| Lu Kala | |
| Birth Name: | Lusamba Vanessa Kalala |
| Label: | AWAL |
| Birth Date: | 21 July 1995 |
| Birth Place: | Kinshasa, Zaire |
| Origin: | Toronto, Canada |
Lusamba Vanessa Kalala (born July 21, 1995), better known by her stage name Lu Kala (stylized as LU KALA), is a Congolese-Canadian singer. She is best known for her guest appearance on American rapper Latto's 2023 single "Lottery", which entered the Billboard Hot 100 and Canadian Hot 100.[1]
Kala emigrated to Canada at the age of three. She first grew up in the Regent Park neighbourhood and later lived in Ajax, Ontario.[2]
Kala began her career with songwriting, as she is credited as a writer on Jennifer Hudson's track "Dangerous" from her 2014 studio album JHUD.[3] [4]
Kala performed at the Canadian Music Week in 2019[5] where she performed her debut single, "DCMO (Don't Count Me Out)".[6] She also won the grand prize at Royal Bank of Canada's Emerging Musician Program,[7] earning $10,000 worth of studio time among other prizes.[8]
In February 2023, Latto released "Lottery" which featured Kala, marking Kala's first entry on the Billboard Hot 100[9] and Billboard Canadian Hot 100.[10] On March 1, Latto and Kala performed the song at the 2023 Billboard Women in Music event.[11] In April, her 2022 single "Pretty Girl Era" entered the Billboard Canadian Hot 100,[12] marking her first solo entry on the chart. On September 24, 2023, Kala received the Emerging Artist Award at the Legacy Awards.[13] On December 10, she performed at TikTok's inaugural In the Mix festival in Mesa, Arizona.[14]
Kala was nominated for two Juno Awards in 2024,[15] and she performed at the opening night of the show.[16] In March, Kala received two No. 1 Song Awards from SOCAN for her singles "Hotter Now" and "Nothing but Love".[17] Following this, "Hotter Now" became her highest peaking song on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100.[18] In April, it was revealed that Kala had written a song with Katy Perry.[19] On July 4, Kala won the inaugural Billboard Canada Women in Music Rising Star Award.[20] In the same month, her single "Who's Gonna" the entered Canadian Contemporary hit radio chart.[21] In September 2024, Kala released her single "Criminal" after performing it at the Billboard Canada Women in Music event.[22] In October 2024, Kala joined Cyndi Lauper as an opener for two dates on the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour. On November 21, 2024, Kala appeared as a guest judge on the season premiere of the fifth season of Canada's Drag Race.[23] Two days later, she announced her single "Cry Baby".[24]
| Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN [26] | CAN AC [27] | CAN CHR [28] | CAN HAC [29] | RUS [30] | ||||
| "DCMO (Don't Count Me Out)" | 2018 | — | — | — | — | — | Worthy | |
| "Body Knew" | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Want You" | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "No Smoke" | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Love Like" | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Pretty Girl Era" | 2022 | 49 | 6 | 9 | 23 | — | rowspan="6" | |
| "Hotter Now" | 2023 | 40 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 13 | ||
| "Nothing but Love" | 2024 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Who's Gonna" | — | 49 | 10 | 30 | — | |||
| "Criminal" | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| “Cry Baby” | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||
| Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN [31] | US [32] | US R&B/HH [33] | US Rap [34] | NZ [35] | |||||||||
| "Today" | 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | rowspan="2" | ||||||
| "Lottery" | 2023 | 51 | 83 | 29 | 17 | — | |||||||
| "—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||