How did you get hooked up with Kingdom and Fade to Mind for CUT 4 ME ? I was recording a song with a duo called Teengirl Fantasy. This was a year and a half or so after moving to L.A. I was in the studio recording a song called “EFX” and Total Freedom aka Ashland Mines came through, and he was basically like, “You should be working with my friends.” So he introduced me to the Fade to Mind folks, and I met Prince William and Kingdom at the same time.Then, like, a month or two later, Prince William came to my house and said they wanted to do a vocal project—that they didn’t know exactly how they were going to go about it, but as a starting point, they could send me some tracks.They asked me if I would listen to them, see if there were any I could freak.Then Prince Will came by and delivered all of these tracks, and I remember I only had a mattress on my floor at the time and nothing else in my apartment. I remember sitting there listening to the music and being like, “What the fuck! Like, what is this? I don’t even know what this is.” It was just too right for me.That feeling, the feeling of— Finding that synergy? Yes! Yes. Immediately, I remember just going for what I could. None of the tracks were easy to sing on, but I told the guys that the sounds—the sounds were just so right, so please keep sending them. I listened to a folder of thirty or forty tracks, and out of all of them, only one sounded promising. That was “Keep It Cool,” which became the first song I ever did as a Night Slugs–Kelela collaboration. After doing that one track, Ezra [Rubin aka Kingdom] called and said he had a song that was coming out as an instrumental on a compilation that he’d sent to Ciara’s people but hadn’t heard anything back from them and that I should try to get on it. What track was that? “Bank Head.” When I first heard the track, the first melody that came to me was sooo Janet [Jackson] to me. Like, I felt Janet could do that type of phrasing, but I felt a little weird about singing “ duh duh duh duhhhh duhhhhh ,” [ sings chorus to “Bank Head” ] but I did it anyway. And then they sent me more tracks. The tracks on CUT 4 ME , a lot of them were in response to what I did on the “Bank Head” track.
You went from doing shows at four in the morning at warehouse parties in L.A. to Björk shouting you out on Instagram. How do you feel about the sudden rush of attention? The first feeling is obviously grateful. I’m really happy that this happened. That I can make my living—support myself with my art. I thought that was way farther away than when it arrived. Back then, I was trying to find my voice, my crowd, find whatever my “thing” was. There was nothing glamorous or cool about singing at four in the morning—I mean, it was cool, but there was no immediate payoff. Just a bunch of trying. I didn’t know what I was doing. I just knew I wanted to use every opportunity that I had to be in front of people and perform music that I relate to for people who will appreciate it. People think you blew up after the Solange tour, but, truth is, you’ve been touring Europe for a few years already. What’s the adjustment been like? Performing regularly is something that I’ve had to adjust to. I’m also adjusting to the demand. Before, nobody gave a fuck about what Kelela was doing, because nobody’d heard of Kelela. Back then, singing was always supplementary. It was always for fun. I could say [then] that I didn’t want to sing; I just wanted to get drunk. Now, I can only drink and party after the show. [ laughs ] But I get more enjoyment out of my performances now. Like, I can more reliably hit notes. That wasn’t the case before. After the mixtape blew up, I had to incorporate different habits and new ways of doing things. Like vocal exercises. I never did them until a month and a half, two months ago. I wrote “Bank Head” out of range, so I was like, “Fuck. How am I going to sing this song live?” I was scared of singing it. Now? I can’t suck. People pay to see me.There has to be a standard. So that’s what I’ve been trying to create and maintain.
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