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. Kelela Read Quote
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. Kelela Read Quote
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 Read Quote
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 Read Quote
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. Kelela Read Quote
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 Read Quote
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 Read Quote
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 Read Quote
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. Kelela Read Quote
