Kelela Mizanekristos Quotes
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I know deep down I'm a star.
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I really do like Solange, sincerely. I'm down for her, and I trust her judgment.
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I'm pushing back against the white, misogynistic, heterosexual establishment in the music industry. Like, literally, in all its forms.
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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.
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That's pretty much how every song of mine works - I start with gibberish and melody and phrasing. I speak it naturally first. And then I think about lyrics that fit into that.
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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.
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I'm coming from the zone of Faith Evans, but with weird production.
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For those of us who make music together, I think it's important to realize that generosity on both sides is actually going to produce the biggest possibility.
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The whole thing about 'progressive R&B' blows my mind. Black music has always been progressive.
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I would love to do an album of standards!
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When it comes to melodies, production, and sound in pop music, people try to be formulaic and solely concerned with what's resonant in a way that is so cheap and ugly. It actually just devolves culture, ultimately.
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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.
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We are - as artists, we are racialized through genre and called black - without being called black - through genre.
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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.
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I like to try out different methods to get to good songs.
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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.
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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.
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I was in school studying International Studies and Sociology. I was really into what was going on in school. I was affected by the ideas and engaged as a student, but not disciplined or motivated enough to do the work. That was a fear of mine for a while, that nothing was motivating.
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I want to empower.
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There are no black women geniuses that are being named in canons. I could name a bunch, but it's not part of common knowledge. It's not how the world is taught to think about black women.
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My queer black women peers are the ones who make me not feel crazy. The way we act is so instinctive.