Recording artist Janelle Monáe isn’t just about making music with albums that feel like concepts or art installations; she’s about building worlds…or rather, playgrounds. The 39-year-old “Lipstick Lover” singer told Paper magazine, “Quote me on this. I want to play all f*cking day.” 

The latest evidence of Monáe at play is Wondaween Festival: Vampire Beach, from the Wondaland Arts Society — Monáe’s artistic collective and another example of how she builds worlds. Wondaween is a full-on Halloween festival for outsiders. “I know I’m odd,” she said. “I know I’m weird. And I love that. I love it in others, too. I want people to feel seen… like they’re not alone in loving science fiction, horror, and cosplay.” 

She told Paper, “It spans every medium: TV, film, music, fashion, visual art, and gaming. It’s a month-long celebration that creates community for people who love the strange, the spectacular, the peculiar. I’ve always tried to start with community first.”

She added, “We’re building community around the most creative time of year: Halloween, a season of transformation. People give themselves permission to become anything, to express themselves more freely, and that’s what I want to celebrate: giving people permission to play, to be creative beyond their everyday selves.”

Wondaween boasts film screenings, game nights, live performances, Monáe Manor, her haunted house installation at the L.A. Haunted Hayride, a Cinespia-style movie night (The Archive Bites Back), and a USC masterclass with “M3GAN” screenwriter Akela Cooper. 

Hailed as the “Halloqueen” after having hosted over 650 hours of AMC’s FearFest, Monáe will perform as Sally in “The Nightmare Before Christmas” at the Hollywood Bowl. Monáe said, “The Halloween spirit has always been in me. It gives context to something that’s always been there. I’ve always loved creating characters. This is the season when those characters come to life.

Just as the diva who is Mariah Carey is synonymous with Christmas, Monáe hopes to have that same result when it comes to Halloween. She said, “My calling is to build the worlds I want to exist in and build community within them. Right now, all those worlds are colliding through my Halloween Arts Festival.”

Wondaween goes down in Los Angeles on Oct. 30th. Wanna go? All you have to do is stake your claim!