The first time I ever heard Kiana Ledé on a song was actually on a Bryson Tiller Christmas project. The song was called, “Presents” and from the second I heard her voice I could see why such a big artist like Bryson Tiller would want her on a song.
This album in particular is the first and only (so far) studio album released by Ledé. The album itself had a real personal connection to Ledé as the title, “KIKI”, is from a childhood nickname. And it also dropped on April 3rd, 2020, her 23rd birthday.
Now I know I am almost three years late to listening to this album, it doesn’t mean that I haven’t been seeing her name pop up. There are so many great young women voices in R&B right now and with this project, Ledé definitely showed that she belongs at the top. SZA, Summer Walker, Kehlani, Ella Mai and H.E.R are all artists that were in my rotation before I listened to, “KIKI”.
The album is 17 songs, 50 minutes in total. I listened to it twice on my way back from work. From start to finish, twice. Here’s what I thought about “KIKI”…
“The YSN Review”
- Plenty More.
- Attention.
- Second Chances. ft. 6LACK
- Chocolate. ft. Ari Lennox
- Forfeit. ft. Lucky Daye
- Protection.
- Cancelled.
- Honest.
- Mad at Me.
- No Takebacks.
- Separation. ft. Arin Ray
- Feel a Way.
- Movin.
- Skiterlude.
- Crazy.
- Good Girl. ft. Col3trane
- Labels. ft. Moneybagg Yo & BIA
Off the bat with “Cancelled”, you know what type of album this is going to be. When an albums first words are “f*** men these days, f*** them all”, you as a listener have now mentally prepared for what the rest of this album will be. Intros to me are super important. It’s not only the tone-setter for the project, but if it’s great it can remembered forever.
For example, I’m going to be 50 years old and I’m still going to know every word to Meek’s famous intro or “Keep the Family Close” by Drake. “Cancelled” is written from the perspective of a friend to a girl who’s being mistreated by her man. The whole song is Ledé basically telling her friend to wake up and get the hell out.
“Yeah, you gave all you got to a person that’s worthless”
The Phoenix native first caught my attention with her signing ability. And that ability of hers was on full display on my favorite song of the album, “Plenty More”.
The song is a complete 180 from the intro. Now Ledé herself is the girl struggling to get out of the toxic relationship. She is acknowledging how bad it is but she herself knows that she is too attached.
Her singing on this track is exceptional. Don’t just take my word for it, go to 1:44 and please see for yourself. And then after you’re done listening to that, go to 2:43 of “Attention”. You’ll experience the same reaction.
The sequence of events in this album is something that I found very interesting. Like I said at the beginning, she is the person from the outside looking in trying to convince her friend to get out of a toxic relationship. However, as the tracks go on, you start to realize that she is tackling multiple perspectives of handling toxic relationships. With songs like “Second Chances” and “Crazy” being perfect examples of how to handle it and how not to.
In “Second Chances” Ledé says that she cannot stay in this relationship because that’ll mean he would’ve got his way. And in the chorus itself she literally says, “I can’t give him no more chances.”
“Always tryna take advantage, ‘vantage. I can’t give him no more chances, chances”
In “Crazy” the lyrics perfectly reflect the title. In this song she’s completely lost the plot. She knows she’s being crazy, but she is telling him that he “hasn’t even seen crazy.”
“I might slash the tires in your car. Already got the windows, I ain’t even say I’m sorry”
Unlike “Harry’s House” this album will definitely stay in my rotation. Kiana Ledé is clearly a super talented artist and I hope she gets the respect/recognition she deserves. I love listening to new music and am always open to new suggestions. I want to keep discovering new artists that I haven’t listened to before and give them a chance. I’m happy I gave Kiana Ledé a chance that’s for sure. This is YSN, until next time, signing out.
Official “YSN” score: 7.6/10
