Just last month Kelela announced her plans to release a deluxe version of 2013’s mixtape Cut 4 Me. Yet, even with that expected to come out on March 24, Kelela still has much more in store. She recently announced that her new project Hallucinogen EP will be out on May 5.
Kelela followed the exciting news with the release of her first single from her upcoming EP. The six-song EP is made up of songs that were originally intended to be on her debut album, which is expected to be out this fall. The first single, “A Message,” was produced by Venezuelan producer Arca.
Kelela stated in a press release that she first met Arca on a boat in the summer of 2012. The singer went on to describe how the collaboration came about:
We sought one another out across a dance floor and within 5 minutes agreed to meet each other as soon as possible to collaborate. I had one song released to my name and had just heard one of his mixes, but we knew we’d found something in one another. We spent the next three days, 14 hours a day talking about our artistic visions and how it intersected with our personal lives, making songs that reflected that while dancing around the room to let it all out. About 5 or 6 demos were born out of these three days.
“A Message” is one of the demos that came from those sessions and it speaks to the despair that I was experiencing at the time. The initial version of the song spilled out of us in about 25 minutes. Since then, it’s been like a sculpture that I’ve come to and refined over time, adding a lyric here, refining a melody there, adding a bridge, etc. It’s a process that is now finally complete with its release and I’m so happy that I finally get to share it with all of you.
Kelela’s sweet and inviting vocals layered over Arca’s booming production makes this collaboration seem like a match made in heaven. This first single is a good sign that her Hallucinogen EP will be something to look forward to. But if these songs are tracks that didn’t make it onto her album, then we can expect great things from her debut. Winter hasn’t even ended yet and it already looks like Kelela has the rest of the year on lock.
Watch the video above, and read the story of Kelela and Arca meeting below:
