Fade to Mind protége´ Kelela has just released her brand new video for “A Message”, her first single of the year, and preview for the HALLUCINOGEN EP that’s coming out this coming May. The track was co-written with Arca, and his trademark style of music and video production is evident in the concept. It’s a piece of very advanced, avant garde R&B with contrasting melodic bits cut off by sudden silence, which gives Kelela’s voice a greater presence. Her lyrics strike some emotional chords right they’re needed. The video uses a simple but ingenious method to portray the strong feelings carried in this song, through lighting tricks and an animated sequence that puts the cherry on top of the inner battle of emotions that’s already suggested in the song.
It’s worth while noting how Kelela has progressively matured ever since we met her almost 2 years ago in tracks like Kindgom’s “Bankhead”, polishing her style deeper into new strains and sounds of R&B. It’s something we’ll probably see more of as artists like her and FKA Twigs further develop their careers and influence over new artists. Pitchfork quotes Kelela saying the following about working with Arca:
“I met Alejandro [Arca] on a boat in August of 2012. We sought one another out across a dance floor and within 5 minutes agreed to meet each other as soon as possible to collaborate. I had one song released to my name and had just heard one of his mixes, but we knew we’d found something in one another. We spent the next three days, 14 hours a day talking about our artistic visions and how it intersected with our personal lives, making songs that reflected that while dancing around the room to let it all out. About 5 or 6 demos were born out of these three days.
“A Message” is one of the demos that came from those sessions and it speaks to the despair that I was experiencing at the time. The initial version of the song spilled out of us in about 25 minutes. Since then, it’s been like a sculpture that I’ve come to and refined over time, adding a lyric here, refining a melody there, adding a bridge, etc. It’s a process that is now finally complete with its release and I’m so happy that I finally get to share it with all of you.”