You're listening to Song Exploder,
where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.
I'm Rishikesh Hirway.
Kalela is a singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles.
In 2015, she released Hallucinogen and landed on critics lists in the New York Times,
the Washington Post, Pitchfork, and more.
In this episode, Kalela takes apart her song Rewind.
To make the track, she worked with five different producers,
picking and choosing each for what they could best contribute to her overall vision for the song.
This interview was recorded live in San Francisco at Fusion's Real Future Fair.
Now, here's Kalela on Song Exploder.
I had the intention to make a Miami-based inspired song that gave me butterflies or that made me feel romance,
but something light and fun.
It's like I wanted that Ghost Town DJ's feel.
I received a track from a producer who goes by OB City.
He sent me a whole collection of instrumentals and this one just jumped out at me.
It was actually the bass line that I couldn't get off of.
I just sort of fixated on that.
And so I kept trying to sing over the track as is over and over and over again.
And I didn't get anywhere.