Song · Janelle Monae
“Cold War” by Janelle Monae
From the album The ArchAndroid (2010)
“Cold War” by Janelle Monae appears on 4 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 2010 and 2025. It was first released in 2010 on the album The ArchAndroid. Its best result is #21 on the Impact 89FM Top 89 of 2010. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #336 alternative song of 2010.
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Video from YouTube (Janelle Monáe). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"Cold War" was the second single from The ArchAndroid, Janelle Monáe's 2010 debut album, and she put it out through her own website one day after "Tightrope" had arrived. Monáe wrote and produced it with Nate "Rocket" Wonder and Chuck Lightning, and it tears along at a sprint, a futuristic blast of new wave and Afro-funk whose drums have drawn plenty of comparisons to OutKast's "B.O.B", fitting enough, since OutKast's Big Boi was one of her mentors.
Critics picked it out as one of the album's best tracks. The video is disarmingly simple: one unbroken shot of Monáe in front of a black wall, her face running through emotion after emotion as the song plays, and reviewers treated it as a work of art in its own right.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 21 | Impact 89FM Lansing, MI | Impact 89FM Top 89 of 2010 | 88 |
| 2010 | 44 | The Current Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | The Current Top 89 Songs of 2010 | 88 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 660 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2025 | 260 | The Current | 893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now | 893 |
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