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Kehlani Talks New Single “Altar” and Forthcoming Album ‘Blue Water Road’ | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Sep 26, 2021
Kehlani talks with the Sway In The Morning team about her latest single Altar.
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Kehlani Talks New Single “Altar” and Forthcoming Album ‘Blue Water Road’ | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Sway’s Universe
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0:00
[Music]
0:01
oh man
0:02
i was there from day one hd
0:06
i'ma tell a story every time and i don't
0:08
even care if she gets tired of me
0:09
telling me
0:11
i remember introducing her in her band
0:13
at laney college
0:15
and i saw that
0:16
come on i'm taking it deep i'm taking it
0:19
deep and i remember seeing her and
0:21
saying that young lady
0:23
stands out that lady got something
0:25
different i remember asking big bond
0:27
what do you know about her i remember
0:29
actually uh duane
0:31
from um tony tony tony what who is this
0:34
what do you know about her that cloud 19
0:37
came out you should be here came out
0:40
the world started recognizing her
0:43
sweet sexy savage
0:46
it was good until it wasn't
0:48
you know and everything in between the
0:50
performances that always was an
0:52
electrifying performer even at a young
0:54
age so it made sense to me
0:57
um as she's still at a young age but as
0:59
she matured people were blown away by
1:01
her stage presence she was groomed for
1:03
this hey
1:05
she was made for this
1:07
she come from that soil that fertile
1:09
soil she can't even help herself she's
1:12
destined for greatness since she's
1:14
already reached it welcome her back to
1:16
the show this is our family right here
1:17
give it up to k lonnie man
1:24
hey
1:24
beauty so kind thank you so much
1:28
oh man i'll tell you if i never told you
1:30
i love you
1:31
you know i love you
1:33
i do you you're very honest you're very
1:35
transparent you're very real and you
1:38
know we're all none of us are perfect
1:40
and you're one of those people who are
1:43
willing to discuss it i don't even
1:44
discuss those sort of things all the
1:46
time because it takes a lot of courage
1:48
and bravery and you hear it in your
1:50
music so
1:51
for me and when i listen to it and i
1:53
told you this before that i could relate
1:55
to your lyrics on different levels even
1:56
being this grown ass man that i am you
1:59
know and i think it all has to do with
2:01
things being layered in truth
2:03
which is why i feel like some artists
2:05
may stand out
2:07
or or have more longevity or make more
2:10
impact um than others so um i say that
2:13
to you k lonnie you know because this is
2:16
how i feel that's my love letter to you
2:18
this this day man that's my love how you
2:20
been
2:23
how you been
2:25
i've been so good i've been light and
2:30
healthy and happy and just trying to be
2:33
present you know mm-hmm
2:36
healthy and happy tracy that sounds like
2:38
something you said before
2:40
i have and you gotta say it out and have
2:43
it be
2:43
you know the map for your day every day
2:46
absolutely absolutely
2:49
intentionality is everything how do you
2:51
get there some folks meditate every day
2:54
some folks you know when i was looking
2:55
at the the video for altra which is by
2:57
the way if you haven't seen it see it
2:59
it's a very beautiful
3:01
video where y'all shot it at i'm not
3:02
sure but it reminds me of like
3:04
the wine country sonoma sonoma valley
3:07
and all those areas in northern
3:08
california
3:10
you know some people do that they get in
3:11
tune with nature like how did you how
3:13
did you find your balance
3:16
um i mean truthfully it was just about
3:19
maintaining a disciplined spiritual life
3:21
and the discipline mental health focus
3:23
you know life um
3:25
remembering to do all the little things
3:27
that you know we say we should do and
3:29
are supposed to do but we get too lazy
3:31
or too distracted or don't make time for
3:34
um
3:35
and i just really apply myself in those
3:37
areas and it really does fill me up and
3:39
i notice when i do forget to do them
3:42
that you know i feel it the most so
3:45
what are some of those things okay if
3:46
you don't mind sharing is it journaling
3:48
is it meditating yeah journaling
3:51
meditating keeping my alters clean and
3:54
fed
3:56
um making sure i spend time outside to
3:58
do grounding in nature making sure that
4:02
i express gratitude every time i feel it
4:05
you know whether it's out into the world
4:07
whether it's privately to my you know my
4:09
spiritual core whether it's to my elders
4:11
my friends i think just living in a
4:13
constant state of like practicing the
4:16
things i know i should practice
4:18
[Music]
4:19
it's been really beautiful i can say
4:21
personally having been a fan of yours as
4:24
both an artist and as a woman like i
4:27
feel like i've seen so many different
4:29
iterations of you through projects and
4:31
at each stage of your life you've been
4:33
so authentic but i gotta say like
4:36
this is where you are right now has been
4:38
a true treat
4:40
seeing how you've been able to integrate
4:42
spirituality and so many aspects of your
4:44
life um through music like altar wow i'm
4:48
sure there may be some folks who thought
4:50
like altar thinking this is going to be
4:51
like a wedding song
4:52
but this is about a different type of
4:55
relationship you know the way you um
4:57
place your introduced to the world just
4:59
talking about understanding grief and
5:02
death
5:03
has been a journey for you but it also
5:05
is a continuous journey
5:07
in general you know what i mean like the
5:09
life cycle never ends it just um it
5:13
shifts and it goes into different gears
5:16
and i'm curious because of the context
5:19
of this song and developing a
5:21
relationship with someone after their
5:24
body is gone but their essence you know
5:26
has transitioned in how
5:29
they now become your ancestor you know
5:32
they are again
5:33
how did you get introduced to this like
5:35
i'm curious were you reading like queen
5:37
of wa
5:38
who is so beautiful there's been a guest
5:40
on our show like were you reading sacred
5:42
woman like how did you get introduced to
5:45
um the concept of um ancestors and
5:48
having an altar
5:50
um i think every single culture that
5:53
exists has some form of ancestor
5:55
veneration
5:57
um
5:58
you know everybody just looks different
5:59
and i didn't realize that my mother
6:01
growing up was planting those seeds um
6:04
to what was natural to her and i and i
6:06
didn't know i had a lot of
6:08
very close i gained a lot of very close
6:10
angels uh rather quickly when i was
6:12
little i lost my father when i was one
6:15
um the woman that helped raise me along
6:18
with my mom was my grandma and my
6:20
grandma passed my grandpa passed and we
6:22
always maintained this relationship with
6:25
them but it was very evident to me that
6:27
was like
6:28
we never thought of them as an
6:29
afterthought we never thought of them as
6:31
like oh they passed and it's done my mom
6:33
was always very like they're here
6:35
they're around this is what you do this
6:37
is how you show them
6:39
um and then as i got older and i started
6:42
you know diving into different spiritual
6:43
practices and i committed
6:46
to one that i resonated the highest with
6:49
and got called to
6:50
and just got serious and now i just it's
6:53
really about discipline because the more
6:54
time that you take
6:56
and the more you know you develop a
6:58
consistency you know in your rituals the
7:01
more the spirits come and show
7:02
themselves and go okay
7:04
we're meeting in the middle now you know
7:06
so it's just about application
7:09
i love it kelani is here uh you know
7:14
since the last time you were here we
7:15
were you know talking about your amazing
7:18
daughter
7:20
you know and um i have an amazing
7:22
daughter too kaylani
7:25
that you do i do whatever i talk about
7:28
every day are these practices or do you
7:31
find yourself kind of repeating some of
7:33
the teachings that your mother you know
7:36
um
7:36
gave to you you find yourself giving to
7:38
your daughter
7:40
absolutely my mom was super intentional
7:42
whether she you know realized it or not
7:45
like she even she was so careful with
7:46
her words so caring
7:48
she was very
7:50
um
7:51
like nurturing in very specific ways
7:54
like she really nurtured my
7:56
understanding of like compassion she
7:58
really
7:59
nurtured my awareness she nurtured my
8:01
emotional uh intelligence like she
8:04
we know whether she likes to give
8:06
herself credit for or not like i think
8:08
all mothers we look back and will
8:10
potentially be like i could have done
8:11
this differently i could have done this
8:13
better but
8:14
she really made me aware of how i felt
8:16
and she made sure i was always feeling
8:18
safe to be in the heart space and
8:21
i applied that with my daughter all the
8:22
time you know and my mom really made
8:24
things fun with the little that she had
8:26
so i try to do the same now that i have
8:28
the resources to be able to you know
8:30
take everybody and make sure they can do
8:32
what they want to do so
8:33
i like that did you hear that stunt hp
8:35
she said now that i have the resources i
8:38
like how you put that i want i want to
8:40
talk to kayla too what's up it's heather
8:41
how you doing thank you for calling the
8:43
show hey
8:45
so suede let me put you up on a little
8:47
game that we do here kayla with sway
8:49
oakland and me being from jersey and he
8:52
constantly trying to tell me and tracy
8:54
about oakland and town business and all
8:56
this stuff and we yield and we back and
8:59
forth and all that kelani i'm yielding
9:01
like i was born there
9:03
however
9:04
i want to know about the food in oakland
9:06
because sway is constantly everybody i
9:09
meet from oakland they like to eat right
9:11
but nobody don't want to invite me to
9:13
their house for food okay lonnie like
9:14
i'm always the one right no girl
9:18
can you cook
9:19
kelani can you throw down and if i was
9:22
to come to your house girl what you
9:24
whipping up on the grill for me talk to
9:26
me k lonnie
9:28
we
9:29
we love barbecuing in my house i mean i
9:31
don't even know i live in l.a but we
9:33
love barbecuing at my house i do think
9:35
giving at mine um so everybody comes to
9:38
my house for thanksgiving nice um so i
9:42
spent a few days fully dying over this
9:46
though
9:47
um
9:50
i'm not gonna hold you i've been making
9:52
so much soup lately
9:53
okay
9:54
okay i know that sounds boring but
9:58
getting a little like cold and like
10:00
everybody's hungry and like you just
10:02
want something that feels like a hug on
10:03
the inside like a lot of harder soup you
10:06
know what what nate what name brand can
10:09
soup you you warm up
10:12
don't do me
10:14
don't you do not
10:18
she's making stupid she says she's
10:20
making soup and stupid yeah from scratch
10:22
sway so all right so she said if we come
10:24
to the house if i find if i get invited
10:26
to somebody from oakland's house for
10:28
food kelani said she got me with the
10:30
soup i love a good soup
10:32
i love like a chicken dumpling like yes
10:36
like a hearty really thick like you know
10:40
girl
10:42
see you know we cooked two hb and i
10:44
don't
10:45
she the first one that said it she the
10:47
first one that's that's it and i know it
10:48
wasn't a flex because that's what i'm
10:50
making soup you know but i'm writing
10:52
what i've been enjoying lately but
10:54
yeah yeah that's like damn kayla you
10:56
said soup um
11:11
yeah it's a lot of water hydration too
11:14
um
11:15
can we i'll be remiss if we didn't
11:18
mention this beautiful choreography in
11:20
the altar video
11:22
and
11:23
and the woman standing next to you can
11:25
you
11:25
tell me about that how did that come to
11:27
be
11:29
well her name is dio she's really
11:31
incredible um i met her
11:33
through the internet and she's a
11:35
choreographer dancer she's also a vulgar
11:38
in the very you know well-themed house
11:41
of house of labasia oh
11:43
hey okay
11:45
she is just incredible to me she's
11:48
always been incredible to me like from
11:49
the moment that i discovered her online
11:52
from like her spiritual knowledge and
11:53
how well she speaks about the things
11:55
that she knows to like really it was her
11:57
dance videos and her words that were
11:59
captivating me and i just hit her up one
12:01
day and was like look like i really want
12:03
to put you in a video
12:04
and she was down and she came to l.a and
12:06
choreographed it and starred in it and
12:09
she is just chef's kiss like i really
12:12
hope that after this she goes on to just
12:15
like being in many more videos and
12:17
choreographing things for other people
12:19
because she's like an absolute star and
12:21
like super humble too
12:23
super humble too yeah that that was
12:24
really amazing i used to you know
12:27
kelani i used to dance you know
12:31
okay yeah thank you kelani i appreciate
12:33
that thank you
12:35
come on i used to be at the alice
12:37
archers when it was on the malanga
12:39
center alice art center my sister taught
12:41
there and we used to dance
12:43
okay and then mosswood park we used to
12:45
dance over there to defer marie the
12:47
whole nine so i have a very a big
12:50
appreciation for uh choreography and
12:53
this alter song is for your um your
12:55
third your third album blue water road
12:58
um
12:59
what is blue can you explain that title
13:01
that just sounds really interesting to
13:03
me blue water road
13:06
bluewater road is like my
13:10
sanctuary it's also my river
13:12
it is my
13:14
state of mind it's entering the world
13:16
that i've created and inviting people in
13:19
you know so
13:21
it's a continuous road it's continuous
13:23
journey it's a safe space
13:26
um i just wanted to give people a
13:28
location and a world to exist in and
13:32
people can come live in it you know
13:34
that's the hope
13:36
hey man come on town business i love it
13:38
kelani is here 888-742-3345
13:45
[Applause]
13:48
from arizona
13:50
yeah grand rogers kiana welcome to the
13:52
show
13:56
good morning
13:57
i never called in before so this is
13:59
weird
14:00
is this your first radio call first time
14:02
on the radio
14:04
um
14:07
okay we got a newbie y'all kiana welcome
14:10
welcome you have reached the highest
14:13
plateau any other place you call out
14:15
after this is downhill from here but
14:18
what we'll do is give you your
14:19
citizenship now you are a super citizen
14:22
a sway in the morning baby over here
14:25
talk to kayla it's all yours
14:28
yeah um
14:30
honestly i just wanted to call because i
14:32
just love
14:33
listening to her and i just love
14:34
listening to you and
14:36
i don't know it feels like whenever i
14:38
even hear her talk in interviews and
14:40
things like that i just feel like it's
14:42
so genuine and it just takes me to
14:44
another place
14:45
of like really just being the person who
14:47
you are
14:48
and like sharing that with people when
14:50
you don't have to to like i think you
14:52
just do it so like
14:54
eloquently and just i'm always blown
14:56
away and i just always get so excited
14:58
and i always like tune into everything
15:00
and so it's kind of cool to just be able
15:01
to like give you your flowers because
15:03
you deserve them
15:05
oh thank you so much that means a lot to
15:07
me thank you for seeing me and thank you
15:09
for receiving me
15:13
okay
15:14
okay yeah that's what you the way this
15:16
thing works is when you talk to the
15:17
guests and they respond you respond back
15:19
key honesty that's that that's right
15:22
the first time she said what she had to
15:24
say it was so sweet thank you so much
15:27
okay i'll leave her alone no problem
15:31
kiana thank you and look you got to talk
15:34
to some somebody you truly admire so
15:36
thank you for tuning in to the show okay
15:38
that's right we got jay from colorado
15:41
big j what up baby
15:46
what up baby
15:48
mad kudos yo i listen to i like that
15:52
every damn day hey
15:57
thank you
15:59
not 20 to 10. she paying rent stop
16:02
playing with her
16:06
hey already yo when is the next tattoo
16:10
yo i like the i definitely like your
16:11
tattoos it is definitely a uh
16:15
i'm a big fan of tattoos period so
16:17
when's the next one and
16:20
what you're gonna get
16:22
honestly it's taking everything in me
16:24
not to put another tattoo on my face
16:26
like it i am genuinely struggling not to
16:29
put another tattoo somewhere
16:32
on my face
16:33
but we will see because right now i
16:35
don't really have anything planned but
16:37
i'm one of those people who gets a
16:39
random tattoo like when i feel like
16:40
you're like i'll call somebody up like
16:42
you feel like tattooing me today i don't
16:43
know what i want but come over we'll
16:44
figure it out
16:48
definitely those to you uh whoever you
16:50
got doing your body art and everything
16:52
they do a damn good job but mostly you
16:55
for your career and everything you're
16:57
doing and i look forward to you know
16:59
your new music that you got coming out
17:02
thank you so much i appreciate it
17:05
all right
17:07
jay you always support us man we
17:08
appreciate you you know you're a super
17:09
citizen excited about it okay i'm so
17:13
curious there was once a time i mean not
17:15
that long ago where i feel like face
17:17
tattoos had such a stigma and now it's
17:19
it's there's more i guess the casualty
17:23
to them or casualness to them
17:25
what attracts you to it you don't see it
17:28
a lot on women
17:30
um you know i don't know i feel like
17:34
i just did it out of like expression and
17:37
i never felt like it defined me i feel
17:40
like
17:40
i get this comment all the time from
17:42
people like they'll be hanging on me and
17:43
then i'll take like my jacket off or
17:45
something like oh i forgot she was patty
17:46
because like it doesn't become a part of
17:48
my personality
17:49
um i'm actually glad that people have
17:51
stepped into this light of understanding
17:54
that like the outer appearance doesn't
17:56
define someone's ability to be
17:58
successful or professional
18:00
or
18:01
stuff like that or it doesn't define
18:02
their softness or their femininity
18:05
because i think i'm super soft and i
18:07
have freaking you know tattoos on my
18:09
face so you know i just did what i
18:12
wanted to do and the world led me back
18:15
that's crazy that because kayla i can't
18:17
even get myself together to take a a a
18:20
needle for nothing like in the doctor
18:23
tell me
18:24
heather the worst thing you can do is
18:26
drink before you get here because you
18:27
know you're gonna get a shot like what
18:29
do you do like knowing that you're about
18:30
to get these needles are you eating soup
18:33
is that the remedy what do you do before
18:35
you take out these needles
18:38
you know what i it just feels good to me
18:41
i know that probably sounds crazy but
18:42
yeah it feels good to me it's a relief i
18:45
always know that i'm leaving it with
18:47
something really cool
18:49
like
18:50
you know like
18:51
i don't know it's mind over matter
18:57
so you don't even feel pain
19:00
um i do feel pain oh i do i feel it but
19:04
it's this is this process while you're
19:05
getting tatted where like you're telling
19:07
yourself like
19:08
this hurts but i'm getting through it
19:10
and then you feel like really
19:11
accomplished afterwards and you have
19:13
something cool to show for it so mm-hmm
19:16
yeah man i'll break it down man y'all
19:18
want to get some face tats
19:20
no i'm cool on that's good
19:23
i do need another tattoo i don't know
19:24
about your face but i i relate sometimes
19:26
you can um dedicate the pain to
19:29
something in your life that's what i've
19:30
done anyway and it's like if i can get
19:33
through this tattoo and then be left of
19:35
beauty then why can't that same thing
19:37
happen in other areas of my life it's
19:39
like trusting the pain in a sense
19:42
yeah exactly it's transformative
19:45
mm-hmm
19:46
hmm okay well you know maybe it's
19:49
something i got to try hp we
19:56
uh uh we're gonna take one more caller
19:59
cheryl is in um baltimore cheryl how are
20:02
you grand rapids
20:03
hey cheryl hey hello how are you guys
20:07
hey hey hey hey
20:09
hey
20:10
um kalani i just wanted to say your
20:13
album um it was good until it wasn't it
20:15
was a huge album for me
20:18
um and it definitely helped me get
20:20
through my divorce
20:21
um and
20:24
it was like
20:25
every song on there was just kind of it
20:27
just spoke to me
20:29
and i just wanted to say thank you sis
20:32
like oh i'm so glad that you got saluda
20:35
i know it's tough and i'm sorry you had
20:36
to experience that but you free girl bro
20:39
[Applause]
20:43
and
20:44
you know sway heather b you know all you
20:47
guys do you think i listen to you guys
20:49
every day at work
20:50
um
20:51
you know thank you for just doing what
20:53
you guys do but kalani you really helped
20:55
me through my divorce with that album so
20:56
i just wanted to say thank you
20:59
thank you so much i appreciate you i
21:02
love everything you do as well with your
21:04
um celebrity gossip and everything like
21:06
that so just keep on being you guys
21:09
thank you thank you
21:11
guys what's up cheryl i'm glad you're
21:13
doing well cheryl thanks for calling you
21:15
a super citizen okay
21:19
okay danielle krista you got a lot of
21:21
college kailani i'ma suggest that you
21:23
hit her directly on her social and you
21:25
can follow her at kailani um and listen
21:29
proud of you keep going we need you you
21:31
feed us we're in your corner you got a
21:33
village here
21:35
uh congratulations on the new uh the new
21:38
song and i can't wait to hear the new
21:40
album and we can't wait to have you in
21:41
the studio again
21:43
i can't wait to see you guys and thank
21:45
you so much absolutely
21:47
we're going to be doing a swayfest again
21:49
next um in 2022 kaylani i'm going to put
21:52
my bid in right now if you're available
21:54
i'd love to have you
21:56
have you on that stage you know her
21:58
family keep me posted
22:01
goes down she know where it'll be
22:02
happening at right in the town in the
22:04
town
22:06
we'll take care we'll take real good
22:07
care of you trust okay see you guys okay
22:11
appreciate you give it up for k lonnie
22:12
town business hey dessert all right all
22:16
right have a beautiful day
22:20
[Music]
22:32
you
#Arts & Entertainment