Crash - CD

Kehlani’s disinclination for making the same album twice is most pronounced in the contrast between 2022’s Blue Water Road and its 2024 follow-up. Where third LP Blue Water Road tended to keep it light and lush, Kehlani’s fourth full-length, sporting an equally apt title, goes in many directions. Again swapping out almost all of their collaborators, the singer/songwriter brings in the likes of Dixson, Jack Rochon, Khris Riddick-Tynes, Ant Clemons, and Darhyl Camper. Even the two songs produced by solitary long-standing associate Oak are very different from one another, veering from the strutting and sleek “What I Want” (built on the hook of Christina Aguilera’s “What a Girl Wants”) to the jealousy-tinged, countryfied ballad “Better Not” (an unexpected highlight). The first of those two is part of an intense top half that’s mostly about seduction, sensuality, and devotion. “After Hours” reintroduces the Coolie Dance riddim (Nina Sky’s “Move Ya Body”) to the pop world to sweet, charming effect. With its baleful synthesizers and heated vocal, “Next 2 U” would be suited for a dystopian sci-fi film with a fiery romantic subplot. The suggestive “8,” not really about basic math, is lightest of all — due in part to a sample from Kwame’s deep golden age hip-hop classic “Ownlee Eue” — but puts Kehlani’s nuanced versatility on full display. The variety in the second half, where the bulk of Rochon’s efforts are heard, is more in the scenarios and feelings that range from conflicted to gleeful recklessness. Desirous ballad “Sucia” stitches together a slinking monologue from formative Kehlani influence Jill Scott and a nonchalant verse from Young Miko. The pivot from the atmospheric house of “Tears” to the moody pop of “Vegas” — where Kehlani seems tuned into Dawn FM — likewise swings from exasperation to impulsive lust. The penultimate song stays in Sin City with visions of “two gold rings and bootleg Elvis and my baby,” and then finale “Lose My Wife” skips ahead to “Drinkin’ and drivin’, we’ve been fightin’” and temptation related with a spare acoustic pop backdrop. The results are always entertaining. ~ Andy Kellman