If there’s one thing you can rely on Kwn for, it’s stylish, sinuous R&B that makes you feel. After breaking through with the steamy ‘Worst Behaviour’ and its Kehlani remix, the 26-year-old made her mark with last year’s lust-filled breakout EP ‘With All Due Respect’. If that project was the “Side A” on which desire always won, then follow-up ‘And All Pride Aside’ is the “Side B” where the east Londoner reflects on that desire and confronts heartbreak, regret and grief with the same candour she once reserved for lust.
Kwn knows how to squeeze swagger out of her melodies, and on ‘And All Pride Aside’ she finally nails her love for maximalist texture, one that’s jam-packed with hi-hats, synths and more. It especially shines through on ‘All Fours’ with Destin Conrad, which shuffles between sullen gothic piano, gospel-y choral ad-libs and bit-crushed vocals. Similarly, ‘Good Girl’’s splashy snares and heartfelt harp flutters perfectly set the scene for Kwn’s simple act of carnal ardour: “You’re such a good girl”. But her sumptuous production can’t save every song. Luscious opening aside, Kwn’s writing on ‘Til The Room Stink’ leans on crass shock value over substance, and Ty Dolla $ign‘s feature only drags it further under.
For someone who once admitted to NME that she finds it “hard to be vulnerable” in her music, Kwn spends much of ‘And All Pride Aside’ learning to sit with discomfort. The raw standout ‘Better On My Own’ finds Kwn wrestling with grief, caught between her suave showman facade and the hyper-empathetic centre within. A spiritual sister to ‘Stand On It’, the song steps outside Kwn’s safe R&B framework and closer towards the pop-leaning, diaristic storytelling of her songwriting GOAT, Imogen Heap. The lyrics are sharp, the melodies playful, and the slight husk in her warbling voice pairs perfectly with clattery acoustic guitars and rumbling drums as she reflects: “There’s a reason why we’re exes / And we left this, tried and tested.”
Meanwhile, the record’s deepest moment, ‘Heaven In Your Hand’, finds Kwn confronting loss head-on as she cries out to her late grandfather. While superstardom pulls her one way, she cannot shake the sorrow of losing one of her proudest supporters: “I don’t have many regrets, but one of them gotta be not staying with you / And how can I get on with life when it’s being taken away from you?” With every crackle of her voice being pushed to its limit, she refuses to dress up the pain with her bolshy defence, and instead revels in such vulnerability that feels just as unfiltered as her lauded 2024 song, ‘Lord I’ve Tried’.
When Kwn first broke onto the world stage, she was the swooning Casanova, hiding behind her sexual prowess and cocksure confidence. But the tension between the bravado that built her name and the rawness she’s only just learning to sit in is what makes ‘And All Pride Aside’ her most compelling work yet. By letting listeners see beneath the swagger, she transforms love into something richer, thornier and way more human than before.
Details
- Record label: RCA Records
- Release date: June 26, 2026
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