kehlani - you should be here (2015)

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

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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

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.