For the past few years, PinkPantheress has been one of the most influential forces in global pop music. She's the artist who figured out how to make retro-futuristic dance beats feel personal and intimate and catchy. Meanwhile, one of her big influences is Kelela, the singer who was delicately wrapping her voice around precise, architectural club production long before the PinkPantheress breakthrough moment. Today, PinkPantheress and Kelela team up for their second collab.
Back in 2023, Kelela appeared on "Bury Me," a song from PinkPantheress' debut album Heaven Knows. In 2024, the two of them sang that song together in Brooklyn. Now, Kelela is a few days away from releasing her excellent album new avatar, which she recorded with PinkPanthress collaborator Oscar Scheller. We've already heard a bunch of new avatar tracks: "idea 1," "linknb," "point blank," the A. K. Paul collab "outta time." With the album release looming, Kelela's PinkPantheress duet "the bridge" is now out there in the world.
Kelela, PinkPantheress, and Oscar Scheller wrote "the bridge" together, and Kelela co-produced it with Scheller. Over a muted but propulsive dance beat, Kelela and PinkPantheress sing softly about a world-obliterating crush. I really like the ways that they gently, delicately interweave their vocals. It sounds less like a phoned-in feature, more like a casual and unforced conversation between two peers informed by each other's work. Check it out below.
new avatar is out 7/10 via Warp.
