Kehlani, When He’s Not There | Song Review 🎵

Kehlani, assisted by Lucky Daye, brings the heat on “When He’s Not There,” a steamy, irresistibly delicious song about cheating from her mixtape, While We Wait 2.

“Icome over when he’s not there / He don’t even know that I here.” Kehlani has been prolific in 2024.  Not only did the Grammy-nominated R&B singer/songwriter release a brand-new studio album (CRASH), but she also released a new mixtape, While We Wait 2.  The first While We Wait arrived in 2019, preceding her 2020 LP, It Was Good Until It Wasn’t.  One of the gems from While We Wait 2 is single “When He’s Not There” featuring Grammy-winning R&B singer/songwriter, Lucky Daye. Notably, “When He’s Not There” preceded While We Wait 2 by just a couple of days. With numerous songwriters in addition to Kehlani and Lucky Day, “When He’s Not There” was produced by Ambezza, Dillon, and Nik D.

The sound of the record is resplendent.  It is bright, lush, soulful, and warm.  While “When He’s Not There” is idiomatic of contemporary R&B, it also hearkens back to the past.  Both Kehlani and Lucky Daye sing beautifully.  Both lyrics and melodies are memorable.  “Girl, does he know you’re yearning, yearning for me?” Kehlani asks in the first verse, adding “Don’t tell none of your homegirls ‘cause nobody needs to know, no.” Context: Kehlani and this girl (who has a boyfriend) are hooking up and nobody needs to know! Hence, why in the chorus, “I come over when he’s not there.” Oh, snap! She expounds on their relationship in the second verse, admitting, “Lord knows I won’t end a happy home, but I’ll leave a condo broken.” Ooh wee! Daye enters the mix in the third verse, playing a similar role to Kehlani and the girl she’s cheating with: “Well, damn, guess, he won’t know what he hand until it’s gone / Guess he can’t read between the lines / While he ignore and I explore /… We’re having hour fun and they ain’t gotta know.” Oh, snap! All told, “When He’s Not There” is a steamy, irresistibly delicious song about cheating. Kehlani and Lucky Daye put their foot into this one!

Kehlani // While We Wait 2 // Atlantic // 8.28.24

Kehlani, When He’s Not There (Ft. Lucky Daye) [📷: Brent Faulkner/The Musical Hype; Atlantic; Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Królestwo Nauki, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pete Linforth, Tumisu from Pixabay]