Calling all Janelle Monáe fans who have been watching her “Pynk” video on repeat: you might soon be able to own a pair of her Internet famous “vagina pants.”
“We may be working on that,” Monáe told PEOPLE about mass producing the statement-making bottoms during a recent YouTube event for her new album Dirty Computer and the “Emotion Picture,“ film that accompanies it. “I’m so tickled and honored that people are talking about the Pynk pants, I think that it’s so cool to have discussions around women’s issues and women’s bodies, I think it’s amazing.”
The video and the song are a celebration of the color pink itself, but even more so they celebrate love, friendship and vaginas. Monáe said she’s been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm she’s seen for the song and the pants and hopes that they can be a jumping off point for larger conversations about body positivity.
“Sometimes I think people interpret those as vagina pants, they call them vulva pants, they call them flowers, but it just represents some parts of some women,” she said. “There are some women in the video that do not have on the pants, because I don’t believe that all women need to possess a vagina to be a woman. I have one I’m proud of it, but there’s a lot of policing and controlling that people are trying to have over our vaginas and when you think about female genital mutilation, when you think about all these women’s issues, I wanted to make sure we were discussing these issues but we were also celebrating each other. I wanted Pynk to be a celebration of women who are unique, distinct, different, may be different from one another but when they come together they create something magical and special.”
While she doesn’t yet have a timeline or start of production to discuss regarding the mass production of the Pynk pants, it’s on her to-do list.
“I’m trying,” she admitted with a smile. “I may be working on it.”
The “Make Me Feel” singer went on to say that she feels “very thankful for all the support” from her fans, from their positive reception to her new album to her recent comments about her sexuality.
“I haven’t really had the opportunity to look online and really read what people are saying but from my team and things I’ve been sent, it’s resonating with the people it was intended to,” she said. “It was important for me with this album to pick who I was not afraid to piss off or lose in this process, who I wanted to celebrate. I chose to celebrate dirty computers, I chose to celebrate my LGBTQI brothers and sisters, minorities, women, immigrants, those who are marginalized in this society.”
She added: “All the love that people have for Dirty Computer and me, and in particular my Fandroids as I like to call them, who are patient with me and have stuck by me and waited and they’re watching the ‘Emotion Picture,’ listening to the album, taking it in, I just want them to know it’s yours, it’s a gift from me to you with love.”
While we the “Pynk” pants aren’t available yet, there are several ways to stay connected with Monáe and the body positive messages in her art — specifically the new album and her 48-minute “Emotion Picture.”
“You can watch it on YouTube, and the album is on every platform,” she said. “I would love for you to watch the ‘Emotion Picture’ first and then listen to the album, but you can listen to the album and then watch the ‘Emotion Picture,’ whatever. There’s no wrong or right way.”