Kelela has had an explosion of success following her debut mixtape, Cut 4 Me, in 2013, in which she provided vocals to a cadre of contributions by different producers. Now, the singer and Fade to Mind label muse has announced a official debut album.
In an interview with Dazed magazine, Kelela relates some of the challenges her growing fame has presented her with, notably her relationship with the fashion world, citing what she calls her “Dave Chapelle crisis,” which she describes to Dazed as: “a lot of that experience is palpably related to me being a brown-skinned woman with locks who sings R&B,” she says. “I can never get away from that, even when I want to be interpreted neutrally.”
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Kelela also shares some of the excitement she’s had in making her new album. Though details are scarce—there has been no announced title, label, or release date—she mentions that Arca, Jam City, and Bok Bok are featured as co-collaborators. Kelela, who writes many of the songs on the album, also discusses her intents as a songwriter: “I want it to be like, Carole King or Dolly Parton will want to take it to the piano immediately,” Kelela tells Dazed. “There’s a lot of reverb and the vocals aren’t always in your face. But there’s something about the tradition of R&B and gospel of singing hard.”
In addition to the interview, Dazed also released a short film by Cieron Magat in which Kelela is featured speaking about her career soundtracked by samples of her new work. Watch it below.
