This year has emotionally affected countless people across the nation and the world. The Oakland native, on her second full-length studio album, It Was Good Until It Wasn’t, does not shy away from those emotions that listeners are too akin to. The project was released in May 2020 amid a global pandemic. Kehlani’s enact ability to express vulnerability through her prominent R&B sound makes her music incredibly relatable. It Was Good Until It Wasn’t is an immersive look inside the mind of an artist sorting through her various emotions.
I found Kehlani’s music back in 2015 with her project, You Should Be Here. I made an effort to expose myself to her music to impress a woman, who I knew was a big fan. Despite my efforts, I didn’t get the girl. However, my affinity for her sound has stayed with me ever since. Flash forward to 2020, the fifteen-track album shattered my expectations and has become one of the best R&B albums to release this year.
It Was Good Until It Wasn’t is littered with love songs that convey directly to audiences. Songs like “Toxic” and “Bad News” speak intimately about the dangers of contradictory relationships. “Hate the Club” Ft. Masego tells the lengths at which one would go to see a significant someone, singing, “Damn, you know I hate the club. But I came cause I knew you’d show up.” “F&MU” and “Water” are stark sexual expression ballads and “Everybody Business” is the R&B moguls’ response to the familiar gossip surrounding her career. There are plenty of great features as well, including James Blake, Lucky Dave, Masego, and Jhené Aiko.
This album couldn’t have come at a better time. In a year defined by isolation, It Was Good Until It Wasn’t speaks on the technicalities of connection in a time where it was so needed. Kehlani’s arrant vulnerability is captured perfectly throughout this album and a leading factor in its success. Alongside the various “Quarantine-Style” videos that accompanied the project, she has made her mark on today’s R&B scene. The top three songs are “Everybody’s Business,” “Change Your Life (feat. Jhené Aiko),” and “F&MU.”
Link to full MT Top 10: https://maroontigermedia.com/2021/01/mts-top-10-albums-of-2020