Roc Nation recording artist
Bridget Kelly sat down with us hours before the "EOS Products Tour" she is featured on with label
mates Melanie Fiona and Elijah Blake. Atlanta was the first stop on the five
city tour, targeting college students.
For those not familiar with Bridget Kelly, she signed with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation
in 2011. She emerged on the scene with her first single “Special Delivery,” then followed up with the summer hit “Street Dreamin” featuring Kendrick Lamar. Many don't know the New York native
is a Grammy award-winning songwriter for the single “Einstein,” featured
on Kelly Clarkson’s Stronger album.
The album won Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards.
Even though Bridget Kelly has already experienced success
early in her career, believe me she’s just getting started! Not only does she
have a beautiful voice and is extremely talented, but she has a great personality to
match. I enjoyed sitting down with Bridget and getting the 411 on the tour, her
debut album, fashion, and more. She’s an artist to support so stay tuned for
more Bridget Kelly in the near future!
You’ve toured with a
lot of major artist such as Mary J. Blige, Estelle, Jay Z, now you’re on tour
with Melanie Fiona. How has that experience been being on tour with those individuals
and what are some of the things you’ve learned from them?
I think every
tour I’ve been on has been really different for me. On the Jay tour I was
young, fresh, and green. I never had been on a tour, never overseas, he took me
all over the world, and he really just gave me a taste of what it was like to
be in huge arenas. So my career kinda started backwards, I didn’t start in the
small cafes. I was in Wembley Arena in London and Madison Square Garden in New
York so it was all these giant places first then I got into the smaller venues,
which I actually have come to appreciate a lot more because they’re more
intimate and people are able to get to know me.
I think the Mary
tour this year was a pivotal point for me because I really got to perform my
music in front of a crowd that was a fan of real live music. Mary puts on a
show! So if you’re on tour with her it’s obviously a blessing, but I was out
there every single night taking notes. I was really out there paying attention
to everything she was doing. Now that I get to be on tour with Melanie, it’s
like she’s my home girl. Now it just feels like I’m on this constant party tour
with my friends.
How different is this tour from any other tour you’ve participated in
so far?
This one is the
first tour that’s backed by a brand. EOS Products is providing us with a bunch
of products, lotions, lip balms, which is really great but it’s kind of a ROC
Nation artist tour. It’s myself, it’s Melanie Fiona, Elijah Blake, and it’s
real R&B. It’s been a long time since it’s been this wave of R&B artist
coming out and going on tour so I’m really excited that we all get to come
together and go on tour together.
How important is it to support your college based fans?
I think colleges
are really the ones who support us and keep us afloat. I learned that from J.
Cole early on who’s also my label mate, just that it’s super important to reach
out to the young people you know, they’re the ones that pay attention, they’re
the ones that decide what’s cool and what’s not. We learn a lot from college
students, and you guys buy albums too so that important.
You’re signed to Roc Nation, when was it you first met Jay Z and how
did the deal come about?
I met Jay Z in
the midst of us figuring out everything and being a part of it. Before I actually
met him, I was talking to the Gatekeepers. I was talking to Jay Brown who was
really my mentor and leader into the Roc Nation situation. I was nervous about
it. I really didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know what it was gonna be. I didn’t
know if I was gonna have to bombard my way through security to get to him, but
he was just really down to earth and really cool, you know just really funny. He
was just laid back and seemed really interested in and my voice and what I had
to offer.
I heard that you didn’t want to put him on your first album, why was
that?
I think for me
as a new artist I wanted people to get to know me first. I would never ask him
for something unless I really felt like it was the right time. I want to wait
until people know me before I unleash the dragon, you know what I mean? Before I
go in and pull my Trump card, I wanna wait and see how my own music and my own
voice does.
You worked with Kendrick Lamar on the ‘Street Dreamin’ track, what
other artist can you see yourself working with in the future?
I really love
Pharrell. I really love Timbaland. I would love to do a record with CeeLo,
which is funny because Mel did a record with CeeLo and it was dope; she won a
Grammy for it actually. I think doing a record with CeeLo would be kinda cool
and Andre 3000 is someone else I can see myself doing a record with.
When can we expect the album?
Next year it’s
coming out, top of the year. I am putting an EP out in a couple of weeks. It’s
gonna be on brigdgetkelly.com so you have to stay locked into bridgetkelly.com
to find out.
Can we get any secrets from the album? What can we expect?
I think we’re
gonna really try and be more artistic and abstract with some of the visuals. I think
that’s where the excitement and the shock value will come in. The songs are
really gonna be just me completely telling my story. The story line is gonna
come with the videos we put out and all the behind the scenes content and photo
shoots that we’re going to do. I think that’s really going be the provocative
moments that people are going to be really excited about.
Now you’re always dressed so cute, always on Instagram posting pics of
your fly outfits. Where does your style inspiration come from?
You know one of
my good friends is my stylist, and she’s my friend. I literally watch what she
puts together, I literally am a sponge. She has inspired me a lot because we’re
the same kind of girl. I’m a tomboy at the end of the day. It’s always a
struggle to get me into a dress or a skirt. I’ve been able to kind of get more
comfortable wearing sexier clothes and being more of a grown up, and saying
goodbye to Jordan’s. Not entirely, not forever! But definitely trying to be
more into wearing heels, and you know I’m from New York so I love black. I’m
all about a good leather jacket, a good black trench, a good pair of boots, I think
that’s really the staple for me is a lot of black.
You’re friends with a lot of female R&B artist and you’re
supportive of other artist as well. Do you feel a unity right now between some
of the new emerging artist such as yourself, RaVaughn, Elle Varner and K.
Michelle?
Yes. I think
that comradery is really important, especially if it’s genuine. I think for us we
really want to see each other win. Ultimately we make really great music, and
we understand the importance of the power that can reside in us supporting one
another and being down for one another. I think it’s exciting because you don’t
see a lot of women doing it. Especially nowadays with reality TV. Reality TV
makes you out to be just horrible, you know what I mean? They paint really bad pictures
and it seems like in the media that the only way you can win as a woman of
color is to be doing ratchet, hood rat things with your friends. It’s like it’s
not all about that. You can still be classy, you can still be fun, still be
making be making great music, still be sexy, and still be a lady and make it
work for you as long as you got good chicks in your corner. I think myself, the
Elle Varners, the RaVaughns, the Melanie Fionas, we really hold each other
down.
Do you feel like that’s something really important missing right now in
music?
I think it’s
missing right now in our culture in general. I wouldn’t even say just in music,
and movies, and TV. There’s not a lot of conglomerates of black women. You see
it in rappers all the time. I mean there’s MMG, Drake’s got OVO, then you got
Young Money. There’s all these different
groups of men who stick together and support each other, but you don’t see a
lot of chicks come out and stand by one another. Now’s the time to do it. It’s not even so much that we’re this
rebellious movement of chicks that support chicks, we’re just trying to set the
tone all the way across the board, without it being a complete in your face
movement. It’s a slow burn, we want to gradually spread the word we want to support
each other. Lead by example.
Are there any other avenues you wish to explore throughout your career?
Yes, voice overs
and cartoons. I want to do a Family Guy type of cartoon, Adult Swim. That’s
totally up my alley. I am completely unclasps and uncouth when the cameras are
off and my team knows that. Management is always sitting there cringing, just
wanting to disappear into their clothes, and I’m like ‘yea we can just talk about
whatever you want to talk about, ask me whatever!’ But I do really want to get
into some voice overs. I don’t know about acting, I could do it, but I don’t
want to be the singer turned actor. I don’t know if that’s gonna be the lane
for me, but definitely cartoons.
By Farrin Hymon- FARRINHEIT 411
Images- Brandy Hayes
CONVERSATION