Kelela Mizanekristos Quotes
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I just want to live in a world where I can tell a guy, 'This is the deal: I really want this. I really want you. But it's also not that deep.'
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I'm quite scrutinous when it comes to who I put myself in the room with.
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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.
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It means so much to be able to share myself with the world.
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After it became clear that I was not going to graduate, I had this moment where I was like, 'I need to not sulk. I need to pursue - at least try - to pursue music. But if I don't try, I'm going to be a really bitter middle-aged lady working in a cubicle.'
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The goal is to blow the audience's mind.
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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.
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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.
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I don't write lyrics. I hear the track and sing in gibberish over it, then I try and fit words into the phrasing and melody that I already have set. Everything is left to chance.
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I have something stupid, like, 12 credits, to graduate.
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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.
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Music in the U.K. is not racialised in the same way as it is in the U.S. In the U.S.. it's more rigid and conservative. And white people in the U.K. have more close proximity with black people and people of colour in general.
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I don't care about the underground, even if that's where I'm currently residing sonically.
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Growing up, Missy Elliot and Janet Jackson were definitely major references.
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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.
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Growing up in an Ethiopian household allowed me to feel like I had an audience before I had an audience.
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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.
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I'd like to change what people expect. I want to evoke something that's not nameable, for people to go, 'Huh?'
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'Seat at the Table' has expressed real adversity, struggle, and also triumph and joy.
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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.
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I would say there is a zone of R&B that hadn't been quite innovative.
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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.
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Sounding like I have agency in a song is important to me. I want to feel empowered by the music.
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I've grown up feeling very American but being constantly bothered by people - there's internalized racism and feeling weird about being second-generation.