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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?'
Kelela Mizanekristos -
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 Mizanekristos
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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 Mizanekristos -
I'm pushing back against the white, misogynistic, heterosexual establishment in the music industry. Like, literally, in all its forms.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
I'm coming from the zone of Faith Evans, but with weird production.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
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.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
The whole thing about 'progressive R&B' blows my mind. Black music has always been progressive.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
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 Mizanekristos
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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 Mizanekristos -
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 Mizanekristos -
I'm just tryna be honest about all the things that I dig in my music. It's not just this over here, it's also that over there.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
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 Mizanekristos -
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 Mizanekristos -
The assumption is simply that I hit on all the things I've hit on so far by accident, that my talent is just this raw thing that pours out of me, and then white people feel like they have to come in and contain it, refine it, and bring it to the place where it can been released.
Kelela Mizanekristos
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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 Mizanekristos -
I would love to do an album of standards!
Kelela Mizanekristos -
The most rewarding thing for someone like me is for someone else to find solace through my music.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
We don't want it to be obscure music. We're not trying to be indie. We want to be popular.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
I think I'm taking risks and putting myself out there.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
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 Mizanekristos
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I know deep down I'm a star.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
It definitely feels different to perform to people who know your music. Because people's feedback is not just, 'Oh my God, that was amazing. Who are you?'
Kelela Mizanekristos -
I really do like Solange, sincerely. I'm down for her, and I trust her judgment.
Kelela Mizanekristos -
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 Mizanekristos