{"id":2020384,"date":"2026-06-30T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2020384"},"modified":"2026-06-30T08:00:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:00:06","slug":"kelela-draws-on-her-past-to-carve-out-the-future-im-trying-to-find-a-new-place-for-us-to-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2020384","title":{"rendered":"Kelela draws on her past to carve out the future: \u201cI\u2019m trying to find a new place for us to live\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/KELELA_IDEA-1_LEAD-IMAGE-Credit_-91-Rules.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"template-id-2947849\" class=\"post-2947849 tdb_templates type-tdb_templates status-publish post\">\n<div id=\"tdi_65\" class=\"tdc-zone\">\n<div class=\"tdc_zone tdi_66  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div id=\"tdi_67\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_68  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_70  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_breadcrumbs tdi_71 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-breadcrumbs \" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_71\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span>Features<\/span><span>Music Interviews<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_title tdi_72 tdb-single-title td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_72\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Kelela draws on her past to carve out the future: \u201cI\u2019m trying to find a new place for us to live\u201d<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_73 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_73\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>After years on the cutting edges of R&amp;B and electronic music, for her third album \u2018New Avatar\u2019, Kelela brings on the guitars and mines her indie rock past \u2013 a time of both revelation and alienation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_75 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_75\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span> Karen Gwee<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_76 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_76\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-06-30T09:00:06+01:00\">30th June 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_77\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_78  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_80  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_81 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_81\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"696\" height=\"442\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/KELELA_IDEA-1_LEAD-IMAGE-Credit_-91-Rules-696x442.jpg\" alt=\"Kelela\" title=\"KELELA_IDEA 1_LEAD IMAGE - (Credit_ 91 Rules)\"><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">Kelela credit: 91 Rules<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_82\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_83  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_85  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap\">I<\/strong>n some ways, Kelela has waited her whole life to make her new album. The 43-year-old artist is now widely hailed as a visionary who expertly and stylishly collapses the boundaries between R&amp;B and electronic music \u2013 but when she was just starting out, she was an \u201cindie girlie\u201d who wrote her first song in a punk house. To \u201cget the juices flowing\u201d for her third record, \u2018New Avatar\u2019, she created a playful yet pointed playlist of early indie rock inspirations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI made this playlist called \u2018White Bag\u2019,\u201d she tells <em>NME<\/em>. \u201cI was like, I\u2019m about to get in my white bag. And all my friends were like, <em>Kelela<\/em>.\u201d She breaks into a peal of laughter.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Of course, the playlist\u2019s title isn\u2019t literal. With Kelela \u2013 with whom an album promo interview effortlessly becomes a multifaceted discussion about artistry, genre, consumption, racism and fandom \u2013 there are always layers. \u201cObviously, Black people invented so much of this music,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not about the origins of the music, it\u2019s about marketing. It\u2019s about who was made to feel welcome, who was being centred, who was made to feel outside of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Growing up in a suburb of Maryland, Kelela Mizanekristos listened to her mother\u2019s soul records and played violin. Around the time she was performing jazz standards in cafes, she was also hanging out in punk spaces, fronting an indie band called Dizzy Spells, and falling in love with indie favourites like The Fiery Furnaces and Metric.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmily Haines, you know what I mean?\u201d she exclaims. \u201cThose are some of the first feminist bops that I heard, like \u2018Patriarch On A Vespa\u2019. She\u2019s such a good songwriter. Compositionally, I just loved their work.\u201d The Fiery Furnaces, meanwhile, are one of her favourite bands of all time. \u201cWhen you went to see them live, the arrangements would be flipped so hard,\u201d she raves. \u201cThey would change <em>the whole comp<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For a younger Kelela, indie music was a source of revelation, but also alienation. Standing at a Fiery Furnaces show, she\u2019d tear her eyes away from the Friedberger siblings only to find herself just one of two Black people in the crowd. (\u201cAnd the other Black person was my friend Patrick, who put me onto the band.\u201d)<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWhen we say \u2018guitar\u2019, the implications of that are pretty clear for a lot of people, but for me that\u2019s like, 10 different sounds\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Her assessment of the homogenous indie landscape is bracing. \u201cFor any person of colour in that space, especially Black people, we were just eating shit so we could enjoy something,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s a certain amount of dissonance that we\u2019re all having to swallow so that we could be like, \u2018I love this song!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>Her White Bag playlist, then, reflects both inspiration and isolation. \u201cYou had to build that taste yourself, because you weren\u2019t being encouraged into it. You weren\u2019t feeling so welcome.\u201d Taking that playlist to producer and songwriter Oscar Scheller, her main collaborator on \u2018New Avatar\u2019, and explaining her indie past, Kelela was ready to reckon with that dynamic in her own deliberate way. She knew there\u2019d be an appetite for the results, if the response to her playlist was any indication: anyone who heard it, whether Scheller or her amused friends, told her they were compiling White Bags of their own.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know this album will hit because everybody has their own experience with this,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s gonna resonate, because we\u2019ve all had to do that. We\u2019ve all had to put this to the side so we can be in the music.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3954026\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3954026\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3954026\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/KELELAphoto-credit_-Neva-Wireko.jpg\" alt=\"Kelela\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3954026\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kelela credit: Neva Wireko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap\">I<\/strong>t can be easy to misunderstand \u2018New Avatar\u2019 in our current musical landscape, as obsessed as it is with discrete aesthetic \u2018eras\u2019 and mimetic \u2018type beats\u2019. Kelela was clear to Scheller: \u201cIt\u2019s not me on top of, like, a simple indie rock moment.\u201d As a producer and arranger, Kelela is \u201cinterested in intersections\u2026 I am building those types of tapestries where it\u2019s neither here nor there.\u201d And so she needed her new record to embody \u201ca place between that we have not quite heard yet\u201d.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Connecting with Scheller through her friend and collaborator LSDXOXO, she found a kindred spirit in the London producer, whose recent credits include PinkPantheress (who appears on sensual album standout \u2018The Bridge\u2019), Lily Allen, Shygirl and many more. Scheller was as keen to nail the synthesis of, say, Kurt Cobain and Aaliyah as she was: \u201cWe had such a ball naming the intersections.\u201d They embraced a Linkin Park influence for \u2018Linknb\u2019, the album\u2019s short and utterly sweet second single; when Kelela dropped her most recent single, \u2018Outta Time\u2019 \u2013 produced by and featuring A.K. Paul in a collaboration that dates back to the sessions for her 2017 debut album \u2018Take Me Apart\u2019 \u2013 she declared it her \u201cPrince\/Janet\/D\u2019Angelo\/Nirvana bag activated\u201d.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kelela - outta time (feat. A. K. Paul) (Official Video)\" width=\"696\" height=\"522\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1mLNza10dKs?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>The slyly chameleonic guitar on \u2018Outta Time\u2019 \u2013 a low sensual growl that tiptoes into luminous melody \u2013 reflects \u2018New Avatar\u2019\u2019s larger curiosity about the instrument\u2019s range, and the omnivorous scope of the album\u2019s influences, from soul to shoegaze to grunge. \u201cWhen we say \u2018guitar\u2019, the implications of that are pretty clear for a lot of people, but for me that\u2019s like, 10 different sounds,\u201d Kelela agrees. \u201cI almost felt overwhelmed by all the intersections that I wanted to find\u2026 There\u2019s so many more tracks that were born, and we have so much more to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not that Kelela has turned her back on the club. \u201cI\u2019m not into abandoning one thing so you can explore another,\u201d she says firmly. \u201cA third of the tracks are dance tracks, and I love that. I honestly <em>cannot<\/em> wait for remixes,\u201d she adds, with feeling. \u201cI\u2019m so excited to hear what people make in response to this, because I know a lot of dance music producers have also had a guitar life.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not into abandoning one thing so you can explore another\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The sleek, moody \u2018New Avatar\u2019 contends with what she calls \u201ca city dweller\u2019s darkness\u201d. After her previous album, 2023\u2019s \u2018Raven\u2019, Kelela was hoping to find a way out of the murk. \u201cI thought \u2018Raven\u2019 was a little bit dark, muted. I was like, you want to be coming out of the darkness on your next album,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it\u2019s nothing bright about right now. In fact, it\u2019s even more shitty. I feel like I have to be honest about that.\u201d The album opens with \u2018Idea 1\u2019, which she\u2019s said is about \u201cthe weight of being expected to witness, absorb, and speak truth at a time when the world feels like it\u2019s unravelling\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The frustration and anger that \u2018New Avatar\u2019 sublimates are both political and personal. \u201cRomantic misogynoir is an endless resource of song. It\u2019s a well,\u201d she says, chuckling. There was no single heartbreak that inspired the album \u2013 rather, Kelela drew on a parade of disappointments from her life and others\u2019, a myriad of different stories with similar patterns. It\u2019s not that a lyric is particular, it\u2019s that stunted men are predictable. \u201cIt\u2019s like, it\u2019s not about you, because all of you guys operate in the same, precise pattern of behaviour: an inability to self-regulate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kelela crafts her lyrics in a process that foregrounds agency and accountability. \u201cI\u2019m looking for a certain type of responsibility in the messaging,\u201d she says. \u201cIt needs to pass that test: nothing is happening to me. There\u2019s things that I\u2019m observing, and then there\u2019s what I do about it.\u201d That attitude informs the larger stance of \u2018New Avatar\u2019, too: its interiority shouldn\u2019t be mistaken for escapism. Kelela hopes her music provides \u201csolace or respite\u201d from the horrors of real life: \u201cNot forcing you to forget \u2013 more like a tool to help you get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As she prepares to release her new album, Kelela can\u2019t help but reflect on how much she enjoyed making it. \u201cI loved every second of it. It was so exhilarating and cathartic,\u201d she says. She\u2019s excited to play shows that could help heal \u201cthe alt Black kids who have had to do that compartmentalising and swallow that dissonance all these years\u201d \u2013 and to dig deeper into the artistic intersections she\u2019s always hunting for. \u201cI feel like an explorer, an excavator,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m somebody who\u2019s trying to find a new place for us to live. I\u2019m trying to push it even further.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Kelela\u2019s \u2018New Avatar\u2019 is out on July 10 via Warp. Her \u2018New Avatar Live\u2019 tour of North America, Europe and the UK is on sale now.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_tags tdi_87 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_87\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<ul class=\"tdb-tags\">\n<li><span>Related Topics<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Kelela<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_88\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_content td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_89  wpb_row td-pb-row tdc-element-style\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_91  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-block td-a-rec td-a-rec-id-custom-spot tdi_92 td_block_template_2\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_93\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_94  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_96  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"vc_row_inner tdi_98  vc_row vc_inner wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_100  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"vc_column-inner\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_102 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>More Stories<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap td_flex_block_1 tdi_103 td-pb-border-top td_module_flex_1--card td_module_flex_1--card--highlight td_block_template_2 tdc-no-posts td_flex_block\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_103\">\n<div id=\"tdi_103\" class=\"td_block_inner td-mc1-wrap\">\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Film News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">\u2018The Ring\u2019 and \u2018Lilo &amp; Stitch\u2019 actor Daveigh Chase\u2019s cause of death confirmed<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Lily Allen defends \u201cartistic choice\u201d after criticism of \u2018West End Girl\u2019 tour: \u201cI\u2019m extremely proud of it\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Queens Of The Stone Age bring back \u2018Era Vulgaris\u2019 deep cuts as they kick European tour with System Of A Down \u2013 here\u2019s what&#8230;<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Features<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Kelela draws on her past to carve out the future: \u201cI\u2019m trying to find a new place for us to live\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Foo Fighters jammed with Dave Grohl\u2019s daughter\u2019s boyfriend and a man dressed as Mentos in Liverpool<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Six hospitalised following Angine de Poitrine set at Montreal Jazz Festival<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_104\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_105  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_107  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_109 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>You May Also Like<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><\/article>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap\">I<\/strong>n some ways, Kelela has waited her whole life to make her new album. The 43-year-old artist is now widely hailed as a visionary who expertly and stylishly collapses the boundaries between R&amp;B and electronic music \u2013 but when she was just starting out, she was an \u201cindie girlie\u201d who wrote her first song in a punk house. To \u201cget the juices flowing\u201d for her third record, \u2018New Avatar\u2019, she created a playful yet pointed playlist of early indie rock inspirations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI made this playlist called \u2018White Bag\u2019,\u201d she tells <em>NME<\/em>. \u201cI was like, I\u2019m about to get in my white bag. And all my friends were like, <em>Kelela<\/em>.\u201d She breaks into a peal of laughter.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Of course, the playlist\u2019s title isn\u2019t literal. With Kelela \u2013 with whom an album promo interview effortlessly becomes a multifaceted discussion about artistry, genre, consumption, racism and fandom \u2013 there are always layers. \u201cObviously, Black people invented so much of this music,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not about the origins of the music, it\u2019s about marketing. It\u2019s about who was made to feel welcome, who was being centred, who was made to feel outside of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Growing up in a suburb of Maryland, Kelela Mizanekristos listened to her mother\u2019s soul records and played violin. Around the time she was performing jazz standards in cafes, she was also hanging out in punk spaces, fronting an indie band called Dizzy Spells, and falling in love with indie favourites like The Fiery Furnaces and Metric.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmily Haines, you know what I mean?\u201d she exclaims. \u201cThose are some of the first feminist bops that I heard, like \u2018Patriarch On A Vespa\u2019. She\u2019s such a good songwriter. Compositionally, I just loved their work.\u201d The Fiery Furnaces, meanwhile, are one of her favourite bands of all time. \u201cWhen you went to see them live, the arrangements would be flipped so hard,\u201d she raves. \u201cThey would change <em>the whole comp<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For a younger Kelela, indie music was a source of revelation, but also alienation. Standing at a Fiery Furnaces show, she\u2019d tear her eyes away from the Friedberger siblings only to find herself just one of two Black people in the crowd. (\u201cAnd the other Black person was my friend Patrick, who put me onto the band.\u201d)<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWhen we say \u2018guitar\u2019, the implications of that are pretty clear for a lot of people, but for me that\u2019s like, 10 different sounds\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Her assessment of the homogenous indie landscape is bracing. \u201cFor any person of colour in that space, especially Black people, we were just eating shit so we could enjoy something,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s a certain amount of dissonance that we\u2019re all having to swallow so that we could be like, \u2018I love this song!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>Her White Bag playlist, then, reflects both inspiration and isolation. \u201cYou had to build that taste yourself, because you weren\u2019t being encouraged into it. You weren\u2019t feeling so welcome.\u201d Taking that playlist to producer and songwriter Oscar Scheller, her main collaborator on \u2018New Avatar\u2019, and explaining her indie past, Kelela was ready to reckon with that dynamic in her own deliberate way. She knew there\u2019d be an appetite for the results, if the response to her playlist was any indication: anyone who heard it, whether Scheller or her amused friends, told her they were compiling White Bags of their own.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know this album will hit because everybody has their own experience with this,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s gonna resonate, because we\u2019ve all had to do that. We\u2019ve all had to put this to the side so we can be in the music.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3954026\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3954026\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3954026\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/KELELAphoto-credit_-Neva-Wireko.jpg\" alt=\"Kelela\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3954026\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kelela credit: Neva Wireko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap\">I<\/strong>t can be easy to misunderstand \u2018New Avatar\u2019 in our current musical landscape, as obsessed as it is with discrete aesthetic \u2018eras\u2019 and mimetic \u2018type beats\u2019. Kelela was clear to Scheller: \u201cIt\u2019s not me on top of, like, a simple indie rock moment.\u201d As a producer and arranger, Kelela is \u201cinterested in intersections\u2026 I am building those types of tapestries where it\u2019s neither here nor there.\u201d And so she needed her new record to embody \u201ca place between that we have not quite heard yet\u201d.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Connecting with Scheller through her friend and collaborator LSDXOXO, she found a kindred spirit in the London producer, whose recent credits include PinkPantheress (who appears on sensual album standout \u2018The Bridge\u2019), Lily Allen, Shygirl and many more. Scheller was as keen to nail the synthesis of, say, Kurt Cobain and Aaliyah as she was: \u201cWe had such a ball naming the intersections.\u201d They embraced a Linkin Park influence for \u2018Linknb\u2019, the album\u2019s short and utterly sweet second single; when Kelela dropped her most recent single, \u2018Outta Time\u2019 \u2013 produced by and featuring A.K. Paul in a collaboration that dates back to the sessions for her 2017 debut album \u2018Take Me Apart\u2019 \u2013 she declared it her \u201cPrince\/Janet\/D\u2019Angelo\/Nirvana bag activated\u201d.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kelela - outta time (feat. A. K. Paul) (Official Video)\" width=\"696\" height=\"522\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1mLNza10dKs?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>The slyly chameleonic guitar on \u2018Outta Time\u2019 \u2013 a low sensual growl that tiptoes into luminous melody \u2013 reflects \u2018New Avatar\u2019\u2019s larger curiosity about the instrument\u2019s range, and the omnivorous scope of the album\u2019s influences, from soul to shoegaze to grunge. \u201cWhen we say \u2018guitar\u2019, the implications of that are pretty clear for a lot of people, but for me that\u2019s like, 10 different sounds,\u201d Kelela agrees. \u201cI almost felt overwhelmed by all the intersections that I wanted to find\u2026 There\u2019s so many more tracks that were born, and we have so much more to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not that Kelela has turned her back on the club. \u201cI\u2019m not into abandoning one thing so you can explore another,\u201d she says firmly. \u201cA third of the tracks are dance tracks, and I love that. I honestly <em>cannot<\/em> wait for remixes,\u201d she adds, with feeling. \u201cI\u2019m so excited to hear what people make in response to this, because I know a lot of dance music producers have also had a guitar life.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not into abandoning one thing so you can explore another\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The sleek, moody \u2018New Avatar\u2019 contends with what she calls \u201ca city dweller\u2019s darkness\u201d. After her previous album, 2023\u2019s \u2018Raven\u2019, Kelela was hoping to find a way out of the murk. \u201cI thought \u2018Raven\u2019 was a little bit dark, muted. I was like, you want to be coming out of the darkness on your next album,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it\u2019s nothing bright about right now. In fact, it\u2019s even more shitty. I feel like I have to be honest about that.\u201d The album opens with \u2018Idea 1\u2019, which she\u2019s said is about \u201cthe weight of being expected to witness, absorb, and speak truth at a time when the world feels like it\u2019s unravelling\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The frustration and anger that \u2018New Avatar\u2019 sublimates are both political and personal. \u201cRomantic misogynoir is an endless resource of song. It\u2019s a well,\u201d she says, chuckling. There was no single heartbreak that inspired the album \u2013 rather, Kelela drew on a parade of disappointments from her life and others\u2019, a myriad of different stories with similar patterns. It\u2019s not that a lyric is particular, it\u2019s that stunted men are predictable. \u201cIt\u2019s like, it\u2019s not about you, because all of you guys operate in the same, precise pattern of behaviour: an inability to self-regulate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kelela crafts her lyrics in a process that foregrounds agency and accountability. \u201cI\u2019m looking for a certain type of responsibility in the messaging,\u201d she says. \u201cIt needs to pass that test: nothing is happening to me. There\u2019s things that I\u2019m observing, and then there\u2019s what I do about it.\u201d That attitude informs the larger stance of \u2018New Avatar\u2019, too: its interiority shouldn\u2019t be mistaken for escapism. Kelela hopes her music provides \u201csolace or respite\u201d from the horrors of real life: \u201cNot forcing you to forget \u2013 more like a tool to help you get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As she prepares to release her new album, Kelela can\u2019t help but reflect on how much she enjoyed making it. \u201cI loved every second of it. It was so exhilarating and cathartic,\u201d she says. She\u2019s excited to play shows that could help heal \u201cthe alt Black kids who have had to do that compartmentalising and swallow that dissonance all these years\u201d \u2013 and to dig deeper into the artistic intersections she\u2019s always hunting for. \u201cI feel like an explorer, an excavator,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m somebody who\u2019s trying to find a new place for us to live. I\u2019m trying to push it even further.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Kelela\u2019s \u2018New Avatar\u2019 is out on July 10 via Warp. Her \u2018New Avatar Live\u2019 tour of North America, Europe and the UK is on sale now.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/features\/music-interviews\/kelela-new-avatar-interview-3954024&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/KELELA_IDEA-1_LEAD-IMAGE-Credit_-91-Rules.jpg&#8221;] FeaturesMusic Interviews Kelela draws on her past to carve out the future: \u201cI\u2019m trying to find a new place for us to live\u201d After years on the cutting edges of R&amp;B and electronic music, for her third album \u2018New Avatar\u2019, Kelela brings on the guitars and mines her indie rock past \u2013 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,78],"class_list":["post-2020384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nme-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2020384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2020384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2020384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2020384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}