Some songs you get. Some songs you may not. And I think that’s the beauty of art: to question and to ask, to understand the deeper meaning after two or three or four listenings.

Monáe frames art—especially music—as something that need not yield its meaning instantly. The quote defends ambiguity and layered storytelling: a song can be immediately pleasurable (“you get”) while still withholding its full significance, inviting return visits and active listening. By valuing “two or three or four listenings,” she emphasizes interpretation as a process rather than a one-time decoding, and casts the audience as a collaborator who questions, connects themes, and discovers subtext over time. Implicitly, it argues against the demand for instant clarity in pop culture and celebrates art that rewards curiosity, patience, and emotional/intellectual engagement.