Deep-rooted in self and total resistance, singer Kehlani is undergoing an intense, sonic evolution seeking spiritual revolution. Crash is the soul-baring fourth studio album from the Oakland-bred artist. This is Kehlani’s newest project two years after the release of her healing past album Blue Water Road. With cinematically colliding instrumentation and conceptual production, each song holds its own individual force as they allude to the balanced dichotomy between the liberating yet dystopian nature of Sin City: Las Vegas.
“For a long time, I’ve been not afraid of how I’ve been perceived musically, but I had a lot of being very apologetic in my personhood, for who I am, for anything I’ve done, for anything I had to be corrected on for any way I’ve shown up in the world,” Kehlani shares with Essence. “In this album specifically, I am just gonna talk and not hold back. I’m going to talk as if I was talking to my very best friend.”
With 13 tracks, Crash encapsulates just that—the 29-year-old artist sings of visual stories that feel personal. Featuring angelic vocal harmonies and transforming melodies, Kehlani lyrically paints intimate scenes of falling in love, facing turmoil, and experiencing the soul-crushing gravity of heartbreak. The album is inspired by the carefree, chaotic underbelly of Las Vegas while sonically acknowledging the fun, energetic, and conflicting emotions you can experience within a single night inside a manufactured oasis.
We talked to Kehlani about the making of Crash, why happy music is important to her at this stage in her life, and how the external world influences her very human relationship with music making.
Girls United: How did you get yourself in a creative mindset to musically and visually tell the story of Crash?
Kehlani: “Groove Theory” was the first song I recorded years back on the project. I wanted to marry these two songs together, which had very different tones. They were tracks that were both only half-songs, and I thought the sound would be a trippy way to tie in the colliding forces of Crash. That vibe jumpstarted the album, and what better way to set the tone of how fucking crazy and chaotically passionate this project is? The first couple of bars say, “I’m not the one and I’m kind of crazy.” It introduces everything.
GU: How did you want to be conscious of the writing you created for Crash this go around?
Kehlani: We made this album in all these different houses in different places and we settled on the fact that Crash is this story of an anti-hero trip to Vegas. A futuristic sound. What does it mean when an anti-hero arrives in Vegas? What story is that like? Is it love in Vegas? Is it that I find myself? Was I looking for her and found me? Or, was I looking for me and found her? It is all about different explorations of the story we could create. Every time we found a missing component, it was like sushi; we crafted it together. We even created the sound of what the desert of Vegas sounded like. Crash is my wild, Wild West soundtrack.
GU: How has the state of the world expanded or redefined your relationship with your art as a whole, and how do you approach music-making?
Kehlani: At some point in life or if you grew up in any kind of radicalized environment, you were raised understanding art’s role in movement. Right before this interview, we talked about the 70s and art’s role in resisting the Vietnam War. Black revolutionary artists like Nina Simone and James Baldwin consciously made music during that time. The biggest difference for us is that our generation has this really odd thing with doing it for clout or fear of being corny.
GU: Your “Next 2 U” music video features queer dancers with a queer behind-the-camera crew that sheds light on a humanitarian. Why was “Next 2 U” the right song for you to create this sort of visual?
Kehlani: Bridge music with the real initiatives that can bring about change. Art is about consciously forward-thinking in a way. My album was finished way before the genocide. We’re eight months into a genocide, and I’m having to understand what that means to put out music at this time. I’ve been very vocal about being pro-Palestine and ending the violence, and I even was afraid of whether releasing my music right now was the right time. However, the world still needs colors. People still need joy, we still need reasons to feel on our own — it’s resistance.
GU: What about letting go, dancing and that type of personal autonomy you carry influenced Crash, which is all about acceptance and living?
Kehlani: I’m a big juxtaposition. I don’t make sense to a lot of people. I’ve never had. They can’t figure out whether it’s any intersection of my identity, whether it’s my beliefs, whether it’s what I’m doing. It’s my choice. I’ve made the route I’ve taken in this industry. Do you want to be a surfer? Do you want to be an activist? Do you want to be an artist? I’m covered in tattoos, but I’ve made soft music and been publicly spiritual. I am a big party.
GU: What does Las Vegas symbolize for you because its essence encapsulates part of the album?
Kehlani: Vegas is also this perfectly juxtaposed place. It’s this chaotic little city in the middle of a big, desolate desert. There’s weddings, and there’s strippers, and there’s really rich shit, and there’s really crazy mafia shit. It’s this free place where adults go to be present and let all their fucking freak flags fly and then go home and maybe never talk about it again. I’ve always been in this space where my concerts feel like a giant healing space, but we also f-ck sh-t up. They’re loud and crazy shows, but my fans also want to hug each other. I realized that I could relate to all the different facets of Vegas and its different expressions.
GU: How did writing “Lose My Wife” feel cathartic to you as an artist?
Kehlani: We hadn’t made that feeling of the Vegas experience yet. What it’s really like the next day. This whole album is this story of getting to Vegas, getting through Vegas, having a crazy experience in Vegas, and ending the next morning. In that last moment, most people feel, oh fuck, what was that?
GU: How has music been healing for you when it comes to love?
Kehlani: Love is the one topic that just doesn’t get old because it’s common currency. It’s the biggest language in the world. We might never speak the same words, but we’ll understand. If I hug you, I’ll understand. I sing about love because it’s universal, and I feel like at the core, no matter how many genres I dip into, I’m proud to have been considered an R&B artist. I’m proud of the genre. I’m not mad at any type of pigeonholing or being placed in that way because I’m honored that a genre that thrives on speaking about love is something I belong to because it’s just my heart’s safe space. The inspiration is endless. It just never goes away.
GU: What about the concept of Crash as a whole feels so reflective of who you are today as an artist who undergoes many artistic evolutions yet stays so rooted in self?
Kehlani: Crash reflects the parts of me that I feel people don’t know exist and few people know about me. People didn’t know I went to art school. They didn’t know I was in a band. They don’t know how different my music taste is and how many different artists I listen to. That was the forefront with this album. Let’s get really back into the construction of music, and I got to bring incomparably brilliant minds together, which I attribute to this music-making process.