Before Kehlani was bringing freewheeling fun and swinging hooks back to 2010s R&B as a solo artist, she was the frontwoman of Poplyfe, a teenaged ensemble that finished in fourth place on the 2011 season of America’s Got Talent. And Piers Morgan, of all people, was among the first to recognize the singer’s individual star power. As the music critic Sasha Frere-Jones pointed out on Twitter this afternoon, the bloviating British pundit had nothing but praise for Poplyfe when they performed a rockified version of “Rolling in the Deep” on one Talent episode, but he had one small quibble that came up repeatedly: that Kehlani might be better off without the band. Piers isn’t right about very many things, but we have to hand this one to him. Watch the segment on YouTube below.
