{"id":28420,"date":"2014-03-19T12:10:16","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T12:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/?p=28420"},"modified":"2016-09-22T14:27:30","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T14:27:30","slug":"profile-kelela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2014\/03\/19\/profile-kelela\/","title":{"rendered":"PROFILE: KELELA"},"content":{"rendered":"
LA\u2019s London Grime-obsessed ing\u00e9nue chats exclusively with Wonderland.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n Dress by MIU MIU and choker (worn throughout) stylist’s own<\/em><\/p>\n Kelela Mizanekristos is done for the day, clearly. Sitting with a chunk of British weed in one hand and a stroller-heater between her legs, her shoot for Wonderland<\/i> comes at the end of a frantically paced year for the Maryland-born, LA-based synthologist. \u201cYou want some of this?\u201d she asks, pointing her perfectly rolled joint at me. \u201cGo on, then,\u201d I reply. Things were off to a good start.<\/p>\n Despite her seemingly laid back vibe, Kelela\u2019s occasional standoffishness suggests hardship. A child of two first-gen Ethiopian immigrants who, in the 1970s, moved to a very WASP Washington DC, Kelela vividly remembers the rejection she felt from her surroundings. “I related to a black experience, but not culturally from an African-American standpoint,\u201d she explains. \u201cFor example, my family didn\u2019t do typical African-American things. My mum has an accent, too, so there are so many things about me that didn’t quite fit in on a social level. I was being \u2018othered\u2019 both ways: as a person of colour, and as a person who wasn\u2019t culturally American. It was a lot for me in school.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Black cropped top Kelela’s own, trousers by MARTINE ROSE and perspex bracelet by CHANEL<\/em><\/p>\n From a young age, her musical ambitions overshadowed academia. \u201cI\u2019d be wailing Whitney Houston songs on the table at four years old – they knew music was in me. But they wanted me to have a back-up plan, to study.\u201d\u00a0Instead, Kelela trawled vintage YouTube clips of Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Whitney Houston, and Kim Burrell performances. \u201cThe thing that I’m trying to find in R&B is an actual sound; it’s like the balsamic in your vinaigrette,\u201d she laughs. \u201cThe balsamic is actually the gospel element.\u201d<\/p>\n As a twenty-something, Kelela\u2019s focus lay in LA\u2019s live jazz circuit. \u201cWriting isn\u2019t necessarily the focus in jazz \u2013 your standard comes first \u2013 and I didn\u2019t find it all the way fulfilling to sing standards,\u201d she says, before quickly adding: \u201cI\u2019m not saying that jazz doesn\u2019t have depth, because it does, but I wouldn\u2019t be able to sit down and write a jazz tune. I remember feeling frustrated all the time in the scene: I was around all of these great jazz musicians and all I wanted to do is sing a Lauryn Hill tune.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelela counts Swedish experi-pop clutch Little Dragon as a key influence, too. In fact, she is obsessed: the singer contacted Yukimi Nagano on MySpace back in 2009 with an enquiry about backing singer vacancies. But with no music to show on Kelela\u2019s page, Nagano urged her come back with material and, two months later, she was the proud owner of three songs. \u201c\u2018Enemy\u2019 is a break-up tune and I was going through one at the time, so it was natural to write. The songs before that, though, were \u2018Bank Head\u2019 and \u2018Keep It Cool\u2019, which are the only two happy songs I\u2019ve written [laughs].\u201d<\/p>\n