Kehlani

R&B singer Kehlani released her second album It Was Good Until It Wasn't on May 8th, 2020 under Tsunami Mob and Atlantic Records. The album features Jhene Aiko, Tory Lanez, Masego, James Blake, and Lucky Daye. The 25-year-old singer started her career in 2009 when she was a part of a group called PopLyfe and they auditioned for the TV show called America's Got Talent but at the end of the season's show, Kehlani disbanded from the group to start a solo career. She later created her own buzz on Soundcloud, she released 3 mixtapes, her first studio album SweetSexySavage released in 2017 followed by It Was Good Until It Wasn't. Now her new album will be my first time being exposed to Kehlani's music and before I start writing the review, from what I've listened to, she reminds me of Jhene Aiko who is also featured on the album.

Moving from New York to Los Angeles, I had to say goodbye to my partner of 2 years. SweetSexySavage was in the background when we started going out, and it is still playing now that I am in LA trying to land some positions as I change careers. I am out here trying to eat and pay rent, so I am determined – and music is my life while I continue to job hunt. Great songs here and tons of nostalgia – which doesn’t make me sad, but actually comforts me. A long distance relationship doesn’t work – I should know, I’ve tried (this was a different boy). I went out to visit him in another country where he was studying, three times, yet he never came to see me in NY. I didn’t want to go through that again. Kehlani is introspective about a break up with her man on “Piece Of Mind”, and now that they are broken up, she is returning to her old ways, the hobbies she used to do, while at the same time, cognizant of the good and bad that he taught her so that she can do it better the next time. I feel just like that – it was time for a reset on everything. There’s no hard feelings.

It’s not often that I can play an album front to back, and again and again. I more often cherrypick what I desire– with SweetSexySavage, the album had plenty of cherries to pick, being just so lit, sexy, sad, poetic, danceable, you name it, Kehlani got it. I remember my first listening session actually – yes, they are ‘sessions’ and I take them very seriously, with a pen and paper, making meticulous mood notes about what songs really move me. I can remember watching my sisters kids that day, it was raining so we were at the kitchen dining table, and instead of worrying about their own phones or tablets, they were busy worrying about what I was doing. Asking why I was crossing so and so song off on the list, or putting them in top ten order, etc. Because these are the songs that get you through the day when you have adult problems I told the little ones.

Kehlani reminds me of a girl I used to have an on again off again thing with, where we were first year friends who would get drunk and high with each other, sleep with each other, but keep the big feelings at bay. She looked like Kehlani, had tattoos and was tom-boyish like her, and she listened to Kehlani of course because it’s Oakland. What I most liked about her was that she always had music playing in her big windowed Victorian studio, playing woke material like Miles Davis and Roy Ayers, but new at the time stuff like Kehlani too, who we would discuss the pros and cons of, and I would mostly agree, to her points being made about Kehlani bringing the rnb of Aaliyah back which no one was doing then.