Kehlani opens the album with an electric guitar as they reflect back on past love in “little story,” and asks for a second chance. They sing “I want you to pick up the pen and write me into your story, you know I love a story only when you’re the author.”
Kehlani posted a documentary series on their Youtube channel showing their journey of self-discovery and said “little story’ is about me being really honest about not having been the best for this girl that I was with or into, and she’s a writer, and she just writes great stories and it was me just saying I want to finish what we started.”
“Any given sunday” also explores infatuation with someone. Drums, snaps and soft acoustics juxtapose lyrics of longing, including “the baddest bitch that’s in the mirror wants to love somebody’s daughter right.”
After publicly identifying as a lesbian in April 2021, they portray a masculine role and throughout the track address their love interest spending time in Miami and “making it rain” at the club.
The first interlude of the album, “shooter interlude” describes the nonsense they’ve encountered from others and continues with more of the same R&B instrumentals as they sing “ ‘S’ on your chest but you never feel super, do you ever feel stupid? Do you call out for cupid? . . . can I come over later and can I overstay my welcome?”
Kehlani told NME in a Friday article that “shooter interlude’ is a compilation of all the bullshit that has come out of people’s mouths towards me.”
The guitar riffs vibrate in the background and they continue singing “before you blew up I knew you, before you grew up I used to babysit ya.”
They go back and forth to the perspective of what others have said to them and their response at the end of the verses.
“Wish I never” starts with the sample beat of 1995’s “This Is How We Do It” by singer-songwriter Montell Jordan. Kehlani begins, “I never let ‘em win ‘less I say so and I don’t show my cards but I play though.”
With a drum beat, they further sing of regret, “Seen the bullet coming but I didn’t dodge it quick enough. I wish I never did it . . . wish I could’ve kept it pimpin should’ve never took that mission.”
Kehlani ends the track with a high-pitched siren sound that transitions to the start of the next track. “Up at night” features Canadian singer-songwriter Justin Bieber and showcases Kehlani’s signature R&B music flow.
This hip-hop and soul style continues in their other collaboration tracks, “get me started” featuring singer-songwriter Syd and “more than i should” featuring Canadian singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez.
The second interlude, “everything interlude,” is a 35-second instrumental track featuring violins that makes the listener feel at peace and transitions to the second half of the album.
I felt as if I was sitting on a sandy beach, reflecting on my past as ocean waves crashed along the shore.
“Melt,” “tangerine,” and “everything” are tracks in which Kehlani maintained a calm, blissful musical vibe while expressing their love, lust and desires, associated with spending time with a romantic partner.
They confidently end the album with “wondering/wandering” which features singer-songwriters Thundercat and Ambré. Starting with a piano and wave sound, they sing “Took time to enjoy it . . . try to release control . . . rebuild it all, it found me.”
Behind a bass beat, Kehlani sang “It left me wondering, wandering, wondering,” their voice’s pitch changing as they sang, “Now I’m living free wondering, I surrender.”
Kehlani concludes the track with their daughter saying “and blue water.”
Listeners imagine Kehlani and her child wandering on the shore then departing the blue water, unsure of where to go but regardless looking toward the future.
