In Björk collaborator Andrew Thomas Huang’s music video, LA-via-DC Ethiopian-American singer-songwriter Kelela alternates between a few intimidating and fashion-forward wigs and guises, before finally appearing as her regular, dreadlocked self. Set in a futuristic club, it perfectly mirrors the song’s lyrical content (a feminist manifesto for why casual sex need not be careless), while making a visual nod to Kelela’s vocal inspirations. Her sultry, shape-shifting vocal techniques, with an airy falsetto and a distinctive mid-range, has earned her comparisons with '90s R&B sensations like Aaliyah and Janet Jackson - now her avant-garde sets and slick choreography can do the same.
Retro stylings aside, the song’s message is perfectly in-line with contemporary dating app-driven hookup culture. It’s the more multifaceted and emotionally intelligent successor of songs like Jennifer Paige’s “Crush” and Róisín Murphy’s similarly titled “Let Me Know”. Like Paige and Murphy, Kelela undermines the stereotype of the perpetually pining, insecure and emotionally needy woman, articulating a stance of cool confidence while avoiding callousness in her pursuit of sexual intimacy: ‘It ain't that deep, either way/ No one's tryna settle down/ All you gotta do is let me know’.
“LMK” is a promising introduction to Kelela upcoming debut album Take Me Apart (Oct 6, 2017), while Kelela acknowledges as being both personal and political: "Despite it being a personal record, the politics of my identity informs how it sounds and how I choose to articulate my vulnerability and strength”. The song may be a tad too successful in articulating a vision of female empowerment; one blinks at the gap between Kelela’s real-life inspiration for the song (i.e. female vulnerability and insecurity: “For the most part, men, the respect dips down in that moment [they have sex with you] and it’s a drag”) and the magnetic, self-assured persona she embodies so convincingly on it.
