An artist can have their own sound and make their own lane, but regardless of the genre, it’s certain that they’re going to be compared to someone else. It’s something that comes with being in the music industry, and Kehlani recently touched on the subject while speaking with Teen Vogue for her cover feature. The singer is still riding high from her freshly released project It Was Good Until It Wasn’t and she spoke with the outlet about being connected to other female artists as people try to rope them all in together. 

“Fans put so much pressure on artists, sometimes more than the industry,” said Kehlani. “I’ve never been compared more in my life than last year and this year, and now it seems like every day I see a ‘SZA, Kehlani, H.E.R., or Summer Walker — one of them has to go.’” Not all fans feel that way, of course, but the pressure can be a bit daunting for artists who just want to create music.

Kehlani also spoke about three of her close friends who have all passed away in recent years: Mac Miller, Lexii Alijai, and Chynna Rogers. She and Mac were scheduled to have lunch together the day he died and Kehlani had planned on not only taking Lexii on tour but signing her to a deal. “Chynna, I had brought her out at my shows. She slept in my house all the time in Brooklyn and we would talk about how we can do this.”

“We have to start appreciating multiple people at the same time,” she added. “I’m sure if [Mac, Lexii, and Chynna] felt a little bit more successful, a little bit more loved, things might have gone a little different. Life might have been in a better place.”

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