I went to Kelela’s sold-out concert in Durham last Friday night. Her debut album, “Take Me Apart,” was released on Oct. 6. She is redefining R&B with her electronic influence, and she's not afraid to delve into the themes of love and sex that are so intrinsic to R&B.
I remember the first time I heard Kelela. My sister, Claire, played “Bank Head” while we were getting ready to go out. We didn’t have a speaker so she played the song through the speaker on her iPhone 4. Let me tell you, I didn’t need a fancy speaker fall in love with her voice.
That was back in 2014, and last Friday night I got to see Kelela live at Motorco Music Hall in Durham. She performed songs from her debut album, “Take Me Apart,” which possesses the same sense of vulnerability and sensuousness as her previous EP, "Hallucinogen." She began the night with the song “Blue Light” and become enraptured in a cloud of blue smoke as she stood in the middle of the stage.
“I'm on my way right now. Promise I won't be long. Baby, keep the blue light on.”
I sang these lyrics at the end of the night when I approached City Bus Burritos and Tacos in Carrboro — the taco bus so famously known for their illuminating blue light, like a beacon of late night greasy food.
The song is about the feeling of not being able to resist the temptation of love. The album as a whole is about the transcendent power of love.
Her performance itself was nothing short of transcendent. When I first heard Kelela’s voice, I had never heard anything like it — her sound weaves between R&B and electronic and almost creates its own genre. Her sound is sometimes referred to as “Future R&B” and if Kelela is the future of R&B, I’m all for it.
One song that caught my attention was “Bluff.” Before the song she told the audience about her inspiration: she was tired of being lied to and called him out on it.
