Kehlani is unwavering in her support for Palestine, reaffirming her stance in her latest music video, “Next 2 U.”
Released on Friday (May 31) as the next single from her forthcoming album Crash, the video opens with a poem by Palestinian-American writer Hala Alyan and the rallying cry “Long Live The Intifada” – a reference to the 1987 uprising against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
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At the end of the video, the singer includes a personal message and dedication to the children in Palestine who have been killed in the ongoing war.
“We tried to make a scroll honoring the names of thousands of deceased children,” reads the screen at the end of the video. “The list was so long that our fastest scroll at 3 minutes was illegible. The link to the casualties is provided in the description through Al Jazeera. Please take a moment to scroll at your own pace.”
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Following the release of the “Next 2 U” video, Kehlani took to Instagram to offer additional context to her attempt to honor the children who have died in Palestine since October.
“this was the most daunting part of the process. an 120 page word doc,” she began. “at highest speed, for an entire minute, we couldn’t even make it to january. LONG LIVE THE MARTYRED CHILDREN. GOD BLESS THE CHILDREN. head to @aljazeera@aljazeeraenglish to scroll at an honorable, appropriate place/pace. we bear witness.
Kehlani has been vocal in her support for the Palestinian community for months. Just earlier this week, she hit out at fellow musicians who have stayed silent about the ongoing war in Palestine which has killed over 36,000 people since October.
The singer posted a video on Instagram on Monday (May 27) in which she addressed the growing humanitarian conflict in the Gaza Strip.
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Kehlani began by calling out her “peers of highly fucking platformed people, well paid people who have already beat the fucking game” for not commenting on the war and saying: “You can’t speak?! Disgusting.”
She finished by saying: “It’s fuck Israel. It’s fuck Zionism. And it’s fuck a lot of ya’ll too.”
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Kehlani also wrote a lengthy caption on the post which said: “I don’t got it no more i just don’t i tried hella ways to cope & it doesn’t exist and that’s okay, nobody should know how to cope right now.
“I tried to drop some music & get my mind back right, my focus back & the rage is just EXTREMELY prevalent. this shit is fucking me up BEEN fucking me up it should be fucking a lot of yall up but apparently it’s not????”
She added: “What’s good yall??? we don’t sell out shows without A CROWD FULL OF PEOPLE. the songs don’t chart without PEOPLE. the trends don’t trend without PEOPLE. you don’t draw a line at beheaded babies or people burnt alive after 7 months the of plenty of other atrocities?”
Kehlani’s post was supported by Mackelmore who has also been outspoken in his criticism of Israel’s actions during the war.
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He commented: “Goosebumps… every word. You been showing up the entire time. For inspiring me.”
Kehlani has previously been outspoken in her support for Palestine, having called for a ceasefire and also signing a letter calling out the “occupation of Palestine” last year.
