| Lu Kala | |
| Birth Name: | Lusamba Vanessa Kalala |
| Label: | AWAL |
| Birth Date: | 21 July 1995 |
| Birth Place: | Kinshasa, Zaire |
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 began her career with songwriting, as she is credited as a writer on Jennifer Hudson's track "Dangerous" from her 2014 studio album JHUD.[2] [3]
Kala performed at the Canadian Music Week in 2019[4] where she performed her debut single, "DCMO (Don't Count Me Out)".[5] She also won the grand prize at Royal Bank of Canada's Emerging Musician Program,[6] earning $10,000 worth of studio time among other prizes.[7]
"DCMO (Don't Count Me Out)" was described as "powerful" by Complex.[8] Kala's second single, "Body Knew", was praised by Unheard Gems[9] and Sidedoor.[10] Her third single, "Want You" also received good reviews from critics.[11] [12] Sidedoor described her 2020 single "No Smoke" as "upbeat, catchy, and empowering".[13]
In February 2023, Latto released "Lottery" which featured Kala, marking Kala's first entry on the Billboard Hot 100[14] and Billboard Canadian Hot 100.[15] On March 1, Latto and Kala performed the song at the 2023 Billboard Women in Music event.[16] In April, her 2022 single "Pretty Girl Era" entered the Billboard Canadian Hot 100,[17] marking her first solo entry on the chart. On September 24, 2023, Kala received the Emerging Artist Award at the Legacy Awards.[18] On December 10, she performed at TikTok's inaugural In the Mix festival in Mesa, Arizona.[19]
Kala was nominated for two Juno Awards in 2024,[20] and she performed at the opening night of the show.[21] In March, Kala received two No. 1 Song Awards from SOCAN for her singles "Hotter Now" and "Nothing but Love".[22] Following this, "Hotter Now" became her highest peaking song on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100.[23] In April, it was revealed that Kala had written a song with Katy Perry.[24] On July 4, Kala won the Billboard Canada Women in Music Rising Star Award.[25] In the same month, her single "Who's Gonna" the entered Canadian Contemporary hit radio chart.[26]
| Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN [28] | CAN AC [29] | CAN CHR [30] | CAN HAC [31] | RUS [32] | ||||
| "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="4" | |
| "Hotter Now" | 2023 | 40 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 13 | ||
| "Nothing but Love" | 2024 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Who's Gonna" | — | — | 19 | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||
| Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN [33] | US [34] | US R&B/HH [35] | US Rap [36] | NZ [37] | |||||||||
| "Today" | 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | rowspan="2" | ||||||
| "Lottery" | 2023 | 51 | 83 | 29 | 17 | — | |||||||
| "—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||