Janelle Monae Wore Nothing But A Gold Headpiece And Some Rings On The Cover Of Rolling Stone’s Pride Issue

Close up of Janelle Monae on the black carpet
(Image credit: Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

Janelle Monae has had a wildly successful career as both an actress and recording artist. She’s also a LGBTQ+ icon, who will likely be celebrating Pride Month in June. The Glass Onion star is seemingly celebrating early, as she wore nothing but a gold headpiece and song rings on the cover of Rolling Stone’s Pride Issue. And smart money says that this image is going to quickly go viral, especially as she’s going topless.

Monae consistently pivots between music and acting roles, and she recently debuted the release of her new single “Lipstick Lover.” The marketing and video seemed like a celebration of her curves, and now they’re once again on full display for Rolling Stone. Janelle Monae’s Instagram showed off her cover image, check it out below:

Talk about a striking image. The “Yoga” singer isn’t wearing any actual clothing for her new Rolling Stone cover, which is sure to turn heads. Instead she’s rocking a gold headpiece and some matching rings. Said rings are clearly on display, as Monae is using her hands to cover up her areolas in the image.

The above image was shared with Janelle Monae’s whopping 5.2 million followers on Instagram. It’s definitely making the rounds online, and already has over 200k likes and 3k likes. And the comments section is filled with both celebs and fans giving her flowers over the striking photos. That include fellow pop star Sza, who posted:

EVERYTHING 😍

Aside from featuring the Hidden Figures actress on the cover, the forthcoming issue of Rolling Stone does seem to be addressing a number of issues currently affecting the queer community. The story “The Defiance of Drag” no doubt does a deep dive on the various policies and laws that are being passed which target both Drag Queens and the transgender community. 

As previously mentioned, it looks like Janelle Monae is currently in her body positivity era. While her Instagram post got a few haters commenting, you can’t deny just how stunning she looks. You can see her music video for “Lipstick Lover” below:

Monae’s new album The Age of Pleasure is expected to arrive on June 9th, with “Lipstick Lover” being the first single. As such, it seems more than possible that we’ll be seeing more bold looks from the actress/singer once more videos and images are released. 

Of course, cinephiles are eager to see when Monae returns to the big screen. She got a ton of positive attention for her dual roles in Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion (which required a “rich bitch accent”), aka first sequel in the growing Knives Out franchise. She’s also got a few upcoming projects lined up, including both TV and film work. And there are 5 Marvel characters Monae would be perfect to play if she decided to join the MCU. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.