Kameelah Janan Rasheed – Smooth Operetta & Never Too Must

In her Bad Karaoke series American artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed works across translation, closed-captioning, and algorithmic text generators to explore the relationship between automated language, passive engagement, and pattern-seeking. In her hands, Sade’s 1984 record “Smooth Operator” becomes Smooth Operetta (2022), while Luther Vandross’s 1981, “Never Too Much” morphs into Never Too Must (2026). Both works reflect Rasheed’s interest in how repetition naturalizes and encodes – how what we mishear, mispronounce, and misremember becomes encoded as factual, ubiquitous, and unquestioned. After one round of Smooth Operetta, you will never be able to hear ‘diamond life, lover boy’ anymore without thinking ‘dolphin lights, latex boys’...   

Smooth Operetta, 2022, single-channel video, color, 6’05”
Never Too Must, 2026, single-channel video, color, 3’55”