Home
Authors
Tags
App
Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App
" I've grown up feeling very American but being constantly bothered by people - there's internalized racism and feeling weird about being second-generation. "
Kelela
American
Feeling
People
Related Quotes:
" In Maryland, I didn't grow up around poor white people. Where I grew up, the white people were middle class or upper-middle class. It's interesting how screwed up it is in reality, because most people who receive assistance from the government are white, but not in my head or in my experience. "
Kelela
Reality
Government
Experience
" I am your homegirl, at the end of the day, but I also feel very... outside. So if you're finding solace in feeling outside with me, then we're good to go. "
Kelela
Day
I Am
Good
" I'm just trying to soundtrack your real life. I'm just trying to give you a place to feel safe in all the parts of your experience. "
Kelela
Trying
Place
Experience
" As much as we like to pretend we're just getting on stage and whatever, it's like, no, I practiced in front of the mirror my whole life. "
Kelela
Like
Just
Life
" My queer black women peers are the ones who make me not feel crazy. The way we act is so instinctive. "
Kelela
Crazy
Women
Way
" 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 know deep down I'm a star. "
Kelela
Down
Deep Down
Know
" I do like things the way that I like them. But I'm trying not to be - I don't wanna be that way. I'm not a control freak; I wanna protect my agency. It's a weird question as a black woman. "
Kelela
Black
Control
Trying
" 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
Me
Saying
Experience
" I want to speak in the tradition of rhythm and blues and soul music, but also push how it's dressed and how it's delivered to the audience. And hopefully that gets embraced by as many people as possible, but the goal isn't necessarily to speak to everyone. The goal is to get it out as exact as it is in my head. "
Kelela
Goal
Soul
Speak
" The whole thing about 'progressive R&B' blows my mind. Black music has always been progressive. "
Kelela
Always
Black
Mind
" When I called 'Cut 4 Me' a mixtape, I was thinking about a few elements: One is used instrumentals. The project is more centered around introducing you to an artist; it's not meant to be seminal. It's 'Hi,' 'Hello,' a thing that you first hear. "
Kelela
Thinking
You
Meant To Be
" Most artists are going into the studio for a fixed period of time, and they say that's their album. I can't relate, because I've never made music in that way. I come from a culture of editing and remixing. "
Kelela
Say
Culture
They Say
" 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
" I think my worst enemy was myself. It's like I've been in my own way more than anybody else has been. "
Kelela
Think
Own
Myself
" There is this feeling among black artists that you have to be really careful. We're not inclined to talk about this stuff because, if we do, we put ourselves in a position where we're not marketable or where we can't win. "
Kelela
Position
Black
Win
" I really do like Solange, sincerely. I'm down for her, and I trust her judgment. "
Kelela
Her
Down
Trust
" I want to soundtrack people's layered feelings. "
Kelela
Soundtrack
Feelings
People
" Sometimes I learn by someone giving me warnings and giving me advice about what to do next. And other times, a lot of times, I have to put my hand into the fire. "
Kelela
Learn
Giving
Fire
" I'm pushing back against the white, misogynistic, heterosexual establishment in the music industry. Like, literally, in all its forms. "
Kelela
Against
Music
Like
" I have something stupid, like, 12 credits, to graduate. "
Kelela
Stupid
Like
Something
" 'Seat at the Table' has expressed real adversity, struggle, and also triumph and joy. "
Kelela
Struggle
Triumph
Real
" I'm very into familiar things, popular things. I'm into things that no one seems to know about or be into. I'm trying to draw a line between those two things and make it clear... that it all makes sense to me. That it's not disparate. That it's all one thing inside me. "
Kelela
Trying
Two
Inside
" I would love to do an album of standards! "
Kelela
Love
Standards
Would
" I know my ticket is vulnerability. Most people point to some emotional experience, some hardship, some high or low when they talk about my music... a time when they need to feel those feelings more. "
Kelela
Know
Experience
Time
" We are - as artists, we are racialized through genre and called black - without being called black - through genre. "
Kelela
Artists
Without
Through
" A black woman's handbook in this industry is, 'Whoa.' The chapter on 'Don't go there.' The chapter on 'How to say that nicely,' how to express that you don't like something so that you don't lose the opportunity - which is what we're doing all day long. "
Kelela
Opportunity
Day
Black
" 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
Time
First Time
Obsession
" 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
" Innovating something that is familiar. That's the general approach, and that's what I want to do with the melody as well. It should ring true - you should like every melody sequence without knowing what's happening next. "
Kelela
Ring
Knowing
You