Kehlani is riding a career high. Off the heels of the massive commercial and chart success of "Folded," the R&B bombshell has dropped off her latest album Kehlani. Self-titled albums generally mean something, flag a project that's supposed to make a definitive statement about the artist's career and creative purpose. In Kehlani's case, her self-titled only further cements her position in the wider R&B canon, firmly placing her among legacy acts, like Brandy, Missy Elliott, Lil Jon, and T-Pain, as well as her peers, like Cardi B and Leon Thomas. Across 17 songs, she proves her vision is indispensable.
Ahead, FADER staff picked our favorite five of the record, take a look below and stream the album now on Spotify and Apple Music.
"I Need You" (f. Brandy)
Mother and daughter. Queen and princess. God and Jesus. Just kidding — that one might be over the top, but you get what I mean: Kehlani and Brandy’s team up on “I Need You” is of watershed importance for the R&B community. Two of the genre’s defining women trade bruised love verses over a quintessentially ‘90s instrumental, and they are singing. Burn that candle, pour that glass of wine, this is a safe space. —Steffanee Wang
"Oooh"
I honestly don’t know if I should be listening to this in a coffee shop. I’m looking over my shoulder, feeling guilty because this track makes me feel like I'm interrupting something. Some of the best R&B is the baby-making kind, and Kehlani rides (pun intended) this instrumental with sultry soul in more than 69 ways. No one does intimacy quite as fearlessly as her. —Kylah Williams
"Back and Forth" (f. Missy Elliott)
Kehlani sounds right at home over a Timbaland-style beat with the M.C. who helped define that very sound, Missy Elliott. On “Back and Forth,” Kehlani sings of setting boundaries with a lover and refusing to go “back and forth.” Missy brings the fictional scenario into dramatic relief via a vivid phone call, proving once again that she’s equal part dramaturge and wordsmith. —Tobias Hess
"Call Me Back" (f. T-Pain & Lil Jon)
It’s rare that Kehlani isn’t thee star on any song but I don’t think she’d mind me saying T-Pain and Lil Jon take the cake on this absolutely groovy, swaggy number. T-Pain’s ever-endearing aura is on max capacity here as he croons and yells in his signature Auto-Tune, while Lil Jon slickly slides in the last few seconds like sweet-talking tomcat. There’s so much personality stuffed in these three minutes, one can’t not appreciate the spectacle of their effort as they paint the delicious scandal of a love triangle. —SW
"Pocket" (f. Cardi B)
Built around an unyielding vocal chop, “Pocket” initially scans as an over-the-top sex jam, but if anyone can sell risqué camp, it’s these two. The brassy instrumental and Keh’s unsubtle metaphors feel perfectly suited for radio play; a typically playful Cardi verse is smooth enough to go over well despite ending on an inexplicable “ham and cheese” clunker. "Pocket" feels like a perfect summer evening jam — just don’t play it around your mother. — Vivian Medithi
