Kehlani Drops Her Debut Album SweetSexySavage

By Lexi Russell

SweetSexySavage is R&B singer Kehlani’s third major project, after her mixtapes “Cloud 19” and “You Should Be Here,” however, it is her first official studio album. The 19 tracks on the album speak volumes to young people everywhere on topics about love, growing pains, and self-empowerment. Anticipation for the album was enlarged by occasional sneak peaks of songs and personal posts on Kehlani’s social media about her project.

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A few months ago, she dropped her singles “Crzy” and “Distraction” to give her fans a feel for the vibe of her new album. Although “SweetSexySavage” can be seen as a 90’s homage to TLC’s famous “CrazySexyCool” album, the two works are completely different.

In this album, Kehlani shows her maturity in her music and in her lyrics through the lessons she’s learned in her personal life. She gives us a tour of how her mentality has changed from being a naive and in love 19-year-old to a wise 21-year-old woman.

We all know about Kehlani’s disastrous media scandal involving her ex-boyfriends, Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving and hip-hop artist PartyNextDoor. However, Kehlani strays away from negativity and spits her true perspective on the past. In the song “Personal” she talks about how she lost respect for her last love after the breakup, but she quickly states how she is not phased since she is a successful recording artist and has many fans just like him. Kehlani makes it a point to always take the high road even when taking shots at someone.

Overall, “SweetSexySavage” is a very chill piece of work with a lot of gems and shared life lessons from Kehlani that her listeners can reflect from. She told Rolling Stone that, where Cloud 19 proved “I can sing!” and You Should Be Here showed “I can write!” her new album says, “I can chill! And have fun!” With this album, Kehlani shows us her growth not only as an artist, but as a young woman.