Kehlani has been lauded by fans for her singing, songwriting, dance moves and vulnerability, the last of which has seen her express the highs and lows experienced while growing up in the public eye. As a fan of R&B, they’re accustomed to hearing artists use their music to cope with pain — and have admittedly done the same — but they were determined to change things this go-round.
“I think that we as a generation have grown up understanding a lot of music as an expression of pain — so many important moments in R&B were from pain, and so many moments of my career were from pain,” they said in an interview with People.
“Deciding that I was gonna change from that and that I was gonna grow from that was a scary thing because I knew there’d be people in my comments every time I get into something where I seem happy and they’re like, ‘Nah, I hope they break your heart and then you give us a SoundCloud drop’ or something like that,” they add.
Despite the changes in her approach to music, Kehlani is appreciative of their loyal fanbase, who have proved they’ll always be by their side.
“I’m just grateful that they really see me in this and people that have seen me just go through thing after thing after thing in the public eye are happy for me and see beyond relationship-wise — just the growth in me personally, and the growth in me and motherhood and the growth of me and my career and are happy for that,” they share.
Kehlani dropped their album Blue Water Road in April. Their tour of the same name is set to kick off next month.
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