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Kelela
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#Tags
When it comes to melodies, production, and sound in pop music, people try to be formulaic and solely concerned with what's resonant in a way that is so cheap and ugly. It actually just devolves culture, ultimately.
- Kelela
#Culture
#Music
#People
#Sound
#Way
I'm coming from the zone of Faith Evans, but with weird production.
- Kelela
#Coming
#Faith
#Production
#Weird
#Zone
As a black woman, there's so much pride and communication through hair. It's naturally something that you are excited to embellish on and be creative about.
- Kelela
#Black
#Communication
#Hair
#Pride
#Woman
I'm finding out what part of punk culture or white indie culture I actually still want to hold onto - What are the values? What are the contributions that I actually like? - and it not coming from a place of desperation or wanting to be embraced or wanting approval, essentially.
- Kelela
#Coming
#Culture
#Place
#Values
#White
How much closer can I get to the common ear, the mainstream, and how much it can still be from this other world, this other place? That's the line I keep trying to tread but have my wings extend more on both sides.
- Kelela
#More
#Place
#Trying
#Wings
#World
Often, I write to feel better and to heal - to cope with things that I'm dealing with. I'm either writing to get out of a feeling or to get into the feeling, to feel it more. Usually it's the perfect remedy, but if it isn't, I focus on other parts of what I'm making that don't involve writing. If neither are working, I simply forfeit the day.
- Kelela
#Better
#Day
#Feel
#Focus
#Perfect
I would say Tracy Chapman was the first time I obsessed over an entire record. I knew every song; I knew the exact amount of seconds between each song. That's the level of obsession that I had.
- Kelela
#First Time
#Obsession
#Say
#Song
#Time
We don't want it to be obscure music. We're not trying to be indie. We want to be popular.
- Kelela
#Indie
#Music
#Obscure
#Trying
#Want
It's such a challenging time, and in my small way, I will make it so that other younger women, and maybe older women, will be able to do the things they want to do, and accept themselves and their experience.
- Kelela
#Accept
#Experience
#Time
#Way
#Women
To me, the best writing points to something literal or common but is also nuanced: The moment when somebody is telling you they love you while simultaneously disappointing you. Everybody's experienced that.
- Kelela
#Best
#Love
#Me
#Moment
#Writing
I'd like to change what people expect. I want to evoke something that's not nameable, for people to go, 'Huh?'
- Kelela
#Change
#Go
#People
#Something
#Want
It's been hard for me to nail visual language and personal style because I like so many different things.
- Kelela
#Hard
#Language
#Me
#Style
#Visual
I guess the bottom line is I don't make music that is consumed en masse.
- Kelela
#Bottom
#Guess
#Line
#Make
#Music
In the music industry, you can't create success without having to engage a white man. It's just not possible. Whether it's executives, A&Rs, and the people that hold the key to your paper, inevitably, you'll be met with whiteness.
- Kelela
#Man
#Music
#People
#Success
#White
You can never have enough reinforcements, resources for black women to thrive in the world. The topic has been addressed a million times before, but it will never end because what we're up against keeps morphing, and we have to figure out how to beat it.
- Kelela
#Black
#Enough
#Thrive
#Women
#World
When I was growing up... I'm not going to say I listened to everything, but when it comes to vocals, I was really adamant about imitating all kinds of voices.
- Kelela
#About
#Everything
#Growing Up
#Say
#Up
There are no black women geniuses that are being named in canons. I could name a bunch, but it's not part of common knowledge. It's not how the world is taught to think about black women.
- Kelela
#Black
#Knowledge
#Name
#Women
#World
A lot of white men in the music industry are promoting and participating in black culture in a way that is pretty careless. They want the currency of blackness, but they don't want the brunt that comes along with that.
- Kelela
#Black
#Culture
#Men
#Music
#Way
Popular music was this abstraction - an abstraction that I was relating to immensely but was ultimately far away.
- Kelela
#Away
#Far Away
#Far
#Music
#Relating
No one is making extraordinary things alone. They might be alone in their bedroom while they're recording or writing, but they didn't actually conjure that thing out of nothing - without influence - without assistance - without anything.
- Kelela
#Alone
#Bedroom
#Influence
#Nothing
Something that I think extends to a lot of African cultures is that the line between performer and audience is blurry. My mom would lead the wedding song regularly, and she isn't a professional singer. Even as an audience member, you're expected to clap and sing the response to the lead.
- Kelela
#Mom
#Professional
#She
#Song
#Wedding
Even on my most angry song, I'm also still saying, 'Thank you for helping me to learn.' I've always wanted to give voice to that complexity in our experience.
- Kelela
#Angry
#Experience
#Me
#Song
#Voice
I just want to shed light, illuminate and turn the spotlight over to all of the black people who have been being futuristic and innovative since instruments were plugged into a wall. With computers, machines, and music, black people have been contributing to that a great deal for a long time.
- Kelela
#Black
#Computers
#Great
#Music
#Time
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