20Q: Kehlani

"In the lead-up to her new release, the soul-baring singer opens up to Playboy about playing with gender, finding new joy in songwriting, and how “being a mom is the sexiest thing ever.”

- By Gerrick D. Kennedy. Photography by Brianna Alysse

Kehlani has never been afraid to reveal herself. Her joys, fears, triumphs and mistakes have stood front and center in her music since the beginning of her ascent to stardom. And that emotional intimacy, in all its heart-on-the-sleeve glory, stretches into her personality. Anyone who follows the 25-year-old singer-songwriter online (14 million people between her Twitter and Instagram, to be exact) knows Kehlani gives it to you straight, no chaser—whether it’s riffing on her day or responding to a bully or a rumor about her life. If modern celebrity is a balancing act between being accessible and remaining enigmatic, Kehlani has succeeded by opting for warts-and-all transparency instead of carefully curated moods.

In just a few short years, the Oakland native has become one of pop’s most vital voices, winning fans with optimistic meditations on romantic desire, anguish, self-love, sexual fluidity, spirituality and mental wellness. But it was a bumpy journey. Kehlani’s father died when she was an infant, her mom was in and out of jail while struggling with addiction and she was placed in foster care before her aunt adopted her. The nation first met Kehlani as a wide-eyed teenager on America’s Got Talent in 2011, when she was in an eclectic cover band hoping to catch a break. The group placed fourth in the competition, and judge Piers Morgan rightly noted that she’d be better off solo. But reality show platitudes don’t mean much to a hungry teen with a dream, and Kehlani shouldered through shady industry deals and homelessness before AGT host Nick Cannon became a mentor, helping put a roof over her head and funding the studio time that allowed Kehlani to record her first mixtape, 2014’s Cloud 19.