ALJ REVIEWS: Blue Water Road by Kehlani

Here's to a late Happy New Year! Welcome back to another ALJ Review, in this new year I hope to be MUCH more consistent than I was in 2022, I have to beat last years record of 2 posts(the bar is on the floor), after this I have 2 to go!

2022 was a crazy year to say the least, ended on a real high note which I'm thankful for. Was an extremely busy year for music, feels like almost everyone and their Mum released. I have to say it was a great year for R&B! A lot of quality releases across the board. So it's only right I shine the light on a few of my favourite releases for the year for my first few reviews. My next review will be for Ella Mai's - Heart on my Sleeve and I shall be doing a round up of my favourite releases of 2022.

I've been working on this post for AGES and procrastination has once again been beating my ass, to make it worse the auto save stopped working and I lost 2 previous drafts of this post, I've been FIGHTING for my life to push through and actually finish and release this one, but, alas here we are!

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Kehlani, from Soundcloud days up until now. SweetSexySavage is one of my favourite projects and While We Wait has its gems on there too. Her last studio album (It was good till it wasn't) didn't hit for me besides Water - after multiple tries over the past couple of years. Which left me unsure of the direction of this upcoming album.

Her singles from the project 'Altar', 'Little Story' & 'Up at Night ft Justin Bieber', I had mixed initial responses to them. Altar & Up at Night were instant favourites for me & Little Story grew on me once I heard it in the album sequence. On Up at Night, I did feel Justin's feature didn't bring anything special to elevate or add to the song, the feature was just 'nice'.

Release Date: 29th April 2022

Run Time: 37 Mins 53 Seconds

13 Tracks

Rating: 7/10

I have to say, I've done nothing but sing this albums praise since it dropped, it was an instant favourite and one of top projects of the year for me. From the songwriting to the choice of features, run time, transitions, level and mood changes within the album. It is indeed a well balanced body of work.

Opens with Little Story, which I wasn't keen on when released as a single but hearing it in album context definitely changed my opinion on it and it is a well fitted opener for the album.

The transitions within the album both noticeable and subtle were used very well. Wish I Never into Up at Night caught my attention instantly as the ending of Wish I Never had a small interpolation of Up At Night before diving us into the next track:

Altar into Melt was another transition I personally really enjoyed, it was a subtle one but it was fitting for the current ambience of the album at that point. The ending of Altar was the perfect set up and introduction for Melt (The best song of the album!):

Personally, I do feel this album was very safe both sonically and vocally in comparison to her previous bodies of work. Still a well rounded and complete album nonetheless, even though I did think the album would've ended beautifully if it had stopped at "Everything", that was the most fitting outro to the album for me, although I do really like wondering/wandering, Everything was definitely the better choice to close out the album for me.

Her pen definitely shines through as the main character of this album as she proudly wears her heart on her sleeve and expresses her love for receiving, giving and exploring love. Kehlani is a brilliant songwriter and this album is definitely the body of work to double down on that statement in her defence. This album is recognisably from a much happier and more fulfilled stage of her life and career, a more personal in-depth look into the person she is becoming.

My top picks of this album have changed a lot since it's release but my top 2 have undoubtedly stayed intact from day 1!

1. Melt

This song right here is best song on the album by far, beautifully written, paints the writers vision vividly. If love had a theme song, it would be Melt!

2. Altar

This song I did immediately take to when it was released as the main single, fell off my radar and the albums release has really reminded me how much I enjoyed it.

3. Tangerine

This was a song that I always liked, wasn't an instant favourite but grew on me over time, since hearing her live, I can truly appreciate it. It sounds like such a sweet and innocent song until you see the lyrics. Once again her great pen strikes again.

4. Wish I Never

This one was an instant favourite straight out the gate, I'm even surprised no one saw the single potential in it. An upbeat song to give people something to dance to.

5. More Than I Should ft Jessie Reyez

This has become a recent favourite and hearing it live has heightened it even more for me. They complimented each other very well vocally on this track, I'm surprised no one can see this song needs another chorus at the end, it ends way too abruptly.

Honourable Mentions;

Any given Sunday & Everything.

Playlist Time:

For this playlist I'm going to keep it short and sweet, here we have my personal top like 5 tracks from Blue Water Road!

& maybe some honourable mentions too