Kelela Quotes

I think the voice is an underrated instrument these days and it's easy to make up for lack of ability with effects. I think sometimes people are more wowed with effects than core craftsmanship. Strong voices are not as common as they used to be.

The best vocalists I can think of are female.

I don't believe in singing lessons. You can sing or you can't.

The better voice doesn't mean being a better singer.

I studied voice for about two years with an amazing coach, and I never rose above the level of mediocre.

I just wanted to show people - maybe I'm wrong - that I can still really sing. I can sing better than I ever have before. My intonation is way better, my timing, my phrasing - there's a lot more expression; I feel it's a more lived-in, soulful voice.

Because everything about the voice interests me, I felt it would be fascinating to learn a completely different style of singing.

There are so many different people that I've emulated vocally. In the rock world - Sebastian Bach, Vince Neil, Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant. They all had amazing vocal talent.

Anything that I can do with my voice that's good, I'll try to do.

I don't think I'm a singer that likes to flex my vocals. I'll do some runs and a bunch of high notes, but that's it. I really pride myself and I really work on just trying to sing. Like emotions. Just using my voice, not doing anything extra.

I use my voice as an instrument.

It's very much like opera singers. They do the same thing. The first thing in the morning and the last thing at night, the thing they think about is their voice and how to take care of it.

I think it's a given that people know what I can do vocally.

I took vocal lessons for the first time and actually learned a lot about using my voice as an instrument as opposed to just doing what I've always done and going by feeling. I'm still doing that, but I've learned a lot of tricks and how to manipulate and play with my voice a little bit.

The human voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but it is the most difficult to play.

Your voice is like a very serious instrument that you have to tame if you want to be an amazing singer - Marvin Gaye or Michael Jackson.

I think I'm a vocal genius, not a musical genius. I like background vocals. I consider myself a voice, not a singer. A voice is a sound, and singing is what you do with that sound.

I treat my vocals as an instrument.

Maybe I was just born with a little bit of vocals or natural talent, but I feel like I taught myself. I just started taking vocal lessons to just work on my breathing, my vowels and stuff.

The only vocal training I had was playing with a tape recorder as a kid, and you know, doing the beginning of the 'Lone Ranger' show, with a hearty hi-o silver, and just having fun, never really thinking I would be an announcer.

I think I've learned a lot on the vocal side of things.

The biggest thing is to just keep your voice in shape so that when the emotion hits, it's there to have the colors to paint those pictures with the lyrics as well as the sound.

I've always been obsessed with the grain of the human voice. It's the ultimate instrument, there's this whole level of virtuosity and poetry, a sort of athleticism, of controlling your voice.

When you do a 'messa di voce,' that means you start soft, you crescendo into loud - and then you go back to soft again. Some people call it circus tricks, but in bel canto, it's really written into the music.

People often ask me how I developed my vocal sound, and the answer usually disappoints them: 'It's just the way I sound when I sing.'