Kehlani professes her love for her man in “The Way” featuring Chance The Rapper.

From the first verse of the track, Kehlani makes her love for her man clear. She talks about everything that he does for him and, although she doesn’t tell him how much she cares about him sometimes, she wants to make it clear through this song.

Everything you do shows me you know it

Behind it all you are the motive

Don’t tell you enough, but baby I’ll show it, show it

She’s completely head over heels about her partner. The Oakland native stays up all night thinking about him and all of his ways. She can’t help being infatuated with her significant other.

Chance The Rapper comes in with the second verse. His flow is a bit slower than it is on some of his recent projects, but it goes well with the R&B beat and slow trap drums of the song. Chance’s verse plays off Kehlani’s hook, going down a more sexual route:

Ask her when she finish, if she came

She said I lapped ya twice

[…]

But I don’t gotta worry, put my hand on your mouth

Put my hands in your mouth, girl

There’s no question that Chance also likes his girl, but he appears to be apprehensive about loving her. He’s taking a risk. He’s sneaking her up to his parents’ house (“Watch your step, you gon’ wake my mama and dad up / Pssh, girl, didn’t I tell you at the damn club?”), while seemingly risking his reputation as well (“I gotta keep it a secret, I keep a key in my lower pocket”).

These verses about Chance being careful about being seen with this girl could allude to an artist of his magnitude collaborating with Kehlani, a relative mainstream unknown when “The Way” was released. Chance is taking an unnecessary risk by appearing on this track, but as we’ve come to expect from him, he always delivers.

Kehlani closes the song along the same lines of her first verse. She’s unabashed about this love she’s never felt for anyone else before (“Forever down, I am your lady / Always for sure, never a maybe / Never met someone who spoke my language”).

“The Way” was released as a part of Kehlani’s second mixtape titled You Should Be Here. It was the project that truly put Kehlani on the map. Since then, her career has only been trending upwards with the release of SweetSexySavage, her first studio album, in January 2017.

This track is a good starting point for anyone wanting to give Kehlani a try. It has a mainstream artist, a nice background beat, and her characteristic soothing vocals.