FEATURE:
Modern Heroines
Part Ninety: Kehlani
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AN artist who has…
PHOTO CREDIT: Jonathan Weiner for NME
just released a triumphant and stunning third studio album, Kehlani is a phenomenal talent who, I feel, will go down as an icon. I will end with a playlist featuring many of their best songs. The Oakland-born artist achieved initial fame as a member of the teen group Poplyfe in 2011. They released their mixtape, Cloud 19, in 2014. Kehlani released their debut studio album, SweetSexySavage, in 2017. They released their second studio album, It Was Good Until It Wasn't, in 2020. Their latest album, Blue Water Road, is one of the best of this year. It is a remarkable release from a sensational artist who, it seems, is in a much happier space. I want to bring in some segments from a recent deep NME interview, where we get to learn more about Kehlani and their thoughts about Blue Water Road:
“Since the release of their last album, 2020’s ‘It Was Good Until It Wasn’t’, Kehlani has been through a big transformation. It’s not something you might necessarily notice just by looking at them, but speaking with them or listening to their new album ‘Blue Water Road’ reveals a person who seems much more at peace with life, and passionate to be in the thick of things.
From September 2020, the Oakland, California native (full name Kehlani Parrish) spent 12 months undertaking a “ceremony process” in their spiritual practice, which she (the artist’s preferred pronouns are she/they) declines to put a name on. As part of the year-long ritual cleanse, she embraced sobriety, only went out for work-related reasons, covered their hair and more. It altered their entire mental attitude.
“I [was] definitely stuck in this toxic, very dark, hypersexual pocket of songwriting, which was cool for the time that I was in,” Kehlani assesses. “That’s really where I was at, but I think my music is always going to be deeply affected by whatever mindset change I’m going through.”
n the past, Kehlani’s records have focused mostly on one subject: love. ‘Blue Water Road’ still centres around romance in places, but this time they’re opening themself up to other topics too. On the dappled funk glow of ‘Altar’, she shares a story about continuing your relationship with your loved ones even after they’ve left this mortal coil. It’s an idea that she’s been putting into practice of late and stems from their beliefs.
“My spiritual practice is heavily based on ancestor veneration,” she says, explaining that the word ‘ancestors’ doesn’t necessarily have to refer to people who died generations ago. “They might have passed recently or maybe they were friends, or just spirits around you that you didn’t even know at first. Maybe you never knew them as physical people.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Jonathan Weiner for NME
Kehlani has been on a journey with the evolution of their identity and it wouldn’t be surprising if she wanted to shy away from self-assigning one particular label after the public reaction to past personal revelations. But rather than viewing the terms we use to describe ourselves as the issue, she says the problem is the pressure we put on ourselves and each other to have who we are figured out.
“It’s hard when people are asking you what you are and you fall into that pressure to share it,” she begins. “Then it’s confirmed and people are referring to you as one thing but you might feel a different way next week. But I’m glad that so many people do speak about these things and do come to terms with these identities so that we all can study each other and really help each other out.”
Since figuring out their sexual identity, the musician says she’s now “absolutely” at peace. “Not understanding my sexuality had created inner turmoil and a bad dynamic with my emotions,” she explains. “It’s like a war going on internally with yourself that sometimes you cannot place because you don’t have the verbiage or understanding yet”.
I am keen to get to a playlist, but I want to finish with a couple of reviews for Kehlani’s remarkable third studio album. It will be interesting to see where they go from here and what the next album will sound like. The New York Times wrote the following about Blue Water Road:
“Blue Water Road” instead radiates delicate warmth. In a creamy, full-throated voice, Kehlani exudes a tenderness not felt since their 2017 studio album, “SweetSexySavage.” There’s still a reverence for the past: “Up at Night,” featuring Justin Bieber, interpolates Soul II Soul and Rose Windross’s 1989 track “Fairplay,” while “Wish I Never” warps the drums of Slick Rick’s classic “Children’s Story.” But there’s a fresh, imagistic aura to the production on “Blue Water Road,” rendered in part by the executive producer Andrew “Pop” Wansel. Nearly every song includes hushed acoustic guitar textures, or swelling string crescendos that revel in high drama. Echoes of wind, cresting waves and bird calls are sprinkled throughout, sketching an aural landscape that is plush and comforting, like the caress of a lover who’s been gone for too long.
This is the ideal backdrop for Kehlani’s diaristic, bleeding-heart lyricism. “Little Story” harnesses a novelistic metaphor to chronicle a romance that never fully bloomed: “I want you to pick up the pen/And write me into your story,” Kehlani sings. The lead single “Altar” is a gorgeous elegy for friends lost to addiction, and the ancestors who have offered Kehlani spiritual grounding. But rather than becoming immersed in sorrow, Kehlani salutes the dearly departed with a small act of service, and reminds us their memories will never really fade: “If I set a flame and I call your name/I’ll fix you a plate, we can go to dinner/We can share a meal your way/And I’ll play the songs that you used to play.
But it’s Kehlani’s candid ruminations on queer desire and estrangement that resonate the deepest here. On the breathy slow burner “Get Me Started,” Kehlani and the R&B artist Syd lament a disconnection that threatens to end a relationship: “You need something else/Well, maybe she can do it better.” On the velvety serenade “Melt,” Kehlani cherishes the small, perfect joy of finding a home in a lover: “Wish I could build me a cute apartment/One bedroom right where your heart is.” It’s sensual but loving, capturing both the devoted affection and the erotic pleasure that make a partnership feel full.
Serenity, personal growth and felicity may not be seductive topics for a contemporary R&B record. But other artists might let these motifs land with mawkish sentimentality. For Kehlani, the path to healing isn’t a straightforward journey with a beginning, middle and end, where life can finally begin after reaching some abstract, enlightened state. “Blue Water Road” is a reminder that healing is open, unfinished and everlasting”.
I am going to end with a review from The Line of Best Fit. They provided one of the most positive and impassioned assessment of an album that has won universal acclaim:
“Beginning at "Little Story" – a vulnerable, acoustic guitar-led moment – the singer paints an intimate picture of an imperfect but loving relationship and of people “working on being softer” for each other. Kehlani sings “I want you to pick up the pen and write me into your story / You know I love a story, only when you’re the author”, a quiet but certain expression of the desire to build a life together. It’s a beautiful antidote to the more cynical love songs of late and a testament to the singer’s lucid storytelling, both through their lyrics and their voice.
Collaborations are peppered throughout the record, starting with "Any Given Sunday" with blxst. It’s a classic Kehlani track that makes you wish it was so much longer than the 2 minutes 45 seconds it plays for. "Up At Night" with Justin Bieber is the least inspiring offering, though the chorus is somewhat hypnotic. Thankfully, this is followed up with the sublime "Get Me Started", which features Syd of The Internet. The two singer’s vocals complement each other gorgeously and at times blend into one, giving the song a dreamlike quality that sits with you through the album’s interlude.
The production on the album is very lowkey, allowing for Kehlani’s extraordinary vocals and vivid lyricism to take centre stage. The exception to this is lead single "Altar", a gorgeous tribute to loved ones who have passed and their continued presence in the singer’s life. It is one of the most emotionally charged moments on the album, reflected by the swooping build and strong drum beats, but it is expressed with lightness too. It’s an emotional nuance that few artists know how to lean into, but, naturally, one that Kehlani embraces with ease.
Moving deftly from spiritually to sensuality, the following tracks – "Melt" and "Tangerine" – are vivid portraits of nights with a lover. In the former, the singer wonders where they end and the other woman begins and yet muses that “being this close isn’t close enough”. It’s dizzying with desire, Kehlani delivering a deliciously sinful vocal performance throughout. The latter likens the other woman to honey, a nod to their past hit, amongst other sweet things. It’s a song that drips and oozes sexuality as she sings of “starting a garden” and pollinating “my love with yours”, and once again proves Kehlani as a true artist of both words and voice.
Blue Water Road closes out with "Wondering/Wandering", a twirling, dreamy song with a strong beat to root the listener to the present moment. It sees the singer arrive at the blue water, their young daughter Adeya pointing it out in the final moments. But in true Kehlani style, even as we have reached the destination – a place of light, as they describe it – there are still questions, still wondering and wandering to be done”.
A hugely important artist who, in the next few years, will solidify their sound and embark on new avenues and possibilities, everyone needs to hear Kehlani and embrace their wonderful music. There is no doubt in my mind that we are witnessing the rise, blossoming and incredible path of…
A future icon of music.