Coined as a hybrid between Pop and R&B, LU KALA appears is destined to break the mold. The fiery voiced songstress—with signature vibrant orange hair to match—has been making big waves across the music industry for the past several months. Not only in her hometown of Toronto but international audiences as well.

At the early age of three, Kala’s family immigrated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Canada, first living in Toronto’s Regent Park, and later Ajax. She is gifted with a talent for writing striking pop tracks and memorable hooks. It’s a talent that helped bloom the rising star as she wrote for several for local artists, as well as R&B star Jennifer Hudson in the early years of her career.

Despite finding plenty of success in songwriting, the world meant for LU to be something more. Behind the lyrics was a voice waiting to be released, a voice that didn’t conform to the vocal style producers assumed they’d hear. Thus KALA embraced her distinctive sound, transforming her trajectory as an artist, and a woman, in the process. “When you’re the artist, you learn to tell your own real stories through song. Which didn’t come naturally to me,” she tells us.

Since her 2019 debut, “DCMO,” the songstress has amassed a vast audience unlike any other in Toronto. Today, she finally gets to bring forth her much-awaited EP, Worthy. It takes an unflinching and unapologetic look at love, heartbreak, and self-worth. With a voice that often forgoes perfection for unvarnished emotion, Kala is an artist with the ability to redefine what pop music sounds like. To count her out is futile.

“I go for the throat,” sings LU KALA on her debut, and so do her lyrics. Unflinching in its honest examination of love, lust, and hard-earned self-worth, Worthy shoves fear aside, choosing the kind of laid-bare songwriting and raw emotion that births superstars. Check out our exclusive interview with the budding Congolese Canadian songstress below.

Before putting out your debut single, you were a songwriter. How would you compare that experience in contrast to taking the limelight as an artist?  

The difference between being a songwriter and artist is when you’re writing you don’t get to put out the song. It’s not your responsibility. You can lend your feelings, stories, and emotions to an artist or put yourself in their shoes to write about the place they’re in or where they want to be. When you’re the artist, you learn to tell your own real stories through song. Which didn’t come naturally to me. But after my first single “DCMO (Don’t Count Me Out)” I knew that I preferred telling my own stories because it was bigger than me, and I needed to do it to free myself of insecurities. I get to be the face of all my stories.

Being a Black pop artist coming out of Toronto, is your city pretty accepting? What are some of the challenges you faced during the initial stages of your career?

I love Toronto, that’s home to me. It took a bit of time for people to get it. I come from a city filled with so much talent in the R&B and hip-hop space, which has heavily influenced the city. So to be a black woman in Pop and plus-size at that from Toronto, it took a bit for people to digest it because that’s never been seen before. Even amongst musicians, it was weird being in sessions at times because people wouldn’t get why they’d invite the pop girl. But just because I exist in the Pop world, that doesn’t mean I don’t understand r&b/hip-hop melodies.

Toronto doesn’t have a big pop scene, so many times on bills I’d be the only pop artist on stages and I feel like people always wanted me to prove myself. I think any time you come with a different sound or a different anything in life that people aren’t used to, you may be met with push back. I’ve always been different so I don’t plan on changing now. I have orange hair for goodness sake. It’s funny though because a lot of people who love my music were shocked to find out that I was from Toronto let alone Canada. I popped up out of nowhere in the scene but definitely made a presence and I feel like I get a lot of love from home now! Hopefully, I can inspire more people to live how they want and not change for others.

How do you overcome those challenges?

The more I developed my sound, the more I stopped caring for people’s negative opinions. People in the industry told me not to label myself as Pop because saying Pop doesn’t sell and that Pop artists don’t have real fans. Which made me insecure about my music, and for a second it made me wonder if I should force push myself into “Urban” genres. Pop music has just always felt like the space that my voice lives in. Now I can walk into any room and feel like I’m worthy of being there whether or not I’m too Pop for some folks! The more consistent you are the more confident you become. And you face less challenges because people tend to support someone that they see moving, which is life.