Get your Head out the Jar and Drift into the Rise of Khamari
Image Credit: Khamari’s Official Instagram
Are you looking for an artist who soulfully encapsulates the experience, emotions and journey of navigating your twenties? With a growing wave of R&B artists, such an artist has already arrived to the music scene and has steadily been building his artistic base. Khamari is still relatively new as he rises through the music ranks. He brings an alternative feel to R&B that combines old school and new school styles of the genre. Born in Boston and spending his most recent years in California, Khamari has blossomed into an amazing artist producing songs with a focus on love, coping through emotions, isolation, transition periods, relationships and nirvana, intertwining these themes with early adulthood.
Khamari has been a musical genius from a young age. In an interview with Azariah Mai, he expressed that he has been playing piano since childhood. While other kids were drawn to toys, he gravitated towards instruments, leading to him becoming a multi-instrumentalist. His repertoire includes the guitar, piano and violin. At the Berklee College of Music, Khamari furthered his musical interests with a dedicated education program. Hoping to “learn [how] to be [an] artist,” Khamari dropped out of Berklee, venturing to Los Angeles. The move would lead to dropping his song, “The Heat” in 2020, gaining the number 10 spot on Spotify’s “New Music Fridays.”
By 2026, Khamari is more than just a new voice, he’s a voice we expectantly wait to hear from. So, what makes Khamari’s music speak to us so much? His songs come from true experiences with an edge of vulnerability. In his Genius song breakdown of “Head in the Jar,” he expressed that he keeps his songs personal to avoid being general, crafting more connection with his listeners. Many times, especially in our current period of music, artists will highlight the glitz and glam and the fast life in their music, despite this being heavily fabricated. Such songs tend to be catchy and fun for a while, but Khamari actually provides us substance that sticks!
Image Credit: Majestic Madison
Khamari shapes his music videos to fit the feels of his song, the acoustics and the lyrics. Take the visuals for “I Love Lucy” for instance. The song is about a love interest by the alias “Lucy” who is ready to settle down, start a family and make the next steps in a long-term relationship. But Khamari’s character is still trying to live his life because he is young. The music video isn’t accompanied by fluff and distractions; the video pans Khamari from different points of view, including symbolic elements such as him looking into water and glass pieces which represents self-reflection.
“These Four Walls” is another AMAZING tune that provides us with the perfect visuals to match. The lyrics focus on Khamari being unsure of how his love interest feels towards him. There is a lack of clarity and communication. He repeats that the four walls he’s surrounded by (in assumed isolation) are his only consistent and clear companion. The set-up of the music video shows Khamari suit up and surrounded by four cushioned walls, representing how he’s mentally unwell. It imitates the seclusion room–the padded cell of mental institutions–for patients. This is a striking juxtaposition of how many of us seem to be okay and coast by day-by-day, but are actually going crazy inside.
The art of music has clear importance to Khamari holistically. He shows through song after song, production after production, that he truly did leave Berklee School of Music to become a better artist. His multi-instrumentalism and angelic voice, combined with an artistic eye to details has shaped his success. One of his top songs, “Doctor, My Eyes,” which came out in 2021, highlights his artistry well. It’s a song about his move from Boston to Los Angeles right in the midst of the Covid pandemic while becoming an adult. The setting of the video is in an old school-looking apartment that has signs of needing renovations. There are clips of his friend partying around him as Khamari looks like he doesn’t want to be there. Then there’s the end… Khamari hops on the phone with someone who sounds like a father-figure who gives him some motivational advice to keep pushing forward. Then he jumps into the pool water (post-call) like a sign of renewal. Intentionality and soulfulness screams from Khamari’s work.
Khamari is a master at work and I can’t wait to see what else he has in store. Currently on his headling tour, “To Dry A Tear,” and it is evident of his growth within the last couple of years!