Janelle Monae Recalls Bittersweet Last Dance With Chadwick Boseman at Oscars Party

Weeks after Chadwick Boseman’s death in August at 43, those who knew and worked with the beloved actor have continued to share their favorite memories of the man and the artist. That includes singer and Antebellum actress Janelle Monáe, who during her appearance Tuesday night on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert revealed a full-circle moment between the two and the final dance the artists shared that she’ll never forget.

Before Monáe and Colbert discussed her latest film, the award-winning multihyphenate recounted how she met the Black Panther and 42 star in Atlanta through her friend and fellow actress Lupita Nyong’o. Both Boseman and Nyong’o were on location filming the Marvel film while Monáe was at work on her Dirty Computer album when the singer turned actress broached hosting them for dinner and “they all showed up one night.”

“We ate, we listened to music,” Monáe recalled. “I just remember Chadwick that night being so present. We were not talking about work; we were not talking about the past; we were just right there. He was playing drums. We were dancing.”

During the memorable evening, Monáe also shared songs that “nobody had listened to” with the group and said, in return, Boseman offered her feelings of hope and encouragement.

“Just the encouragement I got from him, seeing him smile, seeing him dance — you could feel that his spirit was one of one wanting to give, give people the feeling of love, the feeling of hope — even at parties where we’re supposed to be drinking and acting wild and crazy. He still took that time to tell me that he was proud, he was excited. He would dance with me and made me feel like, ‘Yeah, I can release this project.'”

After telling Colbert that she would miss the actor, but that his spirit would live on his “incredible work,” the Moonlight actress recounted having the chance to “dance with him one last time this year” at a 2020 Oscars party. Monáe said the two, who both loved James Brown, spent part of the evening trying to see who could “out-James Brown each other dancing.”

“He tapped me on my shoulder — I’ll never forget it — he tapped me and he said, ‘Let’s have this dance,'” Monáe told Colbert. “And we danced for a good three, four minutes, smiling. I just remember that moment and I will always hold that dear to me and I will always try to live in the present because I saw him living in the present.”

Watch the full segment below.

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