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Kehlani Drops 'Back and Forth' With Missy Elliott

The single tees up her self-titled album due April 24.

Overview

  • Kehlani released the Missy Elliott–assisted single on Friday, setting the tone for her next album cycle.
  • The track leans into a slow, sensual R&B groove with Elliott’s bold bars and Kehlani’s softer delivery meeting on a hook about choosing a night out over an argument.
  • Billboard highlights a clear nod to Aaliyah’s 1994 hit Back & Forth, adding a link between eras that broadens the song’s appeal.
  • The song followed weeks of short social clips that made the hook familiar before release, a tactic that can lift first‑day streams by priming listeners.
  • Kehlani’s self-titled fifth album arrives April 24 via Atlantic Records, followed by a Billboard Women in Music Impact Award performance on April 29 and a Roots Picnic set in Philadelphia in May.