kehlani - you should be here (2015)

this record is wonderful and i feel terrible for leaving it out of one of my eoy ballots

man this one was so underrated

voted "Yet" that's my sleeper

'bright' makes me want to weep and do good works for humankind

'jealous' makes me wonder how many things i could rhyme with 'bitches' if i really really tried

such a good album and one of those where a different song is my favourite each time - like nothing here overshadows anything else, it's perfectly balanced

"yet" maybe, or "n*ggas" for the line "no i'm not dumb, i know exactly what went wrong in my past"

"The Letter" is so brutal.

this was slept on but the natasha mosley album was even more slept on and reminded me a lot of this, from a different angle

oh man "the letter" true

I listened to this once and it didn't make any impression on me? idk maybe I should go back but tbh I've been way more interested in listening to old music than new music lately

this is old now it is from april

great cali album, voting "n*ggas"

probs my aoty

pretty easily alive for me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqpQgp8_ajo

"The Letter" is so brutal.

― Tim F, Friday, November 20, 2015 11:16 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

totally. really exemplifies what makes her songwriting so effective for me - it's so unflinching, she doesn't sugarcoat any word or emotion (and her relatively plain style of singing accentuates this), but really elegant in the way she pieces together a situation and its consequences via so many details that bring the entire song into focus

"bright" is like the exact inverse of "the letter", kehlani becoming everything she needed but never had

Voted Runnin'. I love that song.

I wrote something about this album for my local paper column back in May:

Precious few serious people now maintain that mainstream R&B is manufactured, soulless pap. Indeed, a certain carefully curated appreciation of the style is necessary to establish oneself as a rounded and culturally diverse listener. But this orthodoxy is a limited win for the genre critically, revolving as it does around certain overfamiliar archetypes. Consider the twin female pillars of social genuflection: on the one hand, the Queen Bae, and on the other, the enigmatic departed siren Aaliyah. Beyonce’s appeal resides in both universalism and force, as if she is performing not just what we feel but what we want to feel, only more powerfully and with more expressive nuance than we could. Aaliyah’s lionisation reflects the opposite trend: R&B as the mysterious blank slate, the singer whose true feelings are forever denied to us, leaving a void we’re anxious to fill with our own projected fantasies (never mind that this characterisation doesn’t really capture the charms of Aaliyah’s recorded work).

But there are other archetypes, or even just character types, that get dealt out of the story by the relentless march of history. Lately I’ve been thinking about Nivea, a minor player in the millennial R&B renaissance who scored only one hit with 2002’s Don’t Mess With The Radio. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about 2004’s Parking Lot, a fantastically understated song about creeping out on your sleeping man to hook up with your side-thug: “meet me at the McDonald’s parking lot”, Nivea instructs, in what might be R&B’s least glamorous but most real moment ever. Delivered in Nivea’s unaffected, slightly husky alto, the song imagines R&B as unvarnished, plain-spoken but intimate, up-close confessionals drawn from real life. I can’t think of another song quite like it.

But if Parking Lot stands alone, the idea of mainstream R&B delivering life-sized relatability is expertly executed on You Should Be Here, the second album from 19 year old Oakland singer Kehlani, which has been captivating me all week. Kehlani is more classically expressive than Nivea was – you can tell she’s seen American Idol before – but she shares a hint of huskiness and, more importantly, that overriding air of familiarity, delivering her songs with the unfiltered directness of your lover, your best friend or your ex. It’s the addressee, the listener, who changes hats depending on subject matter; Kehlani’s overriding sense of personality remains constant even as she pivots from ecstatic romance on Unconditional to big-sister life affirmation on Bright to knowing dismissal on How That Taste or Jealous (the latter a kiss-off to a fling who takes photos with her to make his ex-girlfriends jealous on social media - Kehlani takes narrative detail quite seriously). She addresses her refusal to play along on Runnin’: “does it make you nervous that I’m not afraid to say what I want?” she taunts both a lover and her listeners.

If there’s a drawback to this, it’s that Kehlani’s consistent relatability can make the album at first seem more samey than it really is, as do the arrangements' seamlessly executed stylistic potpourri cherry-picking the best R&B sounds of the past two decades (stuttering Timblaland beats, synth horns, trap snares); the songs’ diversity and range are handled so capably and unselfconsciously that they're easy to underestimate; conversely, it's this which also gives the album an ease and staying power which, while it might not support breathless social media hype, makes it a welcoming pleasure to return to.

The concomitant pay-off is most evident in The Letter, nominally the album’s big ballad, in which Kehlani directly addresses the mother who abandoned her, her temptation to blame herself ("maybe I didn't deserve you" she repeatedly wonders) as cutting as her refusal to forgive. “If you weren’t going to guide me / why bring me into the light?” she asks, her deceptive gentleness like a knife twisting in your stomach. It's strong stuff, but there's no gratuitous melodrama here, just ice cold clarity and unflinching honesty. Avoiding grand gestures, Kehlani measures her punches so that they're just sharp and powerful enough to penetrate your defences before you have time to steel yourself.

that's really great, "unselfconscious" is really key to this album. the arrangements are never striking in and of themselves - maybe this is why it flew under the radar? as well, as, yes, consistency meaning no one stand-out to rally around - they're really good frames for her songs but never the focal point

also didn't realise that this was technically sold as a mixtape rather than her debut album!

good stuff tim

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

you should vote here

I didn't discover this album until last weekend. I'm looking forward to digging in. "The Letter" is the early highlight.

"Jealous" is my favourite song not to get a vote.

Haha classic early adopter ilx poll results

i think i forgot, i woulda voted for 'be alright' : /

no wait 'bright'

the empowering one

grammy nominated

RIGHT HERE

http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/kehlani-tore-up-new-song.1967554.html

Great piece, Tim (though disagree somewhat about Beyonce as universalist: think she gives this innocent/simple country boy mind the grand illusion of seeing through *her* eyes, feeling the rush and massive skyscraper impact of *her* outsized experience, sometimes anyway). Also other comments on this thread got me going, will check alb.

didn't vote in this but i've been feeling Bright lately

Jealous is the earworm on here for me

new song "Did I" is def a step closer to the mainstream

heh i too once eagerly invoked nivea to sell this (or perhaps the prev one idk) to someone before sternly reminding myself that irlx is not a thing

looking forward to her going a bit more pop if so, feels right now. maybe someone oughta hook her up with some y2k 'he loves u not'/ 'no matta what' spazz beats just cos she can

Omg yes

almost too cruel to invoke that possibility when it will never happen

i think she'll be great at going pop in whatever era though, albeit not with this new one specifically, which feels a bit trudging compared with her own stuff

relistening to "he loves u not" now (<3) and the first girl really is a dead ringer for kehlani!

maybe the pop & oak connection is polluting my thinking here but the way the sample is used in the "did i" hook is a little too reminiscent of "say it" for me

the rap part of the verses remind me of drake's big rings hook

good bridge

which actually reminds me of "FWU"

what the fuck is going on

http://www.factmag.com/2016/03/29/kehlani-suicide-attempt/

Always so sad to hear about anyone reaching this place.

new song
https://soundcloud.com/kehlanimusic/24-7a

this one's dope, way better than 'did i' IMO

THE EAST COAST AINT GOT NO LOVE FOR KEHLANI ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRHoonuZ8og

Not as into that one as the other new one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCGky5MaSLs

something very swv about "distraction", i love it (and "24/7" is also such a necessary song)

I love it too but it's about 45 seconds too long? idk

"The Letter" is so brutal.

― Tim F, Friday, November 20, 2015 11:16 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

totally. really exemplifies what makes her songwriting so effective for me - it's so unflinching, she doesn't sugarcoat any word or emotion (and her relatively plain style of singing accentuates this), but really elegant in the way she pieces together a situation and its consequences via so many details that bring the entire song into focus

― lex pretend, Tuesday, November 24, 2015 12:08 PM (nine months ago)

it's kind of fucked to put it even as early as trk 9 / 8 (w/ intro), since it wrecks you and then the next few songs can just pass by in a daze

"crzy" is getting those payola spins

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CtjoPDgUEAErbq-.jpg:large

can we initiate hype proceedings for the ilm aoty 2017 or what

'undercover' is perfect

looking forward to her going a bit more pop if so, feels right now. maybe someone oughta hook her up with some y2k 'he loves u not'/ 'no matta what' spazz beats just cos she can

― r|t|c, Thursday, 17 December 2015 10:10 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Omg yes

― Tim F, Thursday, 17 December 2015 10:43 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

almost too cruel to invoke that possibility when it will never happen

― cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 17 December 2015 17:48 Bookmark

lowkey close!!

I'ma save your name under somethin' else
I'ma keep your things deep in myself
I'ma tweet our inside jokes to the outside world
Forget you, go away
I'ma pick you up from the back in trains
Kept you in the world when it's all pretend
You're just you, I'm just me
There's no us, it's nothin'

'undercover' is perfect

― r|t|c, Thursday, January 12, 2017 6:02 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeh it is.

i loooove "undercover" and basically all of the other songs i've heard from this record

it's not even like chance x tlc blew my mind or anything but as soon i saw the cover and title i had this v relaxed certainty that yes this album will be a happening

now it feels like being in the airfield tower watching the career plane approach smoothly for landing

still quite opaque to locate the moment when/why her tide rose. to say it was the incident is reductively cynical but also pretty wrong i think

weirdly i think it was the grammy nom? like, them getting her singer-songwriterliness

omg "undercover"

I've listened to "undercover" about 20 times today

ha same

this album is too long but there's tons to like... i listened to you should be here today and i think that is still better but this album has some of the best songs she's ever written, some stuff that feels purposefully experimental that she really pulls off

the first track sounds like one of the upbeat songs on southern hummingbird, she does one song that is like fka twigs that is great, and this also has probably the most faithful and best aaliyah homage i've heard

there's no way I can get away with this in a review but "distraction" is both really good and like an R&B "bright yellow gun"

"piece of mind" is crazy good

I'm listening now. Sounds good.

katherine, that's an amazing description.

why is this album 62 minutes long lol

I don't care for the last third, or at least it hasn't clicked yet, but "Do U Dirty" to "Too Much" is my favorite sequence.

it's def too long, there's like 4-5 songs i'd cut to make it an easier and better listen, and i think most people will feel that way, but with different songs

the first 7 songs are pretty great, then after that it gets a little patchy and starts to feel long, but there's still a bunch of great songs

the New Edition quote in "In My Feelings" is well done

oh man "Gangsta."

too long my ass this is a classic

Lol how is 60 minutes long, do u guys even remember the 74 minute cds of the era this draws inspiration from

wow i was not planning on listening to this album but i'm def gonna now

do u guys even remember the 74 minute cds of the era this draws inspiration from

― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Thursday, January 26, 2017 9:52 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah and those were also too long

My point was 60 minutes isn't that long

the more tracks the more spotify streams i guess. isn't that drake's tactic

WE SAY FWOOEEEEOOOKKK IT

i luv concision but most of my fav records of the last few years have been pretty long; idk time is elastic and subjectively felt anyway (i always remember "distraction" as faster than it is) and "keep on" is already forecasting a relaxed, luxurious sense of time and space

this record's got my number btw

i'mma tweet our inside jokes to the outside world

in so far as length goes i've only sketched it out so far but i) the album clearly holds equal interest in, has taken the same care with, all its songs and ii) i love spending the time with her, all of it

oh my god I love this album, I'm looking forward so much to getting to know these songs. I was disappointed when it ended so soon

she's nailed the sequencing too esp w/r/t previously-released tracks (am also happy all the singles made it!)

i think my biggest beef w/ this is the mastering, it gets unnecessarily loud at certain points (esp the choruses for the singles). or like the part where the bass comes in on "everything is yours" sounds ugly to me strictly just from a mastering standpoint, kinda disappointing (tho maybe it was just my screen or cuz i don't use an amp for headphones or whatever!)

'you should be here' was such a... pleasant listen, i think the major label mastering complex kinda fucked w/ this new one a bit

The stream does sound ever so slightly off balance, more than my download copy, but hey so are her relationships.

(by screen i meant stream, yeah)

dub this album onto cassette tape, dub that onto another, repeat fifty times over, place the final tape in your shirt pocket and then jump out of the nearest open window

big fan of how "too much" slows down and reshapes "more than a woman"

faint echo of the "Hit Em wit da Hee" beat too.

also the sample of "if it isn't love" in "in my feelings"

which is like the moment the album looks straight into my soul tbh

yeah I mentioned that allusion upthread – it occurs to me now that "In My Feelings" samples "If It Isn't Now" while much of the album takes its emotional cue from the "Maybe she'll take me back" middle eight.

me at the end of this album: "no thank YOU kehlani"

dont often break out this part of the critical toolkit but lol damn if this isnt the most taurus record ever

this rules, let's make a pact not to forget about it at the end of the year

dub this album onto cassette tape, dub that onto another, repeat fifty times over, place the final tape in your shirt pocket and then jump out of the nearest open window

― r|t|c, Friday, January 27, 2017 10:21 AM (thirty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark

come on man!!!!! i just want pop music to sound a little better u_u

but i'd rather talk about how "piece of mind" is a stunning song that should be an R&B standard from now on

obviously she telegraphs the TLC influence w/ the stylizing of the title but i kept thinking that this my fav parts of this abum feel like they could have been on 'fanmail'... "piece of mind" especially

haha sorry i couldnt resist the hyperb by js homage

https://www.discogs.com/artist/237914-Chris-Athens?sort=year%2Cdesc&limit=500

man i cant believe they got this bum in to master it jeez

ayo ma u sure u want that funcrusher plus sound tho? aight word

In Jordan's defense the advance stream they sent out sounded weird to me also. But it sounds fine on Apple Music now. Idk

Pop&oak were heavily involved in this right? Kinda cool to think of the "say it" record having more of a wave than Tory lanez trump like attention span

p&o doing the bulk of the production was kinda my main point of concern leading up to it but the album is a terrifically well considered and vibrant synthesis of old and new

not that i doubt the subtlety of their chops but lesser students of the game than keh sometimes only bang like vehicular

not here for pop & oak slander

not here for pop & oak slander

hey--i really mean it

hey--i really mean it

nice i cracked the double posting code

in a dee-sguise

aoty

the bass on everything is yours m/l gave my sub a nice workout

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22794-sweetsexysavage/

Atlantic groomed her publicly and behind the scenes for cred and stardom, from 2014 mixtape Cloud 19 to 2015’s album-called-mixtape You Should Be Here to heavy promotion at radio.

correct me if i'm wrong here, but atlantic didn't sign her until after cloud 19. we were talking about her here on ILX before she signed

not a criticism of the review mind, which seems more positive than that score which is kinda weak. i shudder to think of what middling PR-driven garbage beat out 7.0

It's a great review Katherine! (as are all your reviews) the score did seem somewhat incongruent tho which is often the case with pitchfork reviews

generally speaking anything 7+ is in the "very good" category

Yeah that was a v good review to be clear

lol I know 7 is "v good" but cmon

I have to agree with deej here. A plain 7 just feels wrong at this point..

her last tape was a 7.4...

quibbling over bloody p4k decimal places does not befit kehlani

haven't been this excited about an album since dumblonde's debut. this is kinda like my r&b pipe dream of the last 16 years or so.

belatedly the decimal places are because I really liked You Should Be Here

http://www.spin.com/2017/02/kehlanis-sweetsexysavage-argues-that-theres-more-to-modern-rb-than-sadboy-jerkoffs/

some nice lines in jord rvw

album is strong and interesting enough on its own terms to not require modern rnb industry 101 crit layups imo, but i get it

agree that empathy is def the keyword. "i kill em i kill em i kill em with compassion"

arguably it's actually a lil bit of a trap to counterpoint this against "acidic r&b at the moment" because it underplays the headstrong advances keh makes to the now slightly stale popular/critical idea of ~relatability~

generally i find myself writing a lot about context, always trying to remind myself to write more about the music... but thank u

on Wednesday when a student asked who some of my favorite singers were and I said "K Michelle and Kehlani" she brightened and we talked about radio for about ten minutes. It felt good to establish a vaporwave-free zone.

I love this record. I gotta hook up with a boy, love him, and face familial resistance so I can make "Undercover" our anthem.

I know we live in an unfair universe cause "Undercover" isn't everywhere

haven't been this obsessed with a song for a while now

head over heels 4 "escape" today

trying to figure out what song that opening guitar reminds me of. some babyface thing I'm sure

big fan of how "too much" slows down and reshapes "more than a woman"

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Friday, January 27, 2017 8:24 AM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeh its a great homage

even more appreciably so when you put it next to the empty-feeling 'know' on the new syd lp

I like that Syd album more than I thought I would (esp "Got Her Own") but yeah obv no Kehlani

my only criticism of j0rdan's review (and i suspect it's a 'writers don't write headlines' thing) is that I don't think i've heard anyone say 'jerkoffs' since seventh grade

syd's kind of got a heavy-handed sense of rhythm to me. feels kind of clumsy or something, like its asking for delicacy

at least on this album idk, im not super familiar w/ the internet's stuff but i know ppl like it

i was v fond of last the internet record hence prob why 'dollar bills' is my fave on this solo and the rest hasnt done much for me

even more appreciably so when you put it next to the empty-feeling 'know' on the new syd lp

― r|t|c, Thursday, February 9, 2017 11:22 AM (seventeen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

just listened, beat def sounds chintzy in comparison. beats gotta snap if ur gonna do timbo

xp that kinda makes it sound like i just like them as an n.e.r.d pastiche but idk she just seems way more comfortably expressive within that metier compared to this chillier timbahintaland

my only criticism of j0rdan's review (and i suspect it's a 'writers don't write headlines' thing) is that I don't think i've heard anyone say 'jerkoffs' since seventh grade

― flopson, Thursday, February 9, 2017 1:28 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark

lol thankfully nobody has written my headlines in years

i like the syd album a lot too, way more than i expected to. i hear the criticisms of "know" for instance but i think that's a legit hook. i do like that it sort of deviates from the aaliyah mimicry later in the album as rtc sorta insinuates

man i am loving this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAEQas2eCN8

good beat, almost feel like they overwrote the song listening to it now

kehlani having an impact https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/rankchange.html

wow

This is awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8OJsHxBUko

a victory lap that doesn't feel like it's rubbing your face in it, very good

'cause how is the man of my dreams
not a man of his words?
and how is the man for me
just a man that makes me hurt?

aoty

was this never posted somehow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wVB6pfWwnE

that's extremely lovely

that's gorgeous.

I can't decide between "Get Like" and "Undercover" for my 2017 mix. Feel like there's a song on this album for every stage of a relationship and its attendant feelings/attitudes.

she's so cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_x7fDljZPU

Like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wb04PvJO5Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I99qCuWx1mI

this album still goes

new mixtape soon

first track on the new mixtape is incredible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byrnDdKoCgE

!!!!!!

whole mixtape is fantastic but that first track is especially great yeah

wild that she's got another album planned for later in the year on top of this

That's good. And nice quote from Omarion's "Ice Box" !

its a 'mixtape'??

I might've felt a little vulnerable last night, but the male collaborators sound good to excellent. Musiq Soulchild, yeah, but also 6LACK.

MUSIQ!

this is a v good whatever it is

[Pre-Chorus: Kehlani]
But here’s to being honest
Neither of us knew what we wanted
But all we knew is that we cared
Still all we painted was a moment

[Chorus: Kehlani]
And when I walked away
I left footsteps in the mud so you could follow me
And when I walked away
I left footsteps in the mud so you could follow me
You’re so bad at holding water, slips right through your fingers
We'd both end up drowning, it would hit the ground
And then the path would wash away, wash away

fuck me all the wya up

way!!

weird i guess it is a 'mixtape'

How is a mixtape different from an album? I've never quite understood this (I'm dumb)...

it mostly means "the label isn't promoting this release as much and not giving it a physical release" these days

been listening to this over and over

yes it is extremely good

oh my god she's so great

damn this tape is strong. thought "this has to be the best track on the tape" like 4 different times before arriving at "butterfly," which is totally the best track on the tape.

this is incredible

and a compact coda to the last album

i haven't checked the credits but my impression is there is a return to the producers/production of the first 'tape' more than the album? which i like

why is this the best album ive heard in like 2 years

don't get out much

lol

it's rly good

songwriting seems really on another level

i'm a little cool on the chorus/title of 'feels', seems too trite given her keen ear for conversational lyric-writing (if she were a novelist people would praise her ear for dialogue)

but the production on butterfly amazes me

[Pre-Chorus: Kehlani]
But here’s to being honest
Neither of us knew what we wanted
But all we knew is that we cared
Still all we painted was a moment

[Chorus: Kehlani]
And when I walked away
I left footsteps in the mud so you could follow me
And when I walked away
I left footsteps in the mud so you could follow me
You’re so bad at holding water, slips right through your fingers
We'd both end up drowning, it would hit the ground
And then the path would wash away, wash away

fuck me all the wya up

― J0rdan S., Friday, February 22, 2019 1:36 PM (five days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah "feels" makes me a little itchy... i think i prefer "love language"

love "Toxic":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ej_l8C5Q94

yes - it owns, so does the new video. really hyped for the new album. while we wait was lk one of the best of 2019

that video - “Quarantine Style”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmFP1AP-afM

new album It Was Good Until It Wasn't out May 8!

It's out!

'hate the club' is amazing.

I've been looking for it for a couple days.

playing now, all the advance singles and features have been great so i'm pretty hyped.

enjoying this but it strangely feels a little low-key compared to last year's While We Wait which everyone really slept on

hi!

you reviewed this, right?

no, alas

this is solid but I agree with "little low key" and the "transition record" comment from this vulture interview... the floor is lower than previous albums but I've yet to find the song that sends me like Undercover or Nights Like This

https://www.vulture.com/2020/05/kehlani-profile-it-was-good-until-it-wasnt.html

Kehani being ridiculously patient with Charlamagne here (who is trending on the back of this)

charlamagne really be gaslighting the FUCK out of his female guest and it pisses me off every single time. props to kehlani for keeping it cool cause i definitely woulda got in his ass talmbout “you cant forgive a lil cheating?” “niggas fuck up” https://t.co/WiUhyIwIUm

— lil gemini (@tr_imani) May 9, 2020

very surprised to learn SweetSexySavage was "rushed" and "half-finished ideas" because it's such a solid record, doesn't sound that way at all

This record feels rushed, actually; it's my least favorite to date.

well "rushed" and "half-finished" were the writer's words

“I started an album as one person and went through the most traumatic event in my life,” she says. Her label held fast to its deadline, leaving her to make an album from songs she barely recognized. “I didn’t connect with any of the music,” she says. “I was embarrassed of everything.”

she's talking about the album in a really specific personal context. she may have not connected w/ the music by the time it came out (or even when it was recorded?) but that's different than saying that the songs themselves aren't good

tbh to me it feels like the story is trying to wedge sexysweetsavage into the well worn storyline that goes "pop artist forced by label to record songs against their will, returns w/ more artistically true album." but it feels like inaccurate framing to me... i mean, i personally wrote at the time that the album was a triumph for "real" R&B in a world where branding and pop stardom mattered more, so idk it's hard for me to see it as a failed sellout record or something like that. again, this is divorced completely from how the recording and release of the album mapped across kehlani's own personal life, and how she feels about it now because of it

it is at best her third best project to me tho

sexysweetsavage didn't seem bad to me, just more 'professional'—not as lived-in in the songwriting or production

as for this album, it's kinda patchy at the beginning. but once it gets to "change your life" it's pretty great until the end. the production gets really cool, some of the melodic runs and stuff on "hate the club" are really cool. it opens up a bit gets, more acoustic... "can you blame me" is perfect. the james blake feature is regrettable. overall this is pretty safely one of the better records i've heard this year.

i really think 'sweetsexysavage' is kinda of a r&b masterpiece.

"Water," "Can You Blame Me," "Hate the Club," and "Open (Passionate)" are my keepers.

oh man "change your life" rules

Leaning into Toxic, Change Your Life, F&MU, Water as the return tracks. I wish Tory Lanez wasn't on Can I, it's otherwise quite good.

it's really just the first 2 songs on here i don't like. "bad news" is a really beautiful song. there's at least 3 instant classic records on this, prob a handful that i would put on a best of mix, and i've been playing the full album aside from "toxic" and "can i" nonstop since friday

the way she slips in and out of "frontin" on "everybody business" is awesome

i've listened to "hate the club" like 100 times, what a song

I really like toxic. thought this project was pretty low key but need to sit with it for a while. sweetsexysavage and while we wait both masterpieces for my money tho

you should be here is so good too. building quite the catalog

"Leave the juice to your squeeze" my god

I'm pretty obsessed with the "Open" half of "Open/Passionate" and the lyrics of the pre- and the chorus (and the perspective flip in the second pre-/chorus!):

[Pre-Chorus]
What if you slip up?
What if tequila grab your neck and say, "Don't bitch up"?
What if you wanna shoot your shot and load the clip up?
Are you scared to lose your queen and gain a bishop?

[Chorus]
Do I got you way too open to be open?
Is the lens you see me through just way too focused?
What if you're curious and caught up in the moment?
Can you hold me down when I'm across the ocean?
Can you control it?
Do I got you way too open to be open?
Would you let it twist up all of your emotions?
What if you're curious and caught up in the moment?
Do I got you way too open to be (open)

lmao my brain just shuts off and stops recording whenever i hear tory lanez's voice

otherwise i regret taking forever to get around to this record, it's fantastic

"bad news" is a really beautiful song

j0rd knows

"Open (Passionate)" is, according to my phone, 2020s most played song.

i just skip the first 2 songs honestly... from that point on it's very easily a top 5 record of the year to me

hate the club... what an artist

"grieving" is so good i'll even endure the unwelcome yodel of james blake

https://www.vulture.com/2020/07/kehlani-can-i-music-video-tory-lanez.html

Lanez wasn’t in the video, but it still featured his verse. “Full transparency cuz i believe in that with my following,” Kehlani tweeted. “His verse is still on the song, the video is solo. new verse on the deluxe.” In a since-deleted tweet, she added, “The album came out months ago i can’t remove it, doesn’t work like that. can only move forward.”

get lanez off this and it might be my fave track on the album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjDDyKoNG2Q

there's a new album out???

Indeed.

It's pretty good

i think shes slipped quite a bit.

this is solid, hope it sticks with me better than the last one

kind of an odd record... it seems like she wanted to make an intimate, minor-by-design sort of album? i think it gets better at the end, starting w/ "altar." i like "tangerine" a lot. the gestures towards tempo (the slick rick sample, the bieber song) don't feel very realized. some of the production and vocals are pretty but idk how much any of the songs really stick w/ me.

the last album was great to me. this album is missing songs like "change your life" and "hate the club" ... and even "bad news" and "everybody business" does the sound of this album better than this album. will give this one a few more tries but it may just be a write off for me.

pitchfork has this rated as the best kehlani album... i'm yelling "objection" at the judge

this is her weakest to my ears

easily

I feel like if she waited a bit longer between albums and gathered up the best material she had, instead of doing random singles and mixtapes, she would have a better strike rate. Six albums (or album-length projects) in eight years is a lot.