Kehlani on the Meaning of Her New Albums Apocalyptic Artwork – Pitchfork

Over the last few years, through hurricanes of prying headlines, the sudden deaths of artist friends Mac Miller, Chynna, and Lexii Alijai, and the whirlwind of motherhood, Kehlani has continued to release a stream of intensely personal pop and R&B songs. So when the coronavirus hit and the singers label urged her to delay her sophomore album It Was Good Until It Wasnt, or else take charge of the promotion of it herself, she got to work. In anticipation of Californias shelter-in-place order, the 25-year-old asked photographer and videographer Bri Alysse, who has been documenting Kehlanis career since 2015, to move into her Los Angeles home.

We had to sit together to brainstorm what the new cover was going to be, because we had everything planned for a completely different rollout, Kehlani tells me over the phone last Friday, the morning of her albums release. Working together, Alysse and Kehlani decided the visuals should capture the tenor of our current quarantine moment. Here, Kehlani breaks down her albums dystopian artwork.

Pitchfork: How does the artwork correspond with the albums stories of love and relationships?

Its symbolic of an internal thing. [The destruction] is technically in my backyardthis is the shit thats going on in my life, in my head, in my spirit. It tells the story of the album, of a romantic situation I was in, with everything behind me being really crazy, and whats in front of me being really crazy too. Im in that middle ground, the confused intersection of Do I go or do I stay? Is this what I think it is? What does everybody else see?

Whats your favorite visual metaphor in the artwork?

I like the hose, because the fire thats going on behind me is really, really, really, really huge, but I just have this tiny hose. To me, that represents the time I was at my worst and trying to figure it out, but I could only do so much until deciding to leave the entire situation. Its symbolic of how much we as womenor anybody in a relationshiptry to water things down that are beyond the point of being watered.

Theres a tear on your face on the back cover. Were you really crying or is that Photoshop?

The tear was Photoshop for sure. I kept laughing because I had to make myself make such a shocked face.

We cant see what you see, but whats the most important thing to know about whats in front of you?

Its definitely a little bit more hopeful but there is still a shock factor, a little bit of fear of the unknown. Im a Taurus and one of our biggest struggles can be that we only open up to everybody on surface level. So when we finally get into a very personal relationship and open up very deeply to one person, by the time that goes sour, we want to stay and build. We cant imagine having to go open ourselves up that deeply all over again to someone else. Thats a big thing. So its hopeful, but its that struggle. I know that whats in front of me is going to be a lot. Its going to be heavy. Its out of my comfort zone, but it clearly isnt as damaging as what was going on behind me.

Were there books, films, music videos, or other pieces of art that inspired you as you were dreaming up the cover?

We were trying to capture a suburban eeriness, almost like a scary movie or thriller poster. Theres clearly something going on, but its in a happy looking neighborhood, so you really dont know whats up. We were just trying to make sure that if you saw this [poster], would you go see the movie.

In addition to creating this album art, youve made four music videos in quarantine. Whats it been like being creative in the middle of a pandemic?

This took me out of my comfort zone. I had to learn a lot. I usually have a team: a makeup artist, hair stylist, stylist, and two videographers, not just [Bri Alysse]. All I have to do at that point is show up to set and be in the photo or the video. So getting on YouTube and looking at makeup tutorials to learn how to do my makeup for a camera? I had no idea how that even works. Im a super tomboy. But as you see the videos progressing, you can tell my glam is progressing. We are trying to get every single aspect of this to a tee, sitting in my hot-ass garage, playing with video editing software. Ive watched Bri get up at 7 in the morning to test out a new drone that we bought that neither of us knew how to work. And honestly, I appreciate it going this way, because these are valuable skills that I can take outside of quarantine. If things ever do become team-accessible again, then I can walk onto set and say, Ive done this before. I know exactly how I want it to go. Id like to participate.

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Kehlani on the Meaning of Her New Albums Apocalyptic Artwork - Pitchfork