Kehlani pushes limit on ‘Crash’, earns Grammy nods

LOS ANGELES (AP):

While recording Crash, Kehlani faced a career-defining decision: Stick with the familiar R&B sound that helped build the singer’s name, or risk it all to showcase their full artistic range. For Kehlani, choosing the latter was a gamble, but trusting their instincts paid off in the long run and the fourth studio album became a catalyst to earning Grammy nods, a massive world tour and proving that their versatility should never be in question.

“I was taking a risk, because I’m one of those artistes that have been around long enough for people to pigeonhole me into a sound,” said Kehlani, who first realised she was being cornered musically after releasing the single Butterfly from their 2019 mixtape While We Wait. Though she loved the track, calling it a “really pretty song”, she felt a growing need to break out of the box and evolve their sound.

Kehlani pushed genre boundaries on Crash, blending elements of R&B, rock, dance floor, rap and country. The bold experimentation earned three Grammy nominations: best R&B progressive album for Crash, R&B song through the viral sensation track After Hours and best melodic rap performance for Kehlani.

While recording Crash, she fully embraced a rock star lifestyle, staying up all night and drinking alcohol. It certainly wasn’t conducive for health, but at times, this led to some intense, manic bursts of “expression and understanding”, which defined the album.

“That’s what I think had to come out of me in order for Crash to come out of me in that way,” said Kehlani, who noted that all the “chaos” delivered on the album wasn’t always negative. She recorded songs in different Airbnb locations including from a house in San Diego, where she could surf every day; found their grunge sound while going out in Harlem; and exuded confidence while she laid down tracks on vacation in the Dominican Republic.

“It was a rock-star album made in a very rock-star process,” said Kehlani.

These days, she has found middle ground through isolation and a healthier lifestyle. She now works out like a “ninja warrior,” hitting the gym multiple times a day, doing yoga and hiking up mountains and incorporating healthier eating habits.

That helped Kehlani create the mixtape While We Wait 2, which released a couple months after Crash. It took only two weeks to record that latest mixtape.

“The music I make will always reflect exactly where I’m at in my mental health journey,” she said.

Kehlani dabbled in Christmas music nearly a decade ago with a few low-key SoundCloud tracks. But this year, she’s giving the holidays a bold new twist by collaborating with rapper GloRilla on Xmas Time, which flips the script on traditional carols.

“I never imagined I’d be on a trap Christmas song,” said Kehlani, who noted that she didn’t think twice when GloRilla’s team reached out about teaming up on the festive, bass-thumping track that released last week.

“I’m such a fan of GloRilla in any shape, way or form,” she said. “She could’ve said she was making an Easter song and I would’ve been like ‘Fantastic. Girl, let’s do it.’”