Album Review: new avatar | Kelela

Today, I'd like to open up the Music Sanctum for a royal welcome to Rhythm and Blues experimental vocalist, Kelela...for her newest addition in her discography, new avatar (all lowercase), released on July 10th, 2026.  This is the third full length album from the Ethiopian-American musician following 2023's dance-electronic album Raven.  Kelela was focused on arranging an alternative album that was in parts R&B, in other parts rock, in an effort to bring catharsis to her "queer black femme" audience that felt "othered" in a lot of rock and alternative movements growing up.

Kelela returns with her signature silky vocals, this time overlaying an arrangement of guitar riffs and metallic cords that are interwoven throughout the R&B voice. The opening track, the leading single idea 1 is a huge pivot from the heavily stylized club anthems and, at other times, emotional serenades that were in Raven as well as 2017's Take Me Apart, but in many ways for her, this is a return to her roots. idea 1 offers heavy electric guitar breakdowns and surreal vocals..."Don't you look away!" Kelela sings to us as she bares her soul...'this song doesn’t offer answers, it just refuses to look away.' Kelela says of the track on socials.  Throughout the run of new avatar, Kelela playfully dips through the equilibrium of genre-bending, fluidly navigating from dance in point blank, to pure grunge in goin down...dipping into a really classic-feeling, emotional duet with featured vocalist and guitarist A.K. Paul in outta time, so very reminiscent of classic 90s R&B. 

This leads to possibly the biggest catalyst in the album which comes in the form of the double-whammy against me which flows directly right into crystalize which Kelela details the paralysis and the wound of what feels like a breakup, or even possibly her relationship with the world and its current events..."All that I can't say, don't hold it against me, there's more than one way..."  There is a direct statement with grief in the sense of dealing with a broken relationship beyond repair...feeling unchosen in crystalize..."I don't know which way to go, I'm the one who loved you most." retailian lullaby is the calm after the storm, utilizing a soft guitar strum and white noise in the form of rainfall. 

This leads right into the second single linknb which offers the title of the album in a frenetic and fast-paced tribute to city-life, laced with guitars..."sing to a star, new avatar, illumination."  don't piss me off sounds like a deep cut from Raven in its dance-break club-heavy reminder for those who are fans of the second album. Which leads to another reprieve in the form of a poppy, high-energy track, new life forms which features a rap-styled vocal that Kelela offers space for artist Fousheé.

I think the most popular moment for a lot of people who are unfamiliar with Kelela's work comes in the form of the bridge which is a through and through pop-styled dance track, featuring a silky smooth vocal guest in none other than PinkPantheress herself. The half-English and half-Kenyan pop sensation enters into Kelela's world effortlessly, it's a match made in heaven and it's gained so much traction in the short time that it's been a single. The album all ends in this emotional goodbye; if we meet again which is an open question to the possibility of a relationship that could be...that same sense of grief that lingers.

This is one of Kelela's most cohesive bodies of work, and this is coming from a longtime fan of hers for over a decade now. I've enjoyed everything she's put out as an artist, but as a full body of work...this is one of those no-skip albums. This got me through an incredibly difficult July and I'm still studying it. Kelela came from a place where she didn't want to speak on the other side of the tunnel of Raven, where there is still rawness and darkness to explore. I'm unbelievably impressed with how she has molded three genres, maybe more and pulled it into one sound that is her own.  new avatar is a must listen, for those who need an introduction to her work, and those of us who have been fans for all this time. 

Listen to new avatar here:

https://kelela.bandcamp.com/album/new-avatar-2