E hum incubating Kehlani’s scales
SHE caresses. She pacifies. She parlays. She torrents. Stringently svelte, likened to a ‘rubber-stamped’ fabled ruin of glitch, there is supremely no need to probe hinge on whether not Kehlani is a subject of recurring unprecedented progress made. So good, there is no limit to the singer and ballad maker’s champion story. Landing at will, is her spick-andspan infectious single termed ‘After Hours’.
Accurately chiseled, Kehlani’s strengthened ditty bond is a monument of a heavily capitalised and more than striking ballooning world-beater; sustaining impetus to hoist echelons of true potential. Having achieved initial fame as a member of the teen Pop group — Poplyfe — in 2011; she will open your eyes, crack your medulla oblongata, and unlock your heart!
For as blunt as she may be about life, craving, lust, and love; her cantabile composition resides in a levitated state, preceding even the finest in height, hitherto accessible by purely taking heed to. The American songstress, exposes this place anytime she picks up a pen or seizes a microphone.
Pursuing glory since 2014, her light has only continued to glow sunnier; her debut mixtape — ‘Cloud 19’ — was listed as one of Complex’s “50 Best Albums” of the latter time period. Staying motivated is not a big ask for her; at the summit of her climb, she has spawned over twenty gold and platinum Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certifications.
By most metrics tallying 9 billion streams; to her credit, Kehlani has likewise harvested a pair of Grammy Award nominations in the categories of Best Urban Contemporary Album for the gold-certified 2015 mixtape — ‘You Should Be Here’, as well as Best Rhythm & Blues Performance for the platinum birdcall — ‘Distraction’.
The turn of 2017 would see Kehlani — signed with Atlantic Records — conceive a debut studio body of oeuvre called ‘Sweet Sexy Savage’. Blockbuster Quislings with American hit brainiacs: Hip-Hop knocker and songwriter Cardi B, Post Malone a rapper, vocalist, composer, record producer and actor, Kiana Ledé a singer, lyricist and actress, Teyana Taylor a songster, actress, model, dancer, choreographer and melodic perception cinematography director, as well as Kyle a rapper, singersongwriter and actor; accentuated the coming of the prime point of her exciting times.
As luck would have it, a tap on astral asterisked soundtracks such as ‘Suicide Squad: The Album’ and ‘The Fate of the Furious: The Album’, would place Kehlani on a high horse! Along the way, she has walked away with the Rule Breaker Award from Billboard Women in Music. Getting to the top, not only has she lit up ‘Voodoo Music + Arts Experience’ and sent connoisseurs into raptures at Coachella — an annual euphony and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley’s Colorado Desert; Kehlani has shuffled stops at various venues, whipping tonal pattern revelers into manic disorders!
The very nonetheless unquestionably moving slickly Bay Areaborn canon goddess, stretched to a critical and creative watermark with her sophomore offering, ‘It Was Good Until It Wasn’t’. Above and beyond bowing at position 2 on the Billboard Top 200, the creation of lilt blasts concluded 2020 on over a dozen year-end lists from Billboard, Esquire, Hypebeast, Nylon, Seventeen, Spin, Stereogum, The Guardian, and countless more.
In 2022, she welcomed all and sundry hooked on the rhapsody of her third full-length jam sandwich titled ‘Blue Water Road’. An LP (long play) of some sort, a berceuse craft that would see her team up with Canadian anthem supreme beings: Pop icon Justin Bieber and chanted gems lord Jessie Reyez, as well as American croon mavens: singer-songwriters Syd and Ambré, Blxst a rapper and record producer, as well as musician Thundercat.
Since the birth of her yummy sculpt of lullabies, she has joined forces with a number of fellow artists for a flurry of deliveries. It is a mere none-too-scam that Kehlani’s feast of scales, hooks and runs sinuously ‘pitch contour’ in the chords that loop keys and trills, synchronising hell dust tunes like Iraqi-Canadian singer and songwriter Ali Gatie’s ‘The Look’, as well as ‘Solid’ by Burna Boy a Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer.
Her vocals also sway on nose drops beats from fellow American singer-songwriters and record manufacturers: ‘Seamless’ by the blues maestro Baby Face, rapper T-Pain’s ‘I Like Dat’, as well as ‘My Go To’ by rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again.
After Kehlani clinched a sold out run through North America, in conjunction with Rico Nasty a rapper and singer from Maryland, as well as Tampa-born singer Destin Conrad; she brought her much-admired — ‘The Blue Water Road Trip’ — to a culminate in Europe.
This 12-month, Kehlani returns with red-hot numbers and so much more to infer. Her freshly foaled dance-worthy banger — ‘After Hours’ — samples auditory communication artist Cordell “Scatta” Burrell’s iconic ‘Coolie Dance Rhythm’. Produced by absolute opus geniuses Khristopher Riddick-Tynes and Alex Goldblatt; it markedly calligraphies Kehlani’s first solo merchandise since her toil of donut — ‘Blue Water Road’.
Grant Moyo is a prolific writer, innovative media personality, entrepreneur and a creative artist who is passionate about using his creative mind for the betterment of society. Follow him on X: @TotemGrant