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" 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. "

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" 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

" 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

You

Over

" As it pertains to my black womanhood, there's just a lot of ground to cover. There's a lot of stuff to say. "

" There's definitely a push and a pull to 'legitimize' electronic music live by playing the same way that a band would play. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I want to soundtrack people's layered feelings. "

" I have something stupid, like, 12 credits, to graduate. "

Kelela

Stupid

Something

" I like to try out different methods to get to good songs. "

Kelela

Good

Different

" 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. "

" 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

Growing

Everything

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I've grown up feeling very American but being constantly bothered by people - there's internalized racism and feeling weird about being second-generation. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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

" 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

Saying

Experience

" I know deep down I'm a star. "

" Popular music was this abstraction - an abstraction that I was relating to immensely but was ultimately far away. "

" Fog and one blue light is all I need in life at the club. Just a dark room and loud music. I'm into that. "

" I like smart rappers who aren't necessarily trying to be deeper than you, like Danny Brown. "

Kelela

Trying

Smart

" 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. "

" I spent a lot of time in college. I was just being academic and discovering myself through reason and analysis. "

" I guess the bottom line is I don't make music that is consumed en masse. "

" I'm quite scrutinous when it comes to who I put myself in the room with. "

" 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

Just

Life

" 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. "

" 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. "