Kelela Brings Her Creative Range Into Focus as New Avatar Reaches the Wiltern
Kelela’s new avatar live tour reaches Los Angeles for two Wiltern dates on September 21 and 22. The dates offer a timely entry into a broader story: how the singer brings different musical influences into the same creative identity.
Ticketmaster lists both performances at the Wiltern, while the presenter listing from KCRW confirms Monday’s date. Ticketmaster’s artist profile describes a career moving through R&B, electronic, alternative and experimental music, from Cut 4 Me and Take Me Apart to Raven and the jazz-influenced In The Blue Light. Its description of new avatar emphasizes a guitar-forward direction alongside her electronic and dance foundations.
In a September 2 interview with The FADER, Kelela explained that her writing often begins with improvised sounds rather than finished words. She works toward lyrics that fit the vocal phrasing and emotional meaning she hears. That process makes the shape of a line part of its message.
The conversation also connects her arrangements to a childhood background in violin. Discussing her Spotify Live Room performances, she described drawing on a string arrangement of “idea 1” by Mocksun and covering Incubus’ “Mexico.” The cover, she said, let her explore a lower part of her voice. Her account makes collaboration and interpretation central to the way she discovers new possibilities.
Those choices offer R&B listeners something more useful than a debate over a single genre label. An artist can bring several musical histories into a performance, and a familiar voice can sound different when the arrangement changes. The current tour provides a setting for that continuing exploration.
For another perspective on artists defining a new phase, read PowerPage’s coverage of The Weeknd’s creative plans. Kelela’s original FADER conversation is linked above for readers who want to follow her songwriting discussion in full.
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