Kehlani is living her life on her own terms. The Grammy-nominated artist has experienced many ups and downs and went through a journey of self-identity in the public eye. Now, she is just focusing on the simple things in her life that make her happy. The mother of one opened up about her newfound perception of life in a 24 Hours with Kehlani video for Vogue. After joining the religion of La Regla de Ocha, she said that a spirit told her that “less will always be more for me and my daughter.” It didn’t register for the 27-year-old until she came across her now home in Topanga, CA. Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles, she finally feels like she can breathe with her daughter Adeya Nomi.
“I think I underestimated what I needed and then I had a kid,” she said. “Now, I get to see the reflection of what a human needs: air and sun and food and water, and animals and joy. I think seeing her get all that, it reflected that I needed to prioritize this as my home life as well and it fed my inner child, and it fed my peace, and it fed the things I completely bypassed for years because I was just working and working and working. Now I know it has to be this way.”
Growing up, Kehlani didn’t have a stable environment. Her mom was an addict all of her life and her dad died when she was one and so, she was raised by her aunt. However, now she feels like “I created my belonging” after years of feeling like she didn’t belong anywhere. In the video, the “Nunya” singer also opened up about her love for photography. While she doesn’t consider herself “worthy” of the title photographer, she enjoys it and loves watching her photos come to life.
With music, the California native had to take a hard look at what she really wanted out of her career. “I had to strip back the business part. I had to do it with music first,” she said. “Let me stop thinking about, oh I’m at this level, I need a radio hit which had led me to think about every area in my life. And at the end of the day, it’s just me and my voice in the studio and a pen or it’s me and my camera or it’s me and a notepad listening to a song and thinking up an idea for it. I’m just back with just my mind.”
She admitted that her biggest fear was being afraid to put out music based on what others may think. But now she is not letting anything stop her from making the music she wants to make whether three people like it or thousands of people like it.
“I’m just in the business of doing whatever the f*** I want to do because life is too short. And not to get morbid but I’ve had a lot of young people that are my friends pass in the last couple years and they didn’t get to do everything they dreamed of and wanted to do so I’ma do all the things,” she said.
24 Hours With Kehlani | Vogue
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