Alt-R&B singer Kelela has dropped two new songs ahead of the Friday release of her debut album, Take Me Apart with Ebro Darden on Beats 1 Radio. She also spoke with the host about her musical journey as an Ethiopian growing up in D.C., her willingness to experiment with different musical genres (including metal), her reaction to Kelly Rowland naming her as one of her top women in R&B, and posing nude for her Take Me Apart album cover. Previous singles released from the upcoming full-length include “LMK” and “Waitin’.”
Kelela describes the track “Blue Light” as being “about the moment when you break up with people after you’re single; you’re sort of in this moment where you’re like ‘I’m not doing anything serious. I’m not trying to get into anything deep. Gotta like take it slow. Not trying to do that.’ And then you hit this point when you’re with somebody where you’re like, ‘F*ck it, blue light.'” She says the title comes from an old boyfriend, “In my ex-boyfriend’s room there was a blue towel on the wall like a poster towel and he’d shine the light on the towel and it sort of lit the room in this blue light and it was really sexy.”
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Of “Bluff” she says, “Well it’s a banger, for one. Two, it’s really tender. So, it’s a banger and it’s really soft. It represents the intersection of what I’m doing out here. The song is essentially about trying to prove to somebody that unconditional love exists and that somebody can ride for you this hard.”
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Take Me Apart is due October 6 on Warp. You can preorder on Kelela’s official site.
