Home
Authors
Tags
App
Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App
" I would love to do an album of standards! "
Kelela
Love
Standards
Would
Related Quotes:
" Before I collaborate, it's important that I have a conversation about what I care about before we make anything, so that it's very clear. "
Kelela
Care
Clear
Conversation
" The most rewarding thing for someone like me is for someone else to find solace through my music. "
Kelela
Someone
Through
Me
" It means so much to be able to share myself with the world. "
Kelela
Myself
World
Share
" Popular music was this abstraction - an abstraction that I was relating to immensely but was ultimately far away. "
Kelela
Music
Popular
Far
" When I was little, my parents would have these gatherings, and it was a common thing for me and my cousins to have to put on, like, shows. "
Kelela
Put
Cousins
Parents
" I know deep down I'm a star. "
Kelela
Down
Deep Down
Know
" I'm quite scrutinous when it comes to who I put myself in the room with. "
Kelela
Quite
Room
Myself
" It's been hard for me to nail visual language and personal style because I like so many different things. "
Kelela
Personal
Language
Me
" 'Take Me Apart' doesn't feel cohesive in a singular way but in a varied way. You can fixate on individual songs, and there are references from all over the place: Anita Baker to Bjork. I wanted to show all the facets of myself. "
Kelela
Me
You
Way
" It is very rare that I am just coming up with melodies off the top of my head. I usually am responding to something - it could be chains dragging on the floor - but I am usually responding to something. "
Kelela
Chains
Head
Off
" I spent a lot of time in college. I was just being academic and discovering myself through reason and analysis. "
Kelela
Time
Reason
Through
" I'm interested in bridging and filling in space that hasn't already been filled, so when it comes to making music, I've just always wanted to be able to reference things that producers in the big pop major label context do, without compromising the entire sound of the record. "
Kelela
Without
Sound
Always
" 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
Wedding
Think
" Most of my friends, growing up, were upper-middle-class white kids, so it was a different reality at home both culturally and linguistically. It created a lot of insecurities for me, but it also did a lot of amazing things that I didn't know were happening at the time. "
Kelela
Growing Up
Time
Reality
" Self-care is a requirement. "
Kelela
Requirement
" As it pertains to my black womanhood, there's just a lot of ground to cover. There's a lot of stuff to say. "
Kelela
Just
Say
Lot
" 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
Create
Music
" 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
Writing
Perfect
Focus
" I'm coming from the zone of Faith Evans, but with weird production. "
Kelela
Production
Zone
Coming
" I want to empower. "
Kelela
Want
Empower
" I've always had this commitment to not being in one thing. "
Kelela
Being
Always
One Thing
" At the end of the day, I would like to have the farthest reach in terms of being able to communicate to as many people as possible. So it's not that I enjoy being obscure; it's that I sonically don't want to be situated here or there. "
Kelela
End
End Of The Day
People
" 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
Writing
Out
Nothing
" My first reaction to being pigeonholed or pushed into certain confines is to be like, 'No, I'm the opposite,' you know? Like, don't put me in a stereotypical black-girl category, because I'm not like that; I'm doing this thing over here. "
Kelela
Me
You
Over
" I think the Internet is more layered and complex than just hating it or liking it. I find it to be more purposeful to talk about the way that it's conducive for relationships and making connections. "
Kelela
Think
Connections
Talk
" The act of me just being robust in the world is so radical - it's so radical for a black woman to think she's going to be a star, because it takes so much to get there. It's still a battle every day, but I feel happy because I feel like I cracked the code and figured out how to work through it. Now I want to give the map to other women. "
Kelela
Think
Day
Happy
" A lot of people of color in the music industry are still more interested in embracing things that are considered white canon, and looking radical. Like when people point to punk in the indie world: If you point to the history of punk as what you see as your legacy, that's more prized and praised. "
Kelela
Music
People
History
" I'd like to change what people expect. I want to evoke something that's not nameable, for people to go, 'Huh?' "
Kelela
Change
Expect
Go
" 'Seat at the Table' has expressed real adversity, struggle, and also triumph and joy. "
Kelela
Struggle
Triumph
Real
" 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
Time
People
Music