Rolling Stone’s Musicians on Musicians series is back, and this year’s lineup of musicians interviewing each other is stacked. From Jack Antonoff and Hayley Williams to Tinashe and Amaare, these video interviews are super insightful for fans looking to get to know artists and their music better. One pairing this year has particularly stood out: Janelle Monáe and Lucy Dacus, promoting their most recent albums The Age of Pleasure and Forever Is a Feeling, respectively. But one moment in their conversation is taking over the internet — namely, when Monáe claims she time traveled to see David Bowie perform.
Monáe is an all-star talent as a singer-songwriter, actress, and rapper who’s received a total of 10 Grammy nominations. Lucy Dacus is a singer-songwriter that’s known for her intimate solo music and from her work as a member of boygenius with Phoebe Bridgers and Julian Baker. These two Grammy nominees got together to share personal stories, musical inspirations, and upcoming projects, but the time-traveling clip has stood out to fans.
In the video, Monáe claims to have traveled back to the ‘70s to watch David Bowie perform. She says in the clip, “I traveled back into the 1970s and I saw him do ‘Ziggy Stardust’ and ‘The Spiders from Mars’ and it was incredible.” Dacus looks confused in response, and tries to confirm whether Monáe was really talking about time travel. She asks, “You traveled back?” Monáe then says, “Yeah, I was backstage and I was like this is what I want to do, and so I jetted back to, you know, 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, and not even just in sexuality but just in how we see the world.”
The video has sparked all kinds of fan reactions, with many laughing at the clip and others coming to Monáe’s defense. Some fans think Dacus was holding back a laugh during the encounter, while others believe she was ready to start time-traveling herself.
More than one fan reacted by joking that Monáe’s next-level talent means she probably could in fact travel back in time. Others are using their imaginations on where else Monáe might be able to travel to.
One fan called out the fact that Dacus always seems to be caught up in some strange situation. And many fans agree that with all the great work Monáe has put out, they are more than willing to believe that she did, in fact, time travel.
While many have made fun of Monáe for the moment, this fan claims they’d have the same amount of fun as a celebrity.
At the end of the day, most fans aren’t taking the moment too seriously and are just happy to hear two of their favorite artists discuss their music with each other. Dacus and Monáe are both incredibly talented — anyone looking to find out more about their creative processes (which may or may not include time travel) should check out the full video from Rolling Stone.