Kelis reveals the secret to staying authentic — whether it's in her music or in her kitchen

• Kelis has elevated the music industry by remaining uncategorized and authentic for the past 20 years.
• "I didn't need anybody else's validation," the singer-turned-chef told Insider earlier this month.

Kelis emerged on the music scene as an artist that couldn't be boxed into a genre.

After landing a record deal in 1998, the Harlemite burst onto the music scene with her jazz and disco-inspired debut album, "Kaleidoscope." Several albums later and Kelis is a platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated artist, who's worked with heavy hitters in the music industry, including Outkast, Enrique Iglesias, Diplo, and of course her famed collaboration with The Neptunes.

Still, her success in the music industry wasn't without challenges. Kelis has always been open about the hurdles she faced in a world that simply wasn't ready for her.

"The issue of race has been such a big part of my entire career," she told The Guardian in 2020. "It was never something that I struggled with personally. But it was other people's confusions. Macy Gray and I were the first [Black women] to be considered alternative."

"But people were like: 'But you're Black and alternative? What is that?' Which already is a stupid-ass question, but it was put in our faces all the time," she added.

Kelis credited her parents with how she remained authentic, pushing past society's expectations of Black women at the time, to remain true to herself and her art.

"I didn't need anybody else's validation," she told Insider earlier this month while promoting her new partnership with Kraft Singles. "I had such a strong upbringing — my parents were active in our lives growing up and so — I wasn't really ever looking for validation from anybody else, you know?"

"Being an artist, that's such a key component to being true to yourself," Kelis added, noting that she had to push back on the music industry often. "With every board meeting and every conversation that came up, I just was like, 'This doesn't make any sense. How would you guys know better than me for me?' Like it's not even logical."

Kelis admitted that this sometimes made things "difficult" but "finding that balance and finding that inner peace" was all the assurance she needed. That peace easily translated on her songs, in her music videos, in her fashion choices — and how fans gravitated toward her trendsetting ways. It's not easy to scream on a track and make it sound...well, good.

"It was more so like, 'Am I content?'" she continued. "'Do I feel like I was true to myself today and do I feel like I did what I set out to do?'"

"I'm really goal-oriented. I'm always focused, right? I focus on what I'm interested in at the time and I don't stop until I get to a place where I feel like 'OK, now I can try something else,'" she said.

Kelis doesn't look like she's slowing down in the studio or in the kitchen

The singer-turned-chef gave up life in the city to live on a farm with her family, letting her fans in bit by bit via social media. Kelis loves it so much that there are little to no conveniences of city life that she's missing out on, she said.

"For me as a mom, chef, and just someone who really cares," she explained, "it gives you such freedom and control over what you're putting in so that you can have better control over what you're putting out."

Though she's been touring for the past 20 years, the Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef has also made a name for herself behind the stove burner. Her love of food has even led to her hosting Netflix's "Cooked With Cannabis" and a partnership with Kraft Singles. Last week, Kraft released a single, "Square It," featuring Kelis — a tasty pairing of music and food.

An American staple, the collaboration is a no-brainer, especially when it comes to incorporating the cheese into meals for her kids. Some of her family's favorites are pizza or even cheese fries.

"Friday nights are kind of — I don't need to say junk food because it's not like really junk food — but kind of one of those days where we don't get fancy," she said. " It's not fancy, but it's delicious."