Album Review: Kehlani - White We Wait
The easily-made comparisons to fellow female R&B stars like SZA and H.E.R. are somewhat warranted, but Kehlani is clearly distinctive from her peers in that she is not nearly as gifted as they are. Her music has always felt less inspired, less distinctive, and much more commercial, all to its detriment. Though While We Wait is far from a defining moment for her career or its genre, what is perhaps most surprising about this mixtape is that the music is listenable, even inspired at points due to her newfound ability to demonstrate the vocal skills she apparently possesses.
Her debut studio album, 2017's SweetSexySavage, was an ugly amalgamation of R&B and pop rap, with an unhealthy dose of trap thrown in to create the perfect mix of marketable tedium and pointless noise. It's therefore somewhat startling when this mixtape opens with Footsteps, a much more traditional R&B track. The ambient production is somewhat of a departure for Kehlani, thought a welcome one, and the chorus lyric "And when I walked away/I left footsteps in the mud so you could follow me" is a better line than anything said on her last project. Despite the poorly mixed hi-hats and the less-than-stellar verse from Musiq Soulchild, the track is a perfectly fine introduction to a more laid-back experience.
And what a consistent experience it is; while not breaking any boundaries, the sound of While We Wait is a polished example of contemporary R&B flirting with hip-hop production, with hardly any misses. The mixtape's various features help contribute to this sound with varying degrees of success; while the aforementioned Footsteps could have done without a guest, Ty Dolla $ign is remarkably restrained with his contributions on Nights Like This, and the 6LACK verse on RPG is surprisingly tolerable. When Kehlani is left alone, however, is when her talents truly shine, be it crooning with ample intensity on Butterfly and Love Language or else singing with more energy, flow, and clever one-liners as on Morning Glory.
Though Kehlani may have simply exchanged one generic sound for another, the soulful and relaxed nature of the instrumentals here is a much better fit for her talents, giving her ample opportunity to flex her vocal and lyrical talents. Although mainly the former is a standout here; despite occasional moments of poetic brilliance, quite a few bars on here are noticeably awful, from the Burger King reference on Morning Glory to Nunya's annoying repetition of "Ain't nunya business" to Feels and its painfully frequent use of its title in the more modern, cringe-worthy sense: "You give me, you give me feels".
Maybe it is a bit too generous to laud Kehlani for producing what is, in the grand scheme of things, a fairly unimaginative R&B project. But if innovation is a quality to be praised as highly as it is, then so too should consistency and atmosphere be celebrated. Framing While We Wait as 'good by Kehlani standards' seems harsh, but in all honesty, she is more than likely never going to make much of a splash in whatever genres she dips her toes in. At least in her current lane, she can produce something that, if not groundbreaking, at least can stand to be heard.
5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: Footsteps, Morning Glory, Nights Like This
https://open.spotify.com/album/73ZvpuYhKDr2FW4vlPsTpW?si=x0S8y7NVTpSYQYKrM6LOyQ