Kelela Quotes

I always wanted to work with Michael Jackson. His music will live forever and with technology nowadays... maybe I could.

Working with Timbaland, you know it's not gonna sound like anything else out there today. The sound is very next-level.

I love the comparison with Aaliyah and Timbaland, because Aaliyah is a legend, and there is a large cinematic feel to Timbaland's sound, but what I do is different.

I thought of a lot of people from the same era when I was making a lot of records that had continued making a lot of records. A lot of it didn't seem terribly inspired.

Late 20th century music was a really important thing. It changed the world, and I'm part of that, and now I'm part of the museum that celebrates that.

I hear a lot of influence from me and Timbaland's whole sound in a lot of records of today. But if you have classics like that, then I'm sure you gotta expect that it's gonna influence some people. So, I'm fine with that.

Effortlessly, I feel like my records have longevity.

We've always prided ourselves on making a record that we want to feel proud of, ones that are hopefully timeless so they can be around for a long time.

Longevity has a lot to do with me continuously nonstop putting music on the shelf, and making myself be the face of the Bay, and continuing to carry the Bay on my back for many moons, you know.

I remember at one stage, I was like, 'Oh no. I'm going to be remembered as the 'Do You Mind' Girl.'

I want to create songs that will last across time.

I'm constantly trying to create timeless music that many people can gravitate to.

You can't really take it for granted that people listen to your music. I want to write songs that are on par, at least in my mind, with the ones I've loved for my whole life and that will be around forever.

Let me create great music, go in the studio, and possibly become a memory and a time stamp in people's lives - and just give the best performances, because I know that's all that really matters.

You want to make a record that stands the test of time and that people enjoy.

'Been That Way' is a song that Timbaland gave me. Actually, the beat is. And then he called me to come out there to Miami. I went out there to work with him, and he gave me two beats for my project. One was 'Sorry Not Sorry,' and the other one was 'Been That Way,' and I recorded both of them in my hotel.

I hope to record the perfect album, my masterpiece, before I die.

I just love how everyone with that Motown sound seemed to come from a two-block radius from the actual original location. The original location was a house, and then when they outgrew it, they bought the house next door and the house next door and the house next door until they had seven houses on the same lot.

I actually admire the Indian artiste 'Lost Stories.' He made a remix of my song 'Faded.' That is really good and cool because it actually represented Indian music. I just loved the song; it so unique.

I think a lot of guys are influenced by 'Pinata.' I fathered a lot of styles off that album.

I am happy that I could collaborate with poets like O.N.V. Kurup and Yusufali Kechery in my career; they wrote meaningful lyrics, which made my songs last longer.

I feel like when you make an album, it really has to hold its ground. It has to make a stamp.

With music, when you finish a record, you are entwined with it throughout your existence in a way which is both interesting and challenging because it's a living form, you have to come back to it.

Ultimately, what I want is for my songs to outlive me: I want my songs to keep being played even after I'm gone.

I think The Beatles are the lasting influence on me, even more so than Dylan.