Kehlani Ashley Parrish was born on April 24, 1995, in
Oakland, California.[11] They were adopted and raised by their aunt when their mother, who had a drug addiction, served time in jail.[12] Kehlani's father, who also had a drug addiction, died when they were a toddler.[12] During their teenage years, they attended the
Oakland School for the Arts, where they initially practiced dance, particularly ballet and
modern dance.[13][14][15]
Early in their life, Kehlani aspired to train as a dancer at the
Juilliard School, but they had a knee injury in junior high, which led them to turn their attention towards singing.[16] While living with their aunt, Kehlani was exposed almost exclusively to
R&B and
neo soul artists, such as
Lauryn Hill,
Erykah Badu and
Jill Scott, whom today they describe as some of their early musical influences.[16] When they were 14, Kehlani was recruited to join a local
pop cover band, Poplyfe.[13]
Career
2009–2013: Beginnings with PopLyfe
Kehlani's singing career effectively began when they started out as a member and lead vocalist for the group called PopLyfe. The band's music was produced by former
Tony! Toni! Tone! member
D'Wayne Wiggins.[16][17] Within two years, the group performed throughout the
Bay Area and other cities. In 2011, they auditioned for the
sixth season of America's Got Talent, and eventually finished in fourth place. During their final appearance, judge
Piers Morgan told Kehlani, "You've got real talent, but I don't think you need the group."[13][18][19]
After the end of America's Got Talent, Kehlani left PopLyfe, because of several managerial and contractual disputes.[20] Over six months, they avoided doing anything music related to avoid being sued by the group's management.[17] In 2012 and 2013, Kehlani was effectively homeless, moving from house to house and often sleeping on couches.[16] During their senior year of high school, they moved to Los Angeles, California, with no legal guardian. In 2013,
Nick Cannon, who had been the host of America's Got Talent during PopLyfe's run, called Kehlani to ask about being in a rap group. They agreed at first and went to Los Angeles, but, ultimately didn't like the direction of the group and moved back to Oakland. To help with money and food, they decided to begin stealing iPhones to sell, and items from grocery stores for a short time.[13] Months later, Kehlani released their first solo track on
SoundCloud, called "ANTISUMMERLUV". Cannon called back after hearing the song and he bought them an apartment in
LA, along with studio time.[13][16][17]
2014–2017: SweetSexySavage
In 2014, the studio time culminated in the release of their first mixtape, called Cloud 19. The mixtape features
guest appearances from Kyle Dion. Cannon also sent them to New York City to work with record producer Jahaan Sweet.[13] The mixtape ranked at twenty-eighth on Complex's list of the "50 Best Albums of 2014,"[8] and was also listed among
Pitchfork's "Overlooked Mixtapes 2014."[21] A song they released in late 2014, "Till the Morning" was placed by Billboard as one of the "Emerging Picks of the Week" on November 7, 2014.[22] In 2015, Kehlani opened for American rapper
G-Eazy on the second leg of his From the Bay to the Universe tour.[23]
On April 28, 2015, they released their second mixtape You Should Be Here. Billboard called it the "year's first great R&B album",[24] when it debuted at number five on Billboard'sTop R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.[25] The project features guest appearances from fellow American rapper
Chance the Rapper and American singer
BJ the Chicago Kid.[26] A week after the release, they announced that they had signed a deal to Atlantic Records.[27] In support of the mixtape, they embarked on the You Should Be Here tour, which sold out every North American date and select European dates.[28] Throughout 2015, they also received individual plaudits: Complex called them one of the "15 Artists to Watch Out for in 2015"[29] and Rolling Stone named them one of the "10 New Artists You Need to Know".[30]You Should Be Here also earned a
Grammy Award nomination for
Best Urban Contemporary Album.[31] In March 2016, Kehlani guest featured on English singer
Zayn's single, "
Wrong" from his debut solo studio album Mind of Mine.[32] Their song "
Gangsta" was featured on the soundtrack for the August 2016 hit movie Suicide Squad, which gave them and their music some beneficial recognition, as it reached number 41 on the Hot 100.[33]
On November 26, 2016, Kehlani revealed the title of their debut studio album SweetSexySavage,[34] which was released on Atlantic Records on January 27, 2017.[9][35] In December 2017, Kehlani guest featured on American rapper
Eminem's single, "
Nowhere Fast" from his ninth studio album Revival.[36] Kehlani's third annual Tsunami Christmas tour concluded in Santa Ana, California on December 18, 2017.[37]
2018–present: It Was Good Until It Wasn't and Blue Water Road
On September 27, 2019, Kehlani and Russian-German DJ
Zedd released the collaborative single "
Good Thing."[46] Kehlani and American singer
Teyana Taylor's then released the single "
Morning" in November of that year.[47]
On January 28, 2020, Kehlani guest featured on Canadian singer
Justin Bieber's promotional single, "
Get Me" from his fifth studio album, Changes. They were also set to be a supporting act alongside American rapper and singer
Jaden Smith for Bieber's Changes Tour, which was pushed back due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The tour was pushed back to 2022 and renamed the
Justice World Tour to support both Changes and its successor, Bieber's sixth studio album, Justice (2021), although Kehlani was dropped as an opening act.[48] Kehlani released their second studio album, It Was Good Until It Wasn't on May 8, 2020.[49] It debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, based on 83,000
album-equivalent units earned (including 25,000 copies of pure album sales).[50]
In September 2020, Kehlani recorded songs for the deluxe version of It Was Good Until It Wasn't. However, after the session they decided that the songs would fit better on a separate project, and began working on their third studio album, Blue Water Road.[51] On September 14, 2021, Kehlani revealed the teaser for Blue Water Road, and announced that the album will be released later that year.[52][53] The album's lead single "Altar" was released on September 15.[54] The second single, "Little Story", was released on February 24, 2022. On March 24, Kehlani took to their Instagram that their album would be released April 29. The following week, the singer released "Up at Night", featuring Bieber, as the third single from the album.
On April 4, 2024, Kehlani released the lead single, "After Hours", ahead of their next album.[59]
Kehlani affirmed their support for
Palestine, expressing their stance in their music video, "Next 2 U". The video, which premiered on May 31, 2024, began with a poem by Palestinian-American writer
Hala Alyan and the
demonstration chant "Long Live The Intifada", an allusion to the 1987 uprising against Israel’s presence in the
West Bank and
Gaza Strip. In the music video's outro, Kehlani vocalized a personally penned message dedicated to the children in Palestine who perished in the
Gaza-Israel conflict.[60]
Personal life
In January 2016, it was confirmed that Kehlani was in a relationship with star NBA point guard
Kyrie Irving. In March 2016, Canadian singer
PartyNextDoor posted a picture of Kehlani's hand on Instagram, insinuating that they were in bed together. This caused a media controversy across Twitter, in which abuse was tweeted against Kehlani in hundreds of thousands of posts. Kehlani attempted
suicide shortly thereafter. Irving later stated on Twitter that they had broken up before the incident.[61] Kehlani took to social media to explain that they did not cheat on Irving in a public statement to acknowledge their attempted suicide in the wake of the media attention.[62] In 2018, Irving penned an apology to Kehlani via an Instagram post, expressing appreciation towards the singer, and they responded wishing him well.[63]
On September 6, 2019, it was confirmed that Kehlani was dating American rapper
YG,[64] but after three months of dating, Kehlani and YG broke up. However, the two released a collaborative single for
Valentine's Day, "Konclusions", on February 14, 2020. In May 2020, during an interview with
The Breakfast Club, Kehlani said that they discovered that YG was cheating on them after seeing his phone. YG apologized by filling their lawn with roses. Kehlani added that they do not speak, but remain cordial.[65]
Kehlani announced that they were pregnant with their first child, a girl, on Instagram on October 12, 2018,[66] with the father being Javaughn Young-White, who plays guitar for Kehlani.[67] They opened up in December 2018 about prenatal depression[68] and how their pregnancy is harder than it might look.[69] On March 23, 2019, Kehlani gave birth to a daughter at home.[70] Kehlani is a
vegan.[71] They have spoken about their past experiences being a survivor of sexual assault and rape.[72] In the summer of 2020, Kehlani bought a small farm in
Simi Valley, California, where they live with their daughter.[73] They were in a relationship with the 070 collective member, Danielle Balbuena, better known as
070 Shake.[74][75] In 2020, Kehlani started practicing the African diasporic religion
La Regla de Ocha.[76]
In politics
Kehlani expressed solidarity with Palestine during the
2023 Israel–Hamas war. In
Instagram posts, they voiced disapproval for celebrities who have chosen to remain silent on the matter, implying that they prioritize their personal business endeavors over addressing a pressing humanitarian crisis.[77][78] They were a principal signer of the October 2023 open letter Artists Against
apartheid.[79][80] In November 2023, Kehlani signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire and an end to Israel's
blockade of the Gaza Strip.[81] On May 27,2024, Kehlani voiced their criticism on Instagram, this time directed at specifically fellow musicians for remaining silent about the Gaza-Israel conflict in Palestine.[82]
Sexuality and gender identity
In April 2018, they spoke about their sexuality on Twitter, stating, "I'm queer. Not bi, not straight. I'm attracted to women, men, REALLY attracted to queer men, non-binary people, intersex people, trans people. lil poly pansexual".[83][84]
After that, during a live stream in early 2021, Kehlani announced that they identify as a lesbian,[85] after having publicly identified as
queer and
pansexual in the past. They prefer
polyamorous relationships.[86] They have stated that it is important for them to include female pronouns in their music.[87]
In an April 2019 interview with Diva magazine, Kehlani stated they are "definitely on the
non-binary scale" although preferred "she" pronouns.[88] In December 2020, Kehlani updated their pronouns on Twitter to "she/they".[89] In an interview with Byrdie Magazine in 2021, they stated their preference for "they" over "she", because "something feels really affirming when people say they", and that "it feels like you really see me".[90]
In an interview with Power 106, Kehlani discusses their attempted suicide was due to the negative media response as well as their first major heartbreak. They state that their album was therapeutic through their difficult time. During their recovery, they got a tattoo that says "perdida y encontrada" which in English translates to "lost and found".[97]
On their travels to Australia during August 2017, Kehlani received a "Kirituhi", a
Maori tattoo from a New Zealand artist, whom they flew from New Zealand to Sydney, Australia to complete. On Kehlani's Instagram post, they captioned the photo: "[T]he piece representing my whānau/family, 6 koru representing my 4 siblings here on earth and the 2 that have transferred into the next life. 2 mangopare/hammerhead sharks representing guidance and strength through adversity and tribulation."[98]
On January 5, 2018, Kehlani posted a photo to Instagram showing that their "woke" hand tattoo had been now covered up with a lotus flower; they stated that they felt that their "hand would speak for [them] before [they] even got a chance to open [their] mouth".[99]
Business ventures
Entrepreneurship in activism
In tandem with the release of their single, "Next 2 U" in 2024, they unveiled merchandise created by Palestinian, Nöl Collective creative director and founder, Yasmeen Mjalli. The entirety of the proceeds from the sales of the merchandise went towards aiding Palestinian, Congolese and Sudanese families, in collaboration with Operation Olive Branch.[100][101]
^Josephs, Brian (April 24, 2015).
"Happy Birthday, Kehlani!". The Boombox.
Archived from the original on February 21, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2015.