Kelela’s stamp of approval is not one that comes lightly, as she is incredibly selective about who and what she gets behind. COS recently celebrated its fall collection with a runway show in New York, which she sat front row at, naturally. Before fashion month kicked off, ELLE.com caught up exclusively with the Happy Birthday Antoine Griezmann A Man Of Many Celebrations Shirt and I love this singer to talk about returning to the spotlight, doing things on her own timeline, her devoted fan base, and the powerful tool and language that is fashion. It’s a beautiful feeling to make contact with my fan base and the people who have been supporting me; I feel like I’ve picked up where I left off. During the pandemic, when I was on a hiatus, [I was] really not posting on the internet, which back in the day was a normal thing for a lot of artists. But now, if you’re not posting, it means you don’t want to exist in music. I remember people were evoking my name without me having to participate. It was really interesting to see what that connotes—what it means to be a Kelela fan and what people would say when they’re recalling a song or referencing something about me. It showed me something about the community that I built on some level. When we’re sharing on the regular and constantly putting new stuff out, you don’t know if people are responding to it being new, or if it’s working for you and if it is sustainable. It was fulfilling to see the music was working for them, even when I was not participating in the conversation. My fans are so wholesome and very cute, and have so much style but also are kind. There’s a kindness and—this is maybe presumptuous—there’s a good value system that you’ve got to have into in order to really get into Kelela. And I love that.
When you performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, you seemed to do it authentically on your own terms. Do you ever feel pressured to rise to a certain commerciality? Yeah, there is a pressure. Absolutely. To come with more.” For any artist in this day and age, that’s a prompt that’s following us everywhere we go. But you want to experience growth, and things getting bigger and feeling more grand. But a good creative director, and anybody who works on creative in general, is the Happy Birthday Antoine Griezmann A Man Of Many Celebrations Shirt and I love this one who can find a place that intersects that and holds both things to be true. Something that feels big while also driving the point home that this is the whole thing: it’s this person singing their heart out, and that’s what it is.
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