Emotional, vulnerable, fun, sweet, sultry are a few adjectives to describe the many ways Kehlani opened up her life to the world on SSS. “My condolences to anyone who’s ever lost me”. The Intro did well to describe where Kehlani had been since her previous effort You Should Be Here. A mini poem (recited by Reyna Biddy) summarizes what she previously went through and how she probably feels like she is being perceived, “I’m afraid you’re under the impression that I was made to please you/I was under the impression you understood me better”. She does however reinforce who she is now and in doing so shows a comfort- an acceptance of it “The truth is I’m a superwoman/And somedays I’m an angry woman/And somedays I’m a crazy woman…”The best thing about this album is that it does exactly what it set out to do – Sweet (Hold Me By The Heart, Thank You, Get Like), Sexy (Do U Dirty, CRZY), Savage (Too Much, Do U Dirty, Distraction, CRZY). Some songs overlap in themes further underlining her versatility.
‘Keep On’ a bouncy song about a lover taking her back despite anything ‘savage’ she does, “I ain’t been the best that I could been“, she doesn’t know why he takes her back either. This is a huge contrast to the next track ‘Distraction‘ which is more savage in its lyrics. This is the first example where Kehlani shows she knows how it feels to be on both sides of the field, “Are you down to be a distraction baby/But don’t distract me”. Although she is being honest with her intentions, she also wants said person’s ‘time’, showing she’s not exactly savage all the way.
With that being said, ‘Do You Dirty’ is the standout savage song of this album. Although the beat sounds a bit like ‘CRZY’, the subject matter couldn’t be more different. An uptempo song that is wholly unapologetic, explicit but still leaves the little sweet side that mentions this person seeing the good in her. She warns “You think you love me now, I think you should be worried” and “I know I’m not like other bitches”. What she does here is show she’s not one dimensional, her confidence oozes through the lyrics and the track is one you will have on repeat.
‘Piece of Mind‘ and ‘Advice‘ share similar stories of failed relationships that broke her down in some ways thus allowing her to reveal her more sensitive side.
The former shows the steps she’s taken to deal with her personal issues, “Trying to forget all the unnecessary- thoughts from my head man it was pretty scary” and the latter is like a note to self to take her own advice and stick with it, after discovering the man she wanted wasn’t the one for her. A lot of situations explored on this album are ones a lot of women can relate to, she empowers women to find peace on their own, after all she went through it in the public eye and has come out stronger on the other side. More importantly she knows it made her who she is.
Album standout ‘CRZY‘ was the first single to be released for the album and she played no games. Its hard hitting beat, self assured lyrics made it a certified club banger. It signified a new Kehlani into the mainstream, different to anything else she put out before, “they be tryna count me out though, I’m just counting counting blessings”. Coupled with the video, she came back strong and it fit nicely into the album.
‘Not Used To It’ and ‘Everything is Yours‘ were sequenced brilliantly, she gave us so much information about her life, and though she’s a singer her flow was reminiscent of a rapper’s on both songs.
The slower ballads are also strong, ‘Hold Me By The Heart‘ and ‘Thank You‘ allow us to see her softest sides.
I would also add fluffy cute track ‘Get Like‘ to this list of the sweet/soft songs, however much like the beginning tracks of the album, “In My Feelings” is another direct contrast to it, where she realizes someone isn’t good for her, sampling New Edition’s ‘If It Isn’t Love‘ to drive home her point.
My criticism of this album is that at 19 songs, it borders on repetition which would have been fine if there was a better range in storytelling. Songs like Undercover and Personal felt like variations of other songs on the album making them sound unnecessary here.
After my first listen of this album, I felt like I had just witnessed a well thought out piece of art. I summed it up this way because it’s unconventional, cohesive, empowering and also functions as a coming of age. It’s a creditable debut and I predict great things to come from Kehlani in the future if this album is anything to go by.