Kelela: Power in vulnerability

A dialogue between past, present and an imagined future, Kelela's (she/her) music captures multiple moments. The singer-songwriter and producer was catapulted into the spotlight in 2013 following the release of her first mixtape, Cut 4 Me, an ambitious debut setting the tone for a body of work that defies convention — now a decade old but as fresh as the day it landed. 
 
Blending the RnB of her Maryland childhood with ambient synths, jolts of drum and bass and a rich, expansive vocal, her first studio album Take Me Apart arrived in 2017, cementing her reputation as an arch innovator. 
 
A significant hiatus from music-making followed, with the long-awaited Raven dropping in early 2023. Signalling a distinct evolution both in sound and intention, Kelela had returned with an ode to the Chicago, Baltimore and Jersey club scenes, honouring the Black femmes at the centre of these ground-breaking movements. 
 
Catching up on life after Raven and the birth of her idiosyncratic sound, she discusses openness, embracing vulnerability and her mission: ‘to soundtrack the intimacy that people share with one another but also with themselves.’ 

MUSICAL BEGINNINGS

‘When I reflect on the range of music I’m into as an adult, I can see that the seed was planted early. We didn’t have a ton of records but there’d be pop vocals like Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson, alongside jazz greats like Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. We’d listen to World Music artists Miriam Makeba and José Feliciano and then random musicals like Fiddler on the Roof and The Sound of Music.’ 

DEFINING SOUND 

‘Raven sonically traverses a lot of different sounds under what we might consider ‘dance music’ but really has its roots in so many forms of pop and of Black music, period. It’s a snapshot of my experiences romantically with, for the most part, men, and this wall I keep hitting. I’m expressing that in many different forms throughout the record.’ 

COLLABORATION AND SOLITUDE  

‘There’s a certain vulnerability as a songwriter when you have to improvise in front of people. With Raven, initially I did a lot of it by myself and would share it with friends and ask what they thought. Then the pandemic hit and I found that having time alone was useful for my process. I welcomed the obstacles; I’ve never dealt with a constraint that didn’t add richness to the text.’ 

SONIC CONTRAST 

‘I’m always looking for a contrast in the way that I express, specifically, club music. When I started making the mixtape, the very first project I worked on, I really wanted to have crude and aggressive-sounding drums and production to balance out the air in my voice and the softness that’s inherent in how I write.’