Even after listening to Raven, are we still too far away?
No, not the Edgar Allan Poe of our time, the Kelela of our time, just on her way to “Make Techno Black Again.”
If you are like me, you probably did not know who Kelela was before the beginning of 2023. And yet, she has been active in the music industry for quite some time now. The singer-songwriter-producer debuted her 2013 mixtape Cut 4 Me under the label Fade to Me, while Raven is her second full-length album under Warp Records.
Coming as a follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut Take Me Apart, Raven presents a Kelela that is more mature yet still energetic, her vocals still fiery as ever. Kelela sought to cover new ground and bring the conversation about “justice, safety, [and] the value of Black life” from the “forefront of her mind” to “her listeners’ ears.” The DC-born artist wanted to talk about her experience as a queer Black woman. A fellow East African and a second-generation immigrant, Kelela Mizanekristos embraces her Ethiopian roots: she dubs her name in Amharic on the cover of both Raven and its predecessor.
For some reason, I listened to this album a little while after its release on February 10th, 2023, but did not connect with the record partly due to my inattentiveness amid the bustling sounds of a college dining hall at lunchtime. It wasn’t until I was on the CTA listening to “Bury me (feat. Kelela)” on the release night of PinkPantheress’ Heaven Knows that I realized what I was missing out on. Still, it would take me another month before I dived into the whole record.
“Water, as a theme, runs through the album in various permutations.” With Raven, Kelela wades through her feelings, giving her thus far unexplainable emotions meaning on this record. Flowing seamlessly from one song to another, the album undoes the detachedness she felt track by track.
Kelela opened this era with “Washed Away,” which speaks on the theme of isolation not only romantically but also in the electronic/dance music space. In addition to speaking about distance, longing, and the sense that one is barely hanging on, the album tackles the erasure of Black femmes in this scene. Given she had been working on this music for a while, even during the pandemic, she spoke to Jazmine Hughes from the New York Times about how the events of the Black Lives Matter movement inspired her to be more comfortable causing discomfort by being more vocal about systemic issues. It's notable that “Washed Away” comes about two months after the release of the impactful instant classic RENAISSANCE. Kelela and Beyoncé were probably working on these projects at the same time, both grounded in the collective effort of reclamation.They both set out to reground and take back the place that had been stolen from Black women in the dance, house, and electronic music scenes.
“Washed Away” surprisingly transitions into the second teaser of the record, “Happy Ending,” which takes a more positive spin on reeling in “the wounds of romantic and existential heartbreak.” On “Happy Ending,” Kelela is reminiscent of a past love with the lyrics providing an active replay of the memories. We are present as she thinks about the one that got away. This song is one of the standouts from the record. With its heavy bass and spacey synths, it makes me want to dance from start to finish.
If only the Baltimore Ravens had streamed Raven, maybe they would have had a—ahem—happy ending in the 2023 AFC Championship Game. If the original is too “girly-pop” for their liking, I am sure that the “Happy Ending A-G Remix” from RAVE:N, The Remixes would have got the job done if it had been released two weeks earlier.
Raven is such a poetic album, and there are several moments that require a closer read. On “Let It Go,” Kelela juxtaposes her readiness with her partner’s hesitation. The tension rises slowly at first with the "stormy cloud" followed by full-on rain. The storm won’t leave anytime soon unless Kelela and her partner work things out.
And this unwillingness to open up follows into the third official single “On The Run” after another seamless transition. I love how this track takes on a cinematic feel by sampling actual car sounds. As the main instrumental drops out, a car races through the song’s soundscape as Kelela chases after someone so that they can “open up” their heart “to the sun.”
A couple of tracks are sister-anthems not only lyrically but sonically. “Missed Call” is—pun very much intended—a call back to “Happy Ending” where Kelela is now grappling with feelings of doubt about falling in love again. This is the song that stuck with me the most upon my first genuine listen. The song’s instrumentation sounds like a looped ringtone which symbolizes unresolved “tension” and Kelela’s hesitation despite the fact that it’s “time to make that call.” She begins the song clearly stating that “gone away are the days when [she] needed someone around,” but we see a change of mind toward the end of the song because now Kelela believes that the only way out of the brain fog is by getting closure.
"Closure" is the embodiment of romance's push and pull. There’s a very flirtatious undertone and a little bit of desperation from Kelela, now the hopeless romantic willing to forget everything they’ve been through as long as their person comes through this time. We all could tell Kelela was never really over this person. She was ready to call it quits but at the end of “Missed Call,” we see her wanting them back. The best moment on the song is when Rahrah Gabor comes in with her verse and just rides the beat. If you didn’t already know what the song was about, Gabor spells it out for you. I look forward to getting into more Gabor because of this stellar performance. The motifs of anticipation are heavy on this track. She sings “I’ma wait up,” as we heard on “On The Run,” on which “someone” tells the listener, “Don’t wait all night.”
When Kelela was making this album, she did not know what it was going to be about. She did know that she wanted to be “sexy in a nuanced way.” A couple of users on Twitter claimed that moments like “On The Run” and “Closure” are good mood-setters, and I concur…but I would like to nominate “Sorbet” as the album’s ultimate sensual anthem. “Waves when we touch” captures feelings of arousal and excitement, likening them to rushing and “gushing” water as well as the natural state of flux after waves collide. “It never ends” until there is some force that interferes with its flow. The title also speaks to the aphrodisiac themes explored on the track. Another thematic duo on this album is “Sorbet” and “Closure.” Both are queer/lesbian anthems. Whereas “Closure” is more uptempo, “Sorbet” slows things down to drive home a heightened sense of intimacy.
The first time Kelela and her partner have their tryst is on the penultimate single “Contact,” which comes after all the uncertainty on “Missed Call.” Underneath this bassy track is the continuation of the idea that Kelela seems to know what she wants unlike her partner: “I’d go all the way if it's up to me.” “Contact” is one of my favorite songs on this album. Not only is the sample of the drums from Lyn Collins’ “Think (About It)” very well done, the song is just a body-freeing banger. “Contact” makes me want to sway my hips, my hands “so high, so high, so high” as I run to the dance floor with the disco ball’s lights swirling around me. The song is just pure UK-garage goodness and Kelela delivers vocally. The water motif emerges again representing how this experience is similar to “floating away.” I hate that the only reference image I have of this track is a White woman dancing which partially explains why Kelela made this album: to open up the doors for Black femmes to embrace their femininity and take up space.
“Contact” builds towards the end only to be cut off as soon as “Fooley” starts. This is our indicator that the honeymoon phase or state of complete delusion is over. I love the drum patterns on this song; super bassy all around and just a great track to listen to with headphones. Imagine yourself emoting/break-dancing for a dark angsty video with flashing neon lights. The song is smeared with several “non-lyrical vocals” and this sense of unintelligibility mimics how sounds are drowned out in the club. Trying to “Make Techno Black Again,” Kelela passes with flying colors on this electronic banger, whose Morse code-like bleeps could also represent how she is trying to signal her feeling of isolation to her listeners. It is a very poetic endeavor that perfectly encapsulates her emotional state as she is literally being “submerged.”
As we move into “Holier,” we enter the “I’m done taking your shit. You don’t get to mess with me”/healing era.
The first time that I listened to “Holier” and to some other songs off this album, I did not pick up on the fact that the record was “delv[ing] into the existential heartbreak of a marginalized identity: betrayal from inside the house.” Here her authorship is so crucial because it allows the listener to recenter themselves and think about what the lyrics mean for the artist and if that comes across to them. From her conversation with Hughes, I learned that: “On songs like the sparse, ethereal “Holier,” she declares that Black women can depend most on themselves.” However, “White supremacy isn’t just operating through white people…[P]atriarchal women can do the most damaging things to your spirit because you let your guard down.” Kelela uses spiritual metaphor to represent coming clean off a relationship and other situations that are not serving her. The song is a presentation of well-arranged ambient pop goodness. It allows the listener to ascend and reflect before transitioning to the title track, “Raven.”
On “Raven,” we witness the evolution of Kelela, the artist, as she sings about being reborn. This song’s soundscape spans everything that Kelela was exploring on Take Me Apart and Hallucinogen with a touch of the personal and career growth that she has undergone since those releases. The song sounds spacy but is indeed full with complex synths and drums. It subtly touches on feelings of isolation, but now “[she’s] all good, she’s moved on.” I love that the song is such a power anthem and Kelela sings out more passionately in the final pre-chorus, signaling her willingness to break-free to get “closer to what [she] needs.”
I was originally put off by the inconsistent sound of “Bruises” especially coming right after “Raven.” However, I have come around and I appreciate its bassy pump-up vibe. The track offers a satisfying thematic and sonic followup with the infectious “Just right, right, right.” The house drums in this song are reminiscent of Ballroom/runway-type beats and make me want to do a one-ka-ka-ka-down, two-ka-ka-ka-down especially during the second chorus. The ti-di-li-ndi-li keys played on the synths in the background of the song make for an enjoyable listen and they are slowed down just enough for an effective transition into “Sorbet.”
“Divorce” is another moment where the percussion takes a backseat which makes for a very haunting atmosphere. As Miss Swift once said, “just because you're clean, don't mean you don't miss it.” This song could represent being haunted by feelings for a past lover and almost wanting to fall back into a relationship with them. In dialogue with “Washed Away,” ironically given the title, there is the idea of searching for love long gone and Kelela is ready to dive into the deepest of depths to find it—even if the other person has supposedly moved on.
The fifth and final single for Raven shows up on the last third of the album which just shows how much Kelela has the “mind of a mastermind.” “Enough for Love,” echoes the sentimental nature of “Let It Go,” but this time Kelela knows what the issue is. So Kelela is inquiring if her partner can love her and deal with their “wounds” simultaneously. I absolutely love the arrangements on this song. At the beginning, water surges in and we hear something that sounds like an SOS call or one from the lighthouse being sent out to search for someone. There are these sweeping sounds that come in when the first chorus begins. The reverb is high on this track but it works. The electronic hi-hats during the pre-choruses and choruses [sharper than the ones in Taylor Swift’s “Style (Taylor’s Version)”] travel down the auditory system in a manner aimed at producing eargasms. Kelela just had to remind everyone that she owns electronic R&B.
“Enough For Love” transitions into the closing track which gives us an inkling that maybe despite her efforts to help her partner realize that they are worthy of love, Kelela is still pushed away. The closing track “Far Away" is essentially a reprise of “Washed Away;” a more intense reiteration as we hear Kelela’s floating vocals. It makes for the effect of a full sonic circle because we see Kelela just as lost as she was at the start but left with more wonder.
With SOS, SZA set out to find solace in the water, and in 2023, following Kelela’s lead, several Black female artists such as Janelle Monáe and Victoria Monét have been exploring the waters, “finding another way,” whether it be thematically, sonically, lyrically, visually, you name it. After having sat with this album for five months, I cannot single out favorites as every song has a place on the record. Kelela’s sophomore album is a 10/10 with no skips and an immersive listening experience from beginning to end. I hope more people discover the hidden gem that is Raven, and I hope that as you listen your ears look like they are being smeared with gold glitter.
edited by Nicole Millan Ortiz & Kristen Wallace.
album artwork believed to belong to either the publisher of the work or the artist.
