Kehlani: The Survivor – heartbreak, attempted suicide & media backlash may break most people, but not Kehlani…she’s a survivor with a story to tell!

Kehlani Ashley Parrish or better known plainly as Kehlani, is a young, 2 times Grammy nominated rising, power talent.

Her debut commercial mixtape, “Cloud 19“, in 2014, was acclaimed as Complex’s “50 Best Albums of 2014”, and her second commercial mixtape in 2015, “You Should Be Here“, hightailed the R&B/Hip-Hop chart as No. 05 following her sold-out North American tour.

“You Should Be Here” went on to receive a Grammy Nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album in 2016. She released her debut album, “SweetSexySavage“, in January 2017, signing a record deal with Atlantic Records.

Her 2nd Studio Album Release “It Was Good Until It Wasn’t” is on the 8th of May 2020.

Kehlani: Early Life

Kehlani was born on the April 24th, 1995, to an African American dad and a Caucasian mom. She was adopted by her aunt at an early age, a situation rising from complications arising from her parents’ various drug handlings.

During her early years Kehlani was mostly into dance, having attended Oakland School for the Arts, dabbing in ballet and modern dance, aspiring to major in dance at Juilliard School of Arts, in New York, when a knee injury had her redirecting the course of her life into singing.

Music Career

Kehlani’s music career took off when she was offered the lead singer’s role in a local pop cover band, PopLyfe. PopLyfe went on to winning the 4th place in the season 6 of America Got Talent but Kehlani soon parted ways with them having had trouble with several affairs of managerial and contractual difficulties.

In 2013, she released her first solo track on SoundCloud, named, “ANTISUMMERLUV“.

Since then Kehlani has worked with a number of notable names in the industry:

In 2015, she served as the opening act for G-Eazy’s, “From the Bay to the Universe” tour. Her second mixtape, “You Should Be Here“, featured guest appearances from Chance The Rapper and BJ the Chicago Kid.

In May 2016, she was featured on Zayn’s single, “Wrong”, for his debut album, “Mind of Mine”.

In December 2017, Kehlani again was featured on Eminem’s single, “Nowhere Fast”, for his ninth studio album, “Revival”.

In 2018, she opened, Demi Lovato’s world tour, “Tell Me You Love Me World”. In March 2018, Kehlani was featured on Charlie Puth‘s single “Done for Me”, for his second studio album, “Voicenotes.”

In April 2018, she was featured on Cardi B‘s single “Ring”, for her debut studio album, “Invasion of Privacy”. She was again was the opening act on Halsey‘s world tour, “Hopeless Fountain Kingdom”, in April, 2018. Her third commercial mixtape, “While We Wait”, features named artists like Ty Dolla Sign and Dom Kennedy.

In 2019, she was featured in Zedd‘s single, “Good Thing”, and in Teyana Taylor‘s single, “Morning”. In January 2020, Kehlani was featured on Justin Bieber‘s single, “Get Me”, for his fifth studio album, “Changes”.

Nominations & Recognitions

In 2014, Kehlani’s first ever commercial mixtape, “Cloud 19“, ranked as the 28th in Complex’s list of the “50 Best Albums of 2014” and was registered admist Pitchfork’s “Overlooked Mixtapes of 2014”.

The single she released in 2014, “Till the Morning” was named as one of the “Emerging Picks of the Week” on November 7, 2014, by Billboard.

Billboard also called her second mixtape, “You Should Be Here“, released in April, 2015, the year’s first great R&B album” as it went on to climb the charts to the 5th spot of the US Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

The supporting tour held for “You Should Be Here,” sold out instantly on all North American dates and particular European dates. Complex described her as one of the “15 Artists to Watch Out for in 2015” and Rolling Stone labelled her one of the “10 New Artists You Need to Know”.

In 2016 she received a Grammy nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album. In August 2016, the movie, “Suicide Squad”, featured her single, “Gangsta“, as the soundtrack, which climbed to the 41st spot on the Hot 100.

In February, 2019, her third commercial mixtape, “While We Wait“, hit the number nine spot on the US Billboard 200.

Kehlani: The Survivor

Kehlani has been open to the media about her attempted suicide, as a result of a severe heartbreak and media backlash.

She has quite a collection of tattoos, all memorable and sometimes supportive movements with symbolism to tough episodes of her life she has pulled through.

On March 23rd, 2019, Kehlani gave birth to a beautiful baby daughter, named Adeya Nomi Parrish Young-White, whose father is Javaughn Young-White, her guitarist.

Kehlani is a dynamic force propelling in the music industry. The 25 year old has noteworthy achievements to her label so far and we can only be sure, she has plenty more cooking.

Kehlani’s music is unique, quirky, relatable and highly entertaining. Whatever she’s yet to drop, we just can’t wait…in the meantime, show some love & download her new album!

Credits

Cover photo & music video provided by Warner Music
Article photos: wikimedia commons
Written by Zoomaburst
Producer: Philipp Halfmann
Editor: Sophia Lenore