One of the key architects of the tape’s sound was Jahaan Sweet, a 22-year-old producer from Florida who’s also a classically trained pianist. In Jahaan’s arrangements, filtered samples brush against spare, modern drums, all in symphony with Kehlani’s raspy, strong vocals. Kehlani calls him her “musical soulmate.” They met in 2014 when he was interning for Swagg R’celious, a New York producer she was working with at the time. “The first time I heard her,” Jahaan remembers, “I walked in and I said, ‘Who is that singing? That’s the best voice I’ve ever heard in here.’ She had good technique, but her voice wasn’t over the top; it was subtle and honest. Then I found out she wrote her own songs. I was like, man, she’s killing!” Recently graduated from Juilliard, he has ditched his life in New York, at least temporarily, to work on her debut album, set to be released next year.

Between rehearsals for her upcoming summer tour, the pair are chipping away at the LP at Atlantic’s studio, set back on a nondescript block in Hollywood. What the place lacks in vibes—there’s no smoking allowed inside—it makes up for in people to bump into. One afternoon, Akon, the repeatedly multi-platinum singer and producer, cruises down the hallway of dorm-room-style studios while a couple of women wait for him in the communal kitchen.

A few of Kehlani and Jahaan’s collaborations have picked up radio spins—the slow-burning ”The Way” and jazzy “Down for You”—but both artists are conscious that they’ve not yet made an Akon-sized, capital-H hit. “Factually, hits intrigue me,” Kehlani explains. “As a songwriter, I break down a song’s melody, hook, timing, patterns, wordplay. I study Max Martin and shit. But now, I just focus on making what I make.” For her, crafting a distinctive sound and brand trumps any one big single. “Some people’s whole objective is to make money, and you can hear it in the song,” she says. “That’s never my objective.”

Not long after the pair have settled in for the day, they’re visited by one of the Atlantic A&Rs that recruited Kehlani. Jahaan says the guy has been nudging them to try some uptempo records, but today he seems genuinely content to go with the flow. For good reason: Kehlani is a pro, remarkably prepared for a career in music. She can write six songs in a session and sing them without Auto-Tune—and before she could do either of those things, she could dance. Her abs are the result of a fast metabolism that may never let up, and she’s gorgeous. She is black, white, and Native American. As a kid, her mom told her there was also some Filipino in her mix, but no one else in the family says that’s been proven. In her typical uniform of sneakers and cropped tees, she may look like you—or, sometimes, you with a better weave on. Above all, she doesn’t give up. “Hard work always beats talent,” she says. “That’s always been my thing. Girls pop up singing raw every day. But how many of those girls write their songs? How many of those girls spend this many hours in the studio? If I’m singing like they’re singing, but I’m putting in work too, it’s going to happen.”

From behind the mixer, Jahaan queues up a verse Kehlani recorded the night before, just hours after the Golden State Warriors won the NBA Finals. Originally from Oakland, she wanted to celebrate the victory by releasing the song today, with guest features from her Bay Area homies Iamsu!—the rapper and producer who co-founded HBK Gang, a positivity-focused crew with which she is affiliated—and G-Eazy, the white rapper who she says “doubled” her fanbase when he brought her on tour last year. But after scrambling to finish her part, she’s the only one done, so she and Jahaan shift their attention to another song-in-progress, which sounds as gloriously navel-gazing and heavy-breathing as Drake was before his tone turned tougher. In just five minutes, Kehlani types a new verse on her laptop that reflects on budding fame, then goes into the booth to toy with its melody. When she returns to her computer, she tells no one in particular, “The world should be very afraid when I start producing. That’s all I gotta say.”

