"Unmistakably Black": Kelela is a liaison between the worlds within ... - Mixmag

Her six year gap between 'Take Me a_Part, the Remixes' and 'Raven' was spent, in part, ingesting knowledge to help her make sense of her experiences as a Black femme, both in music and the wider world. She parted ways with her business manager and – amicably – her publisher. She pulled together a resource featuring books ranging from Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Umoja Noble, to podcasts like Seeing White, that is now sent out to every would-be Kelela collaborator; the New York Times refers to it as the "syllabus for the university of her mind". The Will to Change, an examination of masculinity by radical Black feminist bell hooks, was a significant influence on 'Raven''s lyrical content; Kelela listened to the audiobook while writing in her signature style, which prizes emotive specificity ("One of the reasons I love Joni Mitchell - she's so good at writing out a nuanced thing we all saw but no one ever pointed to'") over broad brush strokes.

Love, sex and relationships are central to Kelela's music. When she picked up The Will To Change, she was exhausted by her intrigues with men, pointing to the backstory grounding 'On The Run' as a pertinent example. "That's about a particular nigga where there's a really strong connection but they don't have the courage to be with someone like me," she says, wryly. "That's a real fucking feeling." When it came to men she was "over it," comparing disappointing romantic relationships with the level of "rigour and care ... the culture of responsibility" she shares with her friends.

Via the The Will to Change came the promise of "renewal and compassion" – not a reprieve from accountability for her male partners but breathing space for her and the ability to dive in afresh. It would prove the theme that defined 'Raven'; the record in its entirety is one of self-renewal. The name made itself known to Kelela as she worked with New York producer AceMo on what would become the title-track.

"He played that synth and as soon as that started I was like, 'this is giving title-track and I'm going to talk my shit'. Town crier vibes," she recounts. One of Kelela's improvised lyrics was "a phoenix is reborn" because "that's what this feels like. It feels like I'm rising above the ashes. Thought a bitch was down, she's back. Period. They did not take me out."

Read this next: The Cover Mix: Best of Kelela

However, the phoenix reference itself had to go because phoenixes are "played the fuck out". A search for other birds, with the one caveat that they couldn't be white, turned up the raven. Immediately it struck a chord. Further reading had the signs stacking up: the stigma attached to black birds, the raven's role as a liaison between worlds... And so 'Raven' was born and Kelela renewed. Another remix album is set to follow; she's sending out the stems the moment 'Raven' drops. For Kelela, the remixing is no afterthought but a full undertaking, equal in scope to the project being reworked. She's excited; finally, she has the pull to tinker with songs as she sees fit.

"The first [remix project, 2015's deluxe release of 'Cut 4 Me'], I didn't have the agency because Ezra [Rubin, Fade To Mind co-founder], Kingdom is a tyrant. He was really impossible to negotiate with on that and wouldn't make a way for me," she says. It wasn't until 'TMA' that Kelela had the sway to issue an edit: "Nothing is going to be on this project unless you're willing to send stems and allow me to do the final arrangement." Still, she lacked the resources to do a total rewrite so settled for a hybrid; contributors sent all the stems to Kelela and Maroof who rearranged them.

She has a special ear for rearranging instrumentals, Kelela tells me, her sentences no longer tangling with one another and heading off on tangents, but going from A to B, ordered and precise as she outlines the methodology behind her magic. "My producer friends send me shit and I can be like 'This is what you should do for it to be really listenable ... You need a B section. You can't just have this loop'." Remixes live in two categories, she instructs: an instrumental with sampled vocals layered on top and the other category, which Kelela's "number one remix of all time", Timbaland and Static's 1999 reimagining of 'Say My Name', belongs to — a total rewrite.

She's pleased the rewrite seems to finally be back in vogue ("The digital age made it so record companies are not spending hella money on the remix. Back in the day, there [were] zillions of dollars available for this other thing. That was default, built into record deals!") – and aware of her own influence over the form. "Before ['Take Me a_Part, the Remixes'], I remember trying to explain what I'm trying to do. People were like: 'really?'. Now it feels like a standard," she notes. "Lady Gaga is doing a remix project! All the girls are doing a remix project. I'm so happy. Because that was the fucking point. So people could be like 'I want one that sounds like that'."