Chicago’s push to the forefront of hip-hop and R&B has come with an earnestness and clarity that feels particularly needed at this fraught time in music, and newcomer Kaina is offering her own soulful spin on the Windy City salve.
While the title of 'F*cked Up' is aggressive, the song is rich and spacious, with lush vocal harmonies that hang like humidity on a late summer night. Kaina’s vocals swirl and swell, capturing the sustained frustration of failing to act on romantic urges. As she sings about the passage of time, you can practically see calendar pages falling away like dying leaves.
The production, handled by her frequent collaborator Sen Morimoto, keeps the listener just a touch off-kilter, and the percussion in particular has you rapt, feeling as if you’ll never quite know when the reverb-soaked snare will hit next. Kaina has been building her profile in Chicago for some time now, collaborating with Saba on 'Fighter', a contemplative ode to different kinds of confrontation, and opening for the likes of Jamila Woods and Kali Uchis.
Earlier this year, she dropped 4U, a three-track EP that opens in a dreamy reverie with “cry” and ends with the bittersweet breakup ballad '4u'. In 10 minutes Kaina manages to take us through the lifespan of a relationship, something many artists spend full-length albums trying to render in such elegant detail.
Tune in now.
Words: Grant Rindner
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