.
“He showed me a photo of a girl with spiky hair and said, ‘Can you do that?’ I thought, ‘This is a girl’s hairstyle. I didn’t have the dye. No one had product in those days.
“So I went away and found the colour and used this anti-dandruff treatment called Guard and it set hair like stone.
“With that bright red hair, he looked incredible. He looked like Ziggy Stardust. The ladies loved Bowie and the band in their glam rock outfits.”
The , like Suzi’s book, will also tackle her one-night stand with Bowie while he was still married to first wife, .
Suzi said: “The bedroom at his home was pink with a gold ceiling. Everybody thought he was so gay. I was curious about him. I think Angie set me up.
“I went to do her hair on a Wednesday and she said: ‘I have got to look fabulous. I am going on a date tonight.’
“David called me and said: ‘Why don’t you come over and do my hair?’ So I went up to London, had a great meal and he kind of seduced me.
“David used to mark his territory. He was definitely flamboyant in that regard.”
She spoke to Rolling Stone journalist Lucy DacusCredit: ROLLING STONE
David pictured at his Kent home in 1971Credit: Getty Images – Getty 
