"I think her consistent talent to push the boundaries of music and continue to dive into the more experimental sides of electronic sounds often pushes me to think out of the box when producing my own songs," she wrote.
"Her work has easily widened the market and opened doors for other Black female electronic/pop artists.
I truly believe that because of her we have more room to experiment and not stick to the status quo."
Kelela's musical roots trace back to the indie rock scene. She performed with Washington DC-based group Dizzy Spells and recorded an unreleased EP.
"It was my first time really getting into songwriting and feeling loose and free enough to kind of fuck up," she recalled.
Collaborating with her former partner Tosin Abasi, lead guitarist of progressive metal outfit Animals as Leaders, shaped her complex harmonic preferences.
"He was writing proggy, jazzy music with odd time signatures with really left-of-center harmonics," she said.
"I really fell in love with trying to find my way in these, you know, seemingly unkind sonic landscapes."
Crafting the New Avatar Experience
A guitar-centric project had been brewing for years, surfacing during live sets or recordings like her 2019 mixtape Aquaphoria and 2024 appearances at New York's Blue Note jazz club.
The path after her 2017 debut Take Me Apart was complex; the subsequent record Raven emerged slowly, reflecting a period of ideological navigation.
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"I never made Raven as a bring-in [record]," she said.
