KELELA Announces New Album
By KELELA
Announces New Album
new avatar
OUT 10 JULY
ON WARP RECORDS
SHARES NEW SINGLE
“linknb”
LISTEN HERE / WATCH HERE
Following the release of “idea 1” and an intimate fan screening that brought SoHo to a standstill, Kelela announces new avatar – her third album via Warp Records, arriving July 10th — and shares its second single, “linknb”, produced by Oscar Scheller.
“linknb” is the natural next move in Kelela’s new era. Born during a season of writer’s block, the track began as a mantra Kelela wrote to pull herself back into the work. Lead by a labyrinthine guitar riff over driving metal drums, “linknb” is a song about confidence earned through difficulty, about refusing to shrink. “It’s not hard to be brave / Easier to give too much away / All I know is that I paved the way, underpaid.”
The visual, directed by Mischa Notcutt, places Kelela at the center of a city dreamscape, moving with urgency and purpose. A close friend and Kelela’s previous creative director, Notcutt was a natural choice. Blurring realism with abstraction, the video transforms a solitary journey into a meditation on self-discovery and renewal.
new avatar is where everything Kelela has been building toward comes into focus. She started writing her first songs in the D.C. indie scene before the club music and electronic production that defined her early career took over. With new avatar, she closes the loop: R&B run through distorted guitar living alongside new intersections in dance music, culminating in a sound that pulls from everywhere she has ever lived musically. The album also features collaborations with PinkPantheress, A. K. Paul and Fousheé. “This album finds solace in confronting,” Kelela says. “I don’t want the music to be a distraction from what’s really going on in the world; I want it to make sense in this crazy moment while helping people get in touch with the beauty and joy they’re also experiencing.”
The album reckons with a world coming apart at the seams, and the clarity that survival demands. “People also need to know that my friends and I are laughing constantly and that humor isn’t a defense mechanism; it’s an expression of how sharp our read is and how clearly we see the world.” At its heart, new avatar depicts a multi-dimensional experience, and while the world outside is present, it never weakens Kelela’s resolve
new avatar
artwork & tracklist:
01 idea 1
02 point blank
03 goin down
04 outta time (feat. A. K. Paul)
05 against me
06 crystalize
07 retaliation lullaby
08 linknb
09 don’t piss me off
10 new life forms (feat. Fousheé)
11 the bridge (feat. PinkPantheress)
12 if we meet again
PRE-ORDER HERE
About Kelela:
Throughout her globally revered, boundary-pushing career, Kelela has established a lane of her own in R&B and electronic music. On her long-awaited third album, new avatar, the singer/songwriter (through the versatility of the guitar) challenges perceptions of these genres, while weaving together fragments of lived experiences to shape a world of connection and resilience during times of unrest.
The songs journey through Black femme rage, joy as resistance, Gotham City-esque dystopia, misogynoir, romantic tension, and more. It’s anchored by production that demands a broader rethink about alternative, rock and indie music.
Kelela’s defiant nature has propelled her so far already — from her hometown of Washington, D.C to world stages. In 2013, she released her debut mixtape, Cut 4 Me. She continued solidifying her revolutionary R&B sound with 2015’s Hallucinogen EP, with The New York Times naming its single, “Rewind,” one of the “25 Songs That Tell Us Where Music Is Going”. By 2017, she released her electric debut album Take Me Apart (which was followed by 2018’s TAKE ME A_PART, THE REMIXES), building upon her intimate storytelling.
After a nearly five-year hiatus, she returned in 2023 with her groundbreaking second album, Raven, and its critically-acclaimed counterpart, RAVE:N, The Remixes in 2024. Raven has been hailed as one of the ‘Best Albums of 2023’ by Pitchfork, Billboard, Vulture, Variety, and more, while the remixes solidified her as a leader in the dance music space.
In 2025, Kelela showcased yet another innovative side of her artistry with her live album In The Blue Light, which hit #5 on the Contemporary Jazz chart and #20 on the Jazz Albums chart. Now, with new avatar, Kelela displays the masterful intention she puts into forming new sonic cityscapes. But don’t confuse it with escapism: “I don’t want the music to be a distraction from what’s really going on in the world; I want it to help you get into it.”