Kelela Mizanekristos, known professionally as Kelela, was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in suburban Maryland. She emerged in the early 2010s with a sound that blends R&B with electronic, avant-pop, and club-oriented production, and she is identified as an Ethiopian-American singer and songwriter. Her early releases include the mixtape Cut 4 Me (2013) and the EP Hallucinogen (2015), followed by the albums Take Me Apart (2017) and Raven (2023). Kelela is known for intimate, layered studio work and for live performances that emphasize vocal control and emotionally detailed delivery, with presentations shaped by electronic textures and performance-focused staging.