Kehlani

Her first independent releases, Cloud 19 and You Should Be Here, arrived without the backing of a record label, but with a reception that turned them into cult objects. The latter, in particular, caught Billboard's attention, naming it "the first great R&B album of the year" in 2015, and ended up being nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Contemporary R&B Album. But where many artists would have sped up the pace, she chose to take her time. SweetSexySavage, her debut with Atlantic Records, arrived in 2017 and proved she could maintain that essence without losing freshness, with songs like CRZY that slipped into radios without sounding forced.

Then came a period where she explored more experimental sounds, such as in While We Wait (2019), a mixtape that served as a bridge to It Was Good Until It Wasn’t (2020). The latter, recorded during the pandemic and with all the limitations that entailed, has a rawness not heard in her previous works: the lyrics sound more direct, the beats cruder, as if confinement had forced her to bring out what she carried inside without filters. In 2022, Blue Water Road arrived with unexpected collaborations —Justin Bieber, Thundercat, Ambré— and a tour that took her across the United States and Europe, something few artists of her genre achieve without going through the mass festival circuit.

In 2024, Crash marked another turn: less introspective, more collaborative, featuring Jill Scott and Young Miko. But what caught attention wasn't just the music, but how she used her platforms to speak about social causes. In the video for Next 2 U, she included a poem by Hala Alyan and a message dedicated to Palestinian children, something that sparked conversation and also concrete actions, such as selling merchandise whose proceeds went to families in Gaza, Congo, and Sudan. It's not just music she makes, but how music becomes an act of resistance.

What's most surprising about her evolution is that, despite the successes and accolades —like the Grammy she won in 2025 for Folded—, she never lost sight of her origins: those early recordings in a borrowed apartment, with an old microphone and a laptop. Her sound remains, at its core, that of someone who learned to sing to not stay silent, and who now uses that voice to tell stories others prefer to ignore.