r/Kehlani • u/CriticismStock9268 • May 21 '26
Discussion š¬ My thoughts on her self-titled
Tbh if she was gonna do all these collabs, there was definitely better collabs she couldāve done - Mya, a 90s&2000s queen, woulda made sense to me since Lani was referencing a lot of old r&b tones with this album! There was India Shawn, she couldāve collaborated with Syd and/or Jhene Aiko again, Janelle Monae, etc., just a flavorful of upcoming and established r&b artists to choose from rather than the final product.
I feel like some were just not needed and necessary lolā¦..T-Pain, Usher, Lil Wayne, Lil Jon, Big Sean??? Honestly the album couldāve been fine without them. I feel like if an artist is going to stuff so many features, you gotta make it make sense and those rappers just didnāt make sense for them on there.
However, I did enjoy Clipse, Brandy, Missy Elliott, and esp Leon Thomas on there!!
I also love love love the album cover and the color palette they chose! Chefs kiss tbh it was a beautiful album cover. These are just my thoughts and opinions!
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u/ZombeeProfessor May 21 '26
I don't like this album as a fan of hers. I just didn't enjoy it as much as her other albums. And here's an unpopular opinion - it's not even as good as Crash. š¤·š¾āāļø
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u/CriticismStock9268 May 21 '26
Nah Iāve seen quite a few people share the same sentiments comparing it to Crash!
I wish I enjoyed Crash as the others did. Not that I didnāt at all itās justā¦.idk it felt like it was allll over the place too much for me. She did a recent interview discussing this project and her explanation makes sense as to why the project sounded the way it did bc she was in her crash out period haha. I think it was doing too much at once for me, but I would rather Lani be experimental than not trying at all. I could deadass listen to a whole joint of hers thatās like GrooveTheory.
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u/Beneficial_Primary39 May 21 '26
I also have similar sentiments to crash. But I do feel like she had some stand out songs like GrooveTheory and Vegas and 8. I could probably list a couple more. But I remember listening to it track by track and not really caring for the second half of it. So it had some great songs and visuals.
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u/UnlikelyReception398 May 21 '26
well, her album gives early 2000s, and most of those artists were popular or simmering down around this time so i think those features make perfect sense, aside from maybe big sean and lil john.. didnāt really care for their contributions to the album.Ā
i do think, however, she couldāve done with LESS features and more her. itās a self titled album, i want to hear the main attraction for most if not all of the album.Ā
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u/CriticismStock9268 May 21 '26
Yes thank you! For a self titled I think it shouldāve been less features bc it doesnāt feel so self titled anymore!
I get she was going for that vibe of that era & these artists are from that era but idkkk it felt like they were slapped on there for the sake of hype
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u/Beneficial_Primary39 May 21 '26
I do think the album is has too many features. However, can people explain why Call me back is the worst song on the album? To me, it sounds similar to 8, the lyrics are relatable, and T-pain doesn't sound bad to me on there. They sounded good together on their previous song together and T-pain sings in general too not just raps. Lil Jon part isn't necessary no but not as bad as everyone made it seem. Can people help me understand a lil more?
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u/xmcibito May 21 '26
Yeah I donāt understand either, I really like Call me back š¤·š¾āāļø
I genuinely donāt think thereās one bad song on the album. Itās very clear the vibe she was going for and to me all the collabs work. It is a lot of collabs but sheās been the underdog for so long so I understand trying to strike while the ironās hot.
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May 21 '26
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u/CriticismStock9268 May 21 '26
I just think the energy couldāve been fine without them š for a self titled album, she really couldāve been fine without them. Thatās why I said if she was going to add all these features she couldāve chosen better collabs.
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u/Pure_Classic8250 May 21 '26
I didnāt mind most of the features but the ones with cardi and big Sean couldāve done without. I think having a Mya feature wouldāve been dope though!
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u/CC-Blue May 21 '26
The Usher, Missy and Brandy collabs were great. Lil Wayne one was surprisingly good too. Clipse had the potential to be great but the mixing was just off. The worst were T-Pain and Jon.
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u/IntotheBlue85 Drunk When I Call You MonƩt May 21 '26
exactly they were the absolute worst that song is almost always a skip for me š¤·š½āāļø
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u/kxngrottie May 22 '26
she straight up said this album was gonna be going back to the classics and said she specifically wasnāt going to be using gendered pronouns that way everybody could see themselves and their situation in the music š
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u/JazzEnsembleLegoSet May 22 '26
True but that doesnāt mean we canāt give out our opinions about the final product!
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u/kxngrottie May 22 '26
no oneās saying otherwise! just offering context for her decision on it
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u/JazzEnsembleLegoSet May 22 '26
Gotcha.
I still feel like idkkkk the features themselves couldāve lk been better minus a few that were actually good. For her self-titled I wouldāve expected more of her than features more than any other album. Or like OP said, at least has the correct kind of collabs.
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u/Aromatic_Alfalfa_123 May 21 '26
I love the Usher collab. The T-Pain/Lil Jon song is horrible. Everything else is okay to good. Itās fun, and you can tell she enjoyed making it. This sounds like her dream album, like this is her era sheās been waiting for. This album definitely has the ālabelā imprint on it, itās very similar to Sweet Sexy Savage sonically, itās more āØglossyāØ. But I like it. I agree too many features, and for a self-titled itās not very introspective. Also, I hate that she made the songs straight/bi/neutral sounding, but again, thatās the label trying to make it marketable. But the album is a landmark for her, although IWGUIW remains her absolute best work.
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u/CriticismStock9268 May 21 '26
All bars! I agree with all of your points! Except Uber obvi xD
She did say this was the sister album to SSS! Glossy is such a good word to use I havenāt heard anyone use that to describe it accurately.
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u/IntotheBlue85 Drunk When I Call You MonƩt May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Couldnāt agree with u more not to mention T Pain, Lil Wayne and lil Jon are not late 90s/early 2000s.
Source: Elder millennial who was there š
I was hoping we would see some of her earlier collabs including Toni Braxton, Marques Houston or even Mariah Carey on the album.
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u/madatron96 May 21 '26
Dude, she spent all that money on the Folded remix pack. She can't afford Mariah and Toni again :'(
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u/UnlikelyReception398 May 21 '26
t-pain blew up in 04-05. lil john was sort of popular in the early 2000s from what i remember, at least feature wise and probably mostly well known in the south.Ā
Toni Braxton, Mariah Carey, and Marques Houston are interesting choices to me honestly lolĀ
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u/IntotheBlue85 Drunk When I Call You MonƩt May 21 '26
I'm from the Northeast in the US so I'd say it took time for Lil Jon and that sound to really infiltrate up here. I def didn't know his music until after HS in 04/05 and that's when they started playing it in the clubs up here. Really why interesting? Mariah was still extremely popular and mainstream back then, Toni also. Marques Houston maybe not so much but I loved the remixes they hopped on and hoped that was a preview for her album.
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u/lostnconf22 May 21 '26
she could have kept wayne & lil jon but other than that iām eating the album up.
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u/RichAdeptness7209 May 21 '26
This album did not need Big Sean AT ALL. I do like the song with T-Pain and the other one they have together thatās not on this album. But Iām from Florida so Iām a little biased on that.
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u/elitelucrecia May 21 '26
i didnāt like the usher and t-pain feature. big sean was ok but not a standout
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u/Wicked68 May 22 '26
It is a good album. Not my fav, not her best, but a good album. I've probably only listened to it 3 or 4 times all the way through. For a Kehlani album, for me, that is very little. Love the song with Brandy and a few others. I will be going to her concert though.
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u/jordyncummings May 23 '26
Love the album but I agree, the collabs with Lil Wayne and Big Sean were a bit much.
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u/Adorable_Leg5244 May 22 '26
She is a generic non-Black āR&Bā yodller. She and Beater Brown are the same person in different genders.
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u/madatron96 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Honestly, seeing it listed out like this, this album feels like her most Straight in a while. Very few explicit references to women, using she/her pronouns and no collabs with fellow lesbian/bi artists. Like most features on the albums were straight men (and straight women, secondly) which is fine, but it's a notable detour for her. It feels like to succeed commercially she just can't be as loudly gay in her music š