I’m quite embarrassed to admit this as a Kehlani supporter, but I’m just now discovering how we met her.
Thanks to an Instagram post this past week, I found out Kehlani was on America’s Got Talent with a band named ‘Poplyfe’. She shared a “happy birthday” post to Nick Cannon and the caption made me wonder. Can’t find the post (figures), but I started researching and found footage from her stint on America’s Got Talent. There’s actually quite a bit of footage featuring her and her group at the time.
They finished third place on the show.
What’s even crazier is that her beautiful voice that I love today was an instant “hit” with a judge, Piers Morgan. “You’ve got real talent, but I don’t think you need the group,” he told Kehlani. After contractual disputes, she left ‘Poplyfe’ and focused on graduating high school with help from Nick Cannon.
Fast forward a few years and now she’s a star.
She was having a difficult time after leaving the scene and Cannon made it his mission to help her. “My heart bled. I was like I gotta go find her. There’s a 16-year-old homeless [girl] and everyone in the town was like ‘she’s all tatted up now’ and I was like fu*k all that, I don’t care about the tats,” he said during an interview with VladTV. “I just want to make sure she’s okay, found her, ended up having a conversation with her guardian at the time because her mom wasn’t doing too well.”
Ok, that explains the super emotional “happy birthday” post this past week. Good on, Nick.
Story of the Story
I love discovering the tough times during artists’ journeys. Hate that Kehlani went through what she did but happy that she got through. The moral of the story? Perseverance. She outlasted her circumstances and continued to climb into her destiny.
Here’s to hoping that we all can find the strength and courage to continue our journeys, despite the hurdles. What a story.
