Kelela announces New Avatar and releases Linknb

Kelela announced her third album New Avatar on May 5 and released the single Linknb, making this one of the most important alternative R&B and left-field pop stories of the week.

The album is scheduled for July 10 and is especially interesting because it reconnects Kelela’s futuristic electronic identity with the indie and band-based roots she developed in Washington, D.C. before becoming known for club-informed R&B.

New Avatar is described as blending shoegaze, grunge, R&B and electronic music, with collaborations from PinkPantheress, A. K. Paul and Fousheé. That combination suggests a record designed to move across scenes instead of staying inside one genre lane.

Linknb is a sharp first taste because it presents Kelela as both vulnerable and confrontational. The track’s guitar-driven and rhythmically forceful production pushes against the cleaner electronic atmosphere many listeners associate with Raven, while still keeping her voice at the center.