INTERVIEW: A Metamorphosis in RnB: How Kehlani & Lexii Alijai Inspired Poet22’s “Chrysalis”

Poet22. Image courtesy the artist.

INTERVIEW
A Metamorphosis in RnB: How Kehlani & Lexii Alijai Inspired Poet22’s “Chrysalis”

By E. A. Osei

TLC, Kehlani, and Lexii Alijai are just a few of the voices that have inspired Kala Lones, better known as the RnB artist, “poet 22.” While a lot of her family was raised in Chicago, she grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin. She explains how, in her household, her family sang about everything. It was just how they communicated. She distinctly remembers being introduced to poetry in fourth grade, learning what similes and metaphors were. She credits that early exposure as a “catalyst” to her songwriting. “Once I was able to understand there's a way to convey a message a certain type of way, it lets me know that my writing can be a little bit more creative. And I feel like poetry allowed me that freedom that standard type of writing didn't give me.”

Describe some of your musical influences from when you were young?

My Mama loves Luther Vandross, like she is a Luther stan. He was playing in our house every Sunday, and when you heard him it meant we were cleaning for the next six hours.

She also describes TLC as an older RnB influence for her. She credits Kehlani, Lexii Alijai and that pocket of R&B Soundcloud artists as huge influences to her. Those new age artists who rose to fame in the 2014 - 2016 age of streaming shaped a generation of RnB sound. 

How was it to meet Kehlani, one of your influences, when you were in Chicago? Someone who’s listened to your music, shouted you out, etc

As an artist, you think about the days when you're going to meet your favorite artist or someone that you look up to. So leading up to that I'm gonna be real, I was extremely anxious. I’ve been  listening to Kehlani since I was in  middle school, when I was like a literal child. She's one of those artists that I grew up with. She shouted me out in a video on Tik Tok, and that was just crazy to me. Both me and my producer love Kehlani. And we both have been listening to her since we were young. When I met Kehlani at her Chicago CD signing, she said she had listened to my album twice, and I had to try my hardest not to cry.

Kala reminisces about her middle school days, first coming to terms with sexuality. Kehlani was one of the first artists Kala listened to that opened up about being sexually fluid. That showed her early on it was okay to be herself. There weren’t many people to look up to at the time, but seeing Kehlani allowed not only Kala, but Poet 22 to flourish into the young queer artist she was becoming. 

I can see how Kehlani is also a songwriting influence for you too, what other songwriters inspire you to write?

Lexii Alijai. When I was 15, around my freshman year or sophomore year of high school, I actually got to meet Lexii. She brought me along with her to the studio. She [Lexii] didn't know at the time she took me, but I was already thinking about pursuing music. In the back of my head, I was always thinking I like music,  but I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with it. I was actually going to go to college for communications or to be an ultrasound technician, two totally different careers right? It just shows you that I really didn't know what I was doing. But that day in the studio, just witnessing her writing process was insane. I watched her write an entire song in 30 minutes. From that point on, I knew exactly what to do. I knew I was going to be a musician.

When was the first time you properly released something?

It was after I met Lexii. It was my junior year of high school, and it was a song called “BETTER”. I went on YouTube and was going  through all the beats, andI found this one by a producer named YoungSwisher Beats. I recorded over and it was like a freebie. Once I knew I was gonna use it, I wrote to it. I was a hostess at Texas Roadhouse, and I remember I wrote that song right before I was going into my shifts.. 

At the time, I didn't have any equipment. So, I was saving up all my money for a computer, which i got. I didn’t have a mic yet to record, so I just sang into the computer mic and it didn’t sound too bad. I remember releasing that song and it got 2000 plays within the first week. It was the first song I had ever released, living in Appleton with no promo; so it was bizarre to see people were listening. 

After “BETTER,” she released another song “late night” produced by theCornerKid. In 2019, she released her first project on SoundCloud, an EP entitled “Perfect Timing.” She went on to release a few more singles before her standout debut album, Chrysalis, on February 22, 2022. Perfect timing indeed. 

She states in another interview “​​I remember when we first started making Chrysalis. We made this album at the beginning of 2020 remotely; so Tamira would send me beats and I’d send a song (or three) back. I was a senior in high school at the time so I'd spend most nights up late in my room writing songs, then I’d spend the mornings slightly regretting my sleeping patterns.”  

poet22 in bedroom studio recording chrysalis with Tamira Slade, Image courtesy the artist.

‘Have your wings formed yet, have you gathered enough courage to set them free?’ These are the opening lines to “comfort,” the first track off Chrysalis. It sets the tone immediately, inviting the listener into Kala’s internal thoughts as she’s coming into her own. The motif of the butterfly on the cover and throughout her visuals indicates Poet22 herself is entering chrysalis. “Comfort” talks about the need for familiarity and reassurance during times where growth brings so much change and uncertainty, you and your surroundings feel unrecognizable. Coupled with her soft harmonious vocals, her lyrics read as journal entries through these contentious points in her life. She also talks romance and longing all while showing off her incredible vocal range on songs like “crush,” one of my favorites. 

I’m really interested in the creative direction; what was the inspiration?

Well, the whole concept of the album sparked from me being in my senior year of high school, deciding that I wasn't going to college, and deciding that I was going to pursue music.  

The word like ‘chrysalis’ itself came to me before anything. I'm also super into nature. The motif of the butterfly was mostly me feeling like I actually was in this chrysalis. I was a high school senior when the pandemic hit. I was going and  growing through things. I was starting to become a young woman, but like, still wasn't quite a young woman. I was going through it and the world was also going through it.

So it just felt like, both my inner and outer worlds were very chaotic. I was in a very big pivotal moment of my identity of deciding who I wanted to be as a person. Am I going to be a person who does what people expect of me? Or am I going to be a person who does what I'm called to do, what I've always been called to do? Am I going to do the things that move me and my spirit? So that's where that came from.

Because I feel like I'm singing from such a personal place with a lot of my music, I feel like every single aspect of the experience needs to be personal. So, for example, writing the lyrics on a song like “grateful,” - which is one of my favorite songs -  there’s a part where i say:

“Section 8, nights was cold, Mama got it on her own. Told me nothing that I can't be. 
I was eight, we was broke It was us against the world, 
But it was music that set me free”

 Other people might hear that and say ‘Oh, she's talking about her life and her experiences.’ And yes I'm talking about my experiences, but that was also a play off of Lexii Alijai on one of her verses. She said: 

“I was eight, never ate. Hungry, but never starving. 
Appreciate everything, because you know we've been through it all.”

So it was like me paying homage to her, as well as paying homage to my experience as a person. I can't just sit back and let things happen. Especially things they put my name on. Also, to people who support me and who want to see me win I feel like I owe them that, to be involved with the experience. In hopes that others can appreciate what I do, like I appreciated what Lexii did for me. So in short, yes. I'm very involved in all aspects of creation, both me and my producer Tamira Slade. Tamira produced every song on the album, and she even made that cover art. 

I loved having Tamira through this process to bounce ideas off of. That was very important for me especially being 18, in highschool, still unsure about my art. Having someone who took me seriously and assured me “Yeah you could do that”; I needed that at that time. 

I really love that song “grateful” - if you were to put grateful on a playlist, what other songs would you put on that playlist?

Oooh i think i would put:
1. Grounded - Ari Lennox
2. Casita - Kaina
3. On a wave - Zilo
4. Be Alright - Kehlani
5. Find Your Way Back - Beyoncé

Looking at the story you were able to convey sonically and visually in Chrysalis, would you ever want to do that for someone in the future? Bring their words to life, or their visuals to life in that way?

Honestly I feel like if they call me in a room I'm just going to do my best and show up in the best way! But obviously I want to write for Kehlani, that's a given. I really want to work with Amindi, Kari Faux, Noname. Also Lianne la Havas, I just love her. She has such an entrancing voice, I would love to work on a song with her. I would love to be in any of those sessions. 

Since putting out Chrysalis, Poet22 has been performing all of these songs gearing up for her concert series Phases of a Butterfly: The Chrysalis Experience. She’ll be performing three virtual live shows with her producer Tamira Slade, bringing us into the beautiful world of Chrysalis. I especially loved her Tiny Desk Submission, a gorgeous laid back live rendition of her song “comfort.”

What’s next for 2023?

I love Chrysalis, but it’s been a year so i think we need to get out of that era soon. I think that the album was definitely needed. But my next will be an interesting one. I feel like I'm letting myself speak more freely. I’m more focused on being myself regardless of what other people think, regardless of other people's expectations, and most importantly just staying true to myself. I want to continue to write for myself in this era, instead of writing what I think other people might want to hear from me. I definitely was holding myself back a little more last album, trying to keep it PG because I'm still baby Kayla in other people’s eyes. But I'm grown now!

Poet22 is a force in the 2020’s RnB landscape, carrying on the torches from multifaceted creatives like Lexii Alijai, may she rest in peace. Kala has found how to trust herself, and lean into vulnerability through it all, how to lean into music through it all. Shedding the cocoon of her own chrysalis, Poet22 has taken flight. And her transformation is as beautiful to hear as it is to see. 

Like what you’re reading? Consider donating a few dollars to our writer’s fund and help us keep publishing every Monday.