Artist Spotlight: Kelela

Washington D.C. born artist Kelela started her journey with music in the fourth grade, when she learned to play the violin and sing. It wasn’t until she started going to the American University in 2001 where she started singing jazz at local cafés. This snowballed the Ethiopian artist’s music career, and was the beginning of her time as the lead singer of indie band, Dizzy Spells.

Even though she was able to gain experience with the band, it wasn’t until two years after her move to Los Angeles in 2010 where the doors fully began to open for her. In 2013 she got the chance to meet Teengirl Fantasy and was featured on their song “EFX”. That same year she finished her first mixtape, Cut 4 Me, with hit tracks “Bank Head” and “Send Me Out”. Her track “Go All Night” was also released on a multi-artist compilation album Saint Heron that was released by Solange Knowles. 

Fast forward to 2015, she released her EP Hallucinogen with hit singles “A Message” and “Rewind”

Finally in 2017, her much anticipated debut studio album Take Me Apart was released. The album received a lot of recognition by music critics and was also included in the 2018 edition of the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

In 2018 her feature on the Girl Unit’s Remix for “WYWD” was released as the lead single for his upcoming album. In the same year on September 12, 2018, she released Take Me a_Part, the Remixes with features from Cupcakke, Junglepussy, Ms. Boogie, and Princess Nokia on “LMK”. The album also features remixes from Kaytranada, LSDXOXO, BADSISTA, and many more.

Although it’s been some time since Kelela had released new music, her discography is timeless and is guaranteed to give you a whole different love for music.