Rap music has had a famously difficult time on the Billboard Hot 100 in recent weeks. (After two weeks with no rap songs in the top 40, the drought finally ended this week, with Megan Thee Stallion’s “Lover Girl” coming in hot at #38.) But R&B is a different story. In the past few months, formerly culty R&B singers like Ravyn Lenae and Mariah The Scientist have had big breakout hits, while Leon Thomas’ Grammy-anointed “Mutt” is finally in the top 10 after an almost year-long climb. Another song in this weeks’ top 10 is Kehlani’s “Folded.” It’s the #7 song in America this week, which makes it Kehlani’s first-ever top-10 hit.
Kehlani released “Folded” over the summer, just as New York City was canceling her Central Park SummerStage show and Jewish groups were protesting her involvement in San Diego Pride over her support of Palestine. That just goes to show what a good song and years of goodwill can do. This morning, “Folded” was also nominated for a Grammy in the Best R&B Performance category. Before this, Kehlani’s biggest hit as lead artist was 2016’s “Gangsta,” which peaked at #41. Last year, she guested on Jordan Adetunji’s remix of the song “Kehlani,” which made it to #24.
Today, Kehlani releases her new single “Out The Window,” a string-soaked midtempo jam in which she cajoles a lover not to leave her after “one night of mistake.” Antonio Lamar Dixon and Khristopher Riddick-Tynes produced the song, and Kehlani co-wrote it with the two of them, as well as Ashton “SNW” Norful and Talay Riley. It’s a good song that could’ve been made at any point in at least the last 20 years. Listen below.
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On Monday, Kehlani performed “Folded” on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
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And on Thursday, Cat Burns covered “Folded” in the BBC Live Lounge.
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