By Rachel Garrahan, guest editor for the LA awards season
American R&B artist Janelle Monáe performed to a select audience at The Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles yesterday to celebrate the launch of the new Gucci Grammy Interlocking watch.
The release of the new timepiece, with its dial made of Grammium, the same alloy material used to forge the Grammy Award statuette, marks the fourth year of partnership between the Italian fashion house and The Recording Academy, the organisation behind the music industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards.
As well as creating a watch each year to mark the occasion, Gucci supports the academy's educational and heritage initiatives, including its Music Fund, which nurtures young talent around the world.
Appearing on the eve of the 2014 Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday, Monáe, the multi-talented musician, composer and producer, talked about growing up in a poor family in Kansas, her musical influences, Stevie Wonder and Prince (both of whom she now works with), and her determination to succeed as a musician.
She laughed as she remembered living in a boarding house and being fired from her day job at office supplies shop Office Depot, for talking to her fans - who numbered just 100 at the time.
If the intimate interview wasn't inspiration enough for the select audience, which included a number of lucky high school students, Monáe then launched into a rousing performance of songs from her latest album, 'The Electric Lady'.
Gucci also presented her with her very own watch. The sleek-looking timepiece is available in two sizes (42mm and 37mm), with a black polished and brushed PVD case, a snapped case back with the Grammy Awards logo, and the yellow Grammium dial.
A variant of Gucci's Interlocking collection, which offers a modern take on its interlocking GG motif, the timepiece will be available at gucci.com and in Gucci boutiques from February. Sales proceeds will go towards funding further projects with The Recording Academy and hopefully help the next Janelle Monáe, wherever he or she may be in the world.
