Kelela's Eclectic Influences Drive Her Genre-Blending New Album
Kelela discusses her wide-ranging musical tastes, from Mariah Carey to Incubus, and how they shaped her latest project, 'new avatar.' The album incorporates grunge, shoegaze, and nu metal while staying true to her dance and R&B roots. She also reflects on her early indie-rock days and her commitment to not abandoning electronic music.
Kelela's path to guitar-driven music traces back to her pre-electronic days fronting Dizzy Spells in Washington D.C.'s underground venue circuit, alongside years spent collaborating with progressive metal guitarist Tosin Abasi. Her new album, "new avatar," deliberately fuses rock elements with UK garage, New Orleans bounce, and her signature fractured R&B, a balance she insisted on with producer Oscar Scheller to preserve her dance music foundation.
The project arrives amid a wave of guitar-centered releases from Black alt-pop artists like Ravyn Lenae and Nia Archives, though Kelela says the timing was unintentional. Her stated audience is Black listeners who privately embraced alternative music, and her own formative influences span Ethiopian family tapes, Tracy Chapman's debut album in her father's Pontiac, and early Napster-era discoveries.
This album could expand perceptions of what Black femme artists can claim as their musical heritage, potentially validating listeners who kept rock and metal tastes private. It may also influence how genre boundaries are drawn in contemporary R&B and electronic scenes, encouraging other artists to integrate guitar textures without abandoning dance foundations. The broader cultural impact could be generational, as alternative music by Black artists gains mainstream visibility and reshapes industry assumptions about audience expectations.