Kelela

Born in Washington, D.C. to an Ethiopian‑American family and after a period in Maryland settling in Los Angeles, Kelela has developed since the early 2010s a sound that sits between alternative R&B, electronic music and the legacy of British club scenes. She emerged with the mixtape Cut 4 Me in 2013, produced in the orbit of Fade to Mind and by producers associated with Kingdom, Bok Bok and Girl Unit, where her precise singing rides rhythms drawn from grime, bass music and R&G. She followed with the EP Hallucinogen in 2015 and refined a broader approach on Take Me Apart in 2017, released on Warp, where soulful melodies meet fragmented structures, icy textures and a pronounced attention to rhythmic detail. Over the course of her career Kelela has also collaborated with Solange, Danny Brown, Gorillaz, Clams Casino and PinkPantheress, while remaining tied to hybrid scenes between experimental pop, contemporary R&B and club music. She later released Raven in 2023, the remix project Rave:N, the Remixes in 2024, and the live album In the Blue Light in 2025.