Kelis

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Kelis

about the artist

SHORT BIO

Kelis is an American singer, songwriter, and chef who believes everything is better smothered and dipped in sauce. She has released six studio albums and studied as a saucier at the world-famous Le Cordon Bleu. Kelis has been recognized at the Brit Awards, Q Awards, NME Awards, and Grammy Awards ceremonies. Her musical output, both as a lead and featured artist, encompasses various genres — she has collaborated with R&B and hip hop acts including Busta Rhymes and Clipse, electronic and dance producers such as Calvin Harris, Timo Maas, and Richard X, pop and rock acts Enrique Iglesias…

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SHORT BIO

Kelis is an American singer, songwriter, and chef who believes everything is better smothered and dipped in sauce. She has released six studio albums and studied as a saucier at the world-famous Le Cordon Bleu. Kelis has been recognized at the Brit Awards, Q Awards, NME Awards, and Grammy Awards ceremonies. Her musical output, both as a lead and featured artist, encompasses various genres — she has collaborated with R&B and hip hop acts including Busta Rhymes and Clipse, electronic and dance producers such as Calvin Harris, Timo Maas, and Richard X, pop and rock acts Enrique Iglesias and No Doubt and indie and alternative musicians including Björk and Dave Sitek. She has sold six million records worldwide. Kelis' first cookbook, My Life on a Plate, was released on September 28, 2015; Kelis describes it as "an exploration of tastes and cultures, and my experience as a chef, musician, mother, and wife." She is also the creator of a line of Bounty and Full, a line of sauces made with love and integrity.

Since January 2020, Kelis has been living on a working farm outside Los Angeles that she manages with her husband, when not performing around the world.

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FULL BIO

Somebody recently told Kelis that she was always talking about food in her songs. "I was like, do I?" she laughs. "I mean, obviously I do. It isn't intentional, but the idea is just that food is a very carnal thing. Everyone can relate to it. It's very human, it's sensual, it's something that you crave. And it's sexy."

This idea forms the backbone of 'Midnight Snacks,' Kelis' first new solo music since her soulful album Food was released in 2014. Midnight Snacks was recorded in a studio on a boat in London and produced by The FaNaTiX. It has a minimal, sleek, back-to-basics feel, shot through with nighttime sounds taken from the natural world and percussive babies' gurgles, a playful nod to the fact that Kelis had just given birth to her third child. "It was one of those songs that just writes itself. I heard the beat, thought it was dope, and the first thing that came to mind was 'Midnight Snacks.' The FaNaTiX were like, what are you talking about? And I was like, it makes you feel like a midnight snack! And that was it." She may keep singing about food, but there's more to this than late-night stories of raiding the fridge. "It's funny to me, but I like the fact that you can take sex and food, and you can put these two things together, and they're totally interchangeable. I love that."

Kelis is currently at work on her as-yet-untitled seventh album, due next year. The stripped-back sound of 'Midnight Snacks' is a throwback to the early days of her career, which kicked off in spectacular style with the game-changing, genre-defying Kaleidoscope, in 1999. The reminiscent feel is a deliberate choice, one made by Kelis when she first started to think about writing again. "I think it's about when I loved music, you know? I'm looking for the era when I was excited about it, going back to the beginning, and coming full circle."

In early 2019, Kelis was in Europe, playing a series of sold-out Kaleidoscope anniversary shows, when the pandemic hit and forced her to close down the rest of the tour. "So I came home and ended up farming and pivoting my other business," she explains. She had only recently bought and moved to the land that is now called Bounty Farms, in southern California. She returned to the States, and fully immersed herself into life as a farmer. She was born and raised in New York City, and though she had spent years living in Los Angeles, the shift to country life was seismic. "It's interesting to see how pliable you can still be," she says. "You don't really realise how much you can still learn. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but you can and that's really cool."

Bounty Farms is a working business, growing produce that Kelis sells through her Bounty & Full brand, whether that's the chilli peppers or tomatoes that go into her sauces or the lavender that goes into her body butters. "I love the farm so damn much," she says. "I've been on tour my whole adult life, and it's given me such a footing. I have a place. I have land that belongs to me. I have dirt that's mine, and stuff that I grow there that I can eat, and it makes me feel solid. It makes me feel like I'm doing something good for the earth, and for my family. It's really emotional! My heart is really in it."

As a farmer, chef, businesswoman and TV presenter, with countless other job titles under her belt, how does she keep all of her plates spinning? "Oh, it's hilarious. I'm an octopus, honestly. I'm a basketcase. I'm all over the place. I'm so busy. Everyone's like, what are you doing? I am literally doing a million and one things. But I'm one of those people. I am best when I'm busy, so I just keep it going."

No matter how busy she is elsewhere, Kelis has never stepped away from music but now, she is ready to go back to her own work, and her own sound, whatever that will turn out to be this time. "I started to get that itch," she says, simply. "As an artist, you just get that feeling. Now is the time I have something to say. Now is the time to create something."

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