As she prepares for a UK tour – including Glastonbury – the singer and actor answers your questions on Prince, what makes her blush, and why we shouldn’t ostracise AI

You always look immaculate. Who are your style icons? 12monkeys
That’s very nice of you to say. I wish you could see me right now – I look like I just came out of a dirty dishwasher. I think maybe my style icons are the different versions of myself: I live in different realms, so the version of me that lives in 1960, 2719 or 2805. I think about the magazines that exist in those times and take inspiration from that. I am drawn down lots of rabbit holes and into uncovering the universe.

Have the James Bond producers ever reached out to you to collaborate on a James Bond theme? I always thought of BabopbyeYa as a James Bond theme. howcomebubblegum
I agree. I love the score of a lot of the James Bond films. Goldfinger is one of my favourites, and You Only Live Twice is another. So they can definitely call me! But BabopbyeYa was on my first album; my music has always been cinematic, so I’ve always understood cinema and big band orchestration, string arrangements. I feel it in my ovaries.

If you want to know what it’s like to be mentored by Prince, act in an Oscar-winning film or collaborate with Grace Jones, now is the time to ask the multi-hyphenate star

After releasing her fourth studio album The Age of Pleasure last year and appearing in Netflix’s hit mystery film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, vocalist and actor Janelle Monáe has cemented herself as a bona fide pop-cultural force. Ready to embark on a UK tour, she will join us to answer your questions about her expansive career which you can post in the comments below.

Born in Kansas as Janelle Monáe Robinson, the musician and actor has now been in the entertainment business for almost two decades. She began singing at church during childhood and got involved with local theatre in her teens. Monáe then went to New York City on a scholarship to study musical theatre – and was the only African American woman in her classes.

Kentish Town Forum, London
Celebrating sobriety at 40, Brown animates the crowd with his energy, expressions and enunciated lines

Danny Brown runs on stage dressed as a steampunk supervillain in a metallic high-collar overcoat, an eye-strikingly large belt and superspy-style sunglasses that cover half of his face. He’s radiant, illuminated further by colourful stage lighting, and looks genuinely happy to be performing as he zigzags around. “I’m 40 and don’t drink or smoke no more – I’m sober,” the US rapper gleefully explains to his London audience after an energetic performance of his 2013-release track 25 Bucks.

2023 was a big year for Brown, with Scaring the Hoes, an album made with Jpegmafia released in March, then his sixth solo album Quaranta in November. He doesn’t shy from the earnestness of the latter – where he details his addiction and depression – and Ain’t My Concern and Dark Sword Angel are well received, but it’s Jpegmafia collabs Scaring the Hoes and God Loves You that get bodies moving. And while he may no longer be doing the activities of the title, Smokin’ & Drinkin’ even has punters nestled at the back of the venue raising their hands in the air; groups of friends cheerfully look each other in the eye as they recite the lyrics word for word, and Brown makes heart symbols with his hands. Mid-set he performs fan-favourite classics such as Really Doe, from his 2016 album Atrocity Exhibition, which he executes with candour and sharpness, pulling emotive facial expressions while rapping the chorus hook “they say I got the city on fire”.

What a Wonderful World and You’ll Never Walk Alone are among five unreleased tracks on compilation Louis in London, performed at the BBC in 1968

Unheard performances by Louis Armstrong at the BBC in 1968, regarded by Armstrong aficionados as some of the jazz legend’s greatest work, are to finally be released.

A compilation titled Louis in London, available in July, will feature well-known numbers The Bare Necessities, Mack the Knife and Hello, Dolly!, the latter of which premieres today with a video of Armstrong performing at BBC Studios. There are also five recordings that have never been released: (Back Home Again) In Indiana, You’ll Never Walk Alone, Ole Miss, Blueberry Hill and What a Wonderful World.

Council spending cuts are forcing studios and venues to close, driving out the city’s creative businesses

Last year, the city of Leeds held a year-long celebration of culture, complete with festivals, newly commissioned works of art and community projects. More than 1,000 events took place, with hundreds of volunteers and local schools taking part.

This year, however, artists and ­creatives in the West Yorkshire city are being forced out of their workshops and galleries, and say the dwindling number of spaces is crushing Leeds’s creative scene.