With a cursory glance of Janelle Monáe’s new music video for “Dance Apocalyptic” (which has been on our minds ever since we saw that teaser last week) you might just be surprised by how she has let her hair down, but look a little more and you’ll realize just how wonderfully strange the Wendy Morgan-directed video ends up being. Monáe becomes another one of her many characters and the introduction to “The Electric Lady” via a ’60s variety shows works as a funny parody and a nice tribute to Nirvana’s “In Bloom.” Then there’s the baffling, absurd, and hilarious short film treatment by Chuck Lightning for the video that creates backstories and adds characters (including others played by Monáe). It just gets stranger – midway through when the video abruptly cuts to a newscaster (also played by Monáe) reporting on the apocalypse/fighting off a zombie before cutting back with no explanation, and I’m pretty sure that was Dr. Zaius who showed up for a brief moment in the static between feeds. Finally there’s “Dance Apocalyptic” itself, a song that takes the end of the world and makes it sound like as weightless and carefree as Monáe’s dance moves. It’s a hell of a lot of fun and a hell of a lot of weird, so check it out below.

The Electric Lady is due out 9/10 via Atlantic/Bad Boy/Wondaland