A lot can change in a year.
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East London R&B singer-songwriter kwn burst onto the scene in 2025 with her Kehlani-assisted “Worst Behaviour,” which reached No. 12 on Hot R&B Songs and earned her R&B Up-And-Comer of the Month honors from Billboard (formerly Rookie of the Month). After a seemingly nonstop months-long stretch of touring and promo — while also navigating public romances and private grief — kwn is ready to unveil the official follow-up to her star-making With All Due Respect EP.
Titled And All Pride Aside, the new project was always intended to be a companion piece to With All Due Respect — even if kwn’s relentless schedule slightly delayed its arrival. Between an alluring, Destin Conrad-assisted opener in “All Fours” and the no-holds-barred dirty talk of the Ty Dolla $ign-featuring “’Til the Room Stinks,” the slinky sensuality and playful approach to sex that defined Respect are even more pronounced on Pride. But more introspective moments like heart-wrenching “Rather Never Love Again” and standout closer “Heaven’s in Your Hands” allow kwn to flaunt the versatility of her songwriting, adding an emotional center of gravity to the project’s ethereal soundscapes.
“I used to shy away from writing anything too emotional for me, or even just a bit too personal for me,” she tells Billboard. “But obviously I’m growing day by day, which, in turn, is allowing me to open up with the world as well. At the end of the day, every time I put out a piece of music, the world is going to hear it. I’m learning how to be more comfortable with that.”
When kwn last spoke with Billboard, she gushed over crafting “Worst Behaviour” in her bedroom — an environment that’s been nearly impossible for her to recreate since leveling up in her career. Between her still-unfurling grief over her grandfather’s passing last fall to learning her limits when it comes to recording tracks on the tour bus, Respect oscillates between both ends of kwn’s emotional spectrum, slyly reflecting the subtle chaos of her past year. Embedded within that chaos are moments of quiet control, like “Better on My Own” and lead single “Touch Myself,” which find kwn exploring emotional and sexual independence, respectively. Of course, she still finds time to cater to the club, lifting Nelly’s ‘00s classic “Hot in Herre” for an outright banger titled “Risk It All” (no relation to Bruno Mars’ 2026 hit of the same name).
Crafted by an impressive roster of collaborators, including longtime co-producer Joel Compass and Malik Ninety Five, kwn’s new project deepens her signature brand of brooding, ’90s-informed R&B with more pronounced notes of hip-hop, rock and even bossa nova. No longer a rookie, And All Pride Aside uncompromisingly cements kwn as one of this decade’s most evocative voices in contemporary R&B.
Below, kwn chats with Billboard about putting together her new EP, which song almost didn’t make the final tracklist, and how she’s dealing with her rising fame impacting the way people interpret her songs.
When did you start properly working on And All Pride Aside?
Probably the end of last year and the beginning of this year. I cut the most recent song, “Better on My Own,” a couple of weeks back on the tour bus. I started it there, but I realized I couldn’t record on the bus because it’s so f—king loud. I’m locked in, the bus starts moving, and all you can hear is the bus jiggering and jattering. I eventually finished it in L.A., so that was the last song I put on the project.
How has your jam-packed schedule impacted your creative process this time around?
I don’t have as much free time to create anymore. Everyone who knows how I work knows that I’m very much in my room at home or in my mom’s house, locked in for weeks on end with no distractions. I can’t remember the last time I made a song at home. [My schedule] hasn’t impacted my creative process in the best way — but it’s cool because I’m living and experiencing more, which means I have more things to write about. It’s a double-edged sword.
What are some of those new experiences you find yourself pulling from?
I’ve never had this type of lifestyle, so managing friendships, family relationships and romantic relationships has been very different from how my life was before. Between that and gaining new friends along the way, I’ve had a lot to pull inspiration from.
I thought it was a cool parallel to have girlies (FLO, Kehlani) featured on Respect and the guys (Destin Conrad, Ty Dolla $ign) on this one. Was that intentional?
That wasn’t even intentional! I didn’t even deep that for real, but that’s a good observation.
How did “All Fours” come together?
Destin’s producer, Louis Lastic, sent me that beat. I originally just had that chorus, and then I sent it to Destin. He did his verse in a couple of days. Because I had his verse stuck in my head, I couldn’t write my verse for ages, probably like six months. One day in L.A. at the beginning of last year, I loaded the song up out of the blue, wrote my verses and laid the outro.
I’ve always wanted him on a song. We’ve done a lot of stuff for his projects, but we’ve never locked in together on the same song.
Why was it important for you to establish this balance of sexiness and vulnerability at the top of the project?
My intention for this whole project is to show two sides of the spectrum: the sexy, fun side and the vulnerable, honest side. It’s a push and pull. I wanted to show versatility in my writing more than anything. On With All Due Respect, I was very heavy and sensual, so I decided to delve more into how I’m feeling and let people know that I’m a normal human being who goes through the same things as everybody else.
As you’ve become a bigger star, do you feel it’s more difficult to be honest in your lyrics, because sometimes people read into them too deeply?
Yes and no. People definitely read into s—t too much and put their own narratives on it, so that’s hard. This past year and a half, I’ve had to do so much growing, which has allowed me to talk more about my feelings. When I was writing With All Due Respect, if you asked me to do a sad song, I’d be like, “Nah,” because I don’t want to be sad. I didn’t have the strength to pull that out of myself yet. This time around, I had that capacity.
Talk to me about your thought process when it comes to sequencing your projects.
This one was difficult because of the whole “two sides of the spectrum” thing. I didn’t want to go from “’Til U Cry” to a song about my granddad. Originally, we were going to put all the sexy stuff on the first half and all the sad s—t on the second, but me and my manager sat down in the studio and weaved our way through it. We ended up feeling that this structure worked the best.
How did the idea to lift “Hot In Herre” come about?
I was in a random little town we stopped in while on tour. We had an off day and went go-karting, then I came back to the hotel. Our bus call was at 2:00 a.m., and I was either going to go to sleep or go downstairs and write. I chose to load up my laptop and write something, and it ended up being “Risk It All.”
I was so in the swing of things that my alarm went off when I got to the second verse. I finished the song the next day before my meet-and-greet and sound check. I made the beat super quickly, and I had the idea of [incorporating] “Hot in Herre” straight away. I probably have voice memos of me going through the melodies. I chopped up the sample, and that was that.
What songs demanded the most from you? Whether that’s vocally or emotionally.
Vocally, I would say “’Til U Cry.” That shit’s high as f—k. [Laughs]. High as hell! Emotionally, probably “Heaven’s In Your Hands,” because it’s about my granddad. That was a tough one to write, but it came very naturally after a long period of writer’s block.
What have you learned about yourself over the past year that surprised you?
How difficult it truly was for me to open up. Anytime I’m writing, I’ll go over each line a good few times and make sure that it don’t sound cringy to me. I’m not just saying something to say it,; I want every line to be intentional. That’s even more important when I’m being super open. It’s been cool learning that I can do that — and that I probably should do it more. Music is an escape for so many people, so if I can help myself, I can help whoever’s listening.
You debuted a couple of these songs on tour before they came out. Did you make any edits before adding them to the EP?
If I followed the reaction of people, some songs might not have been on there — like “’Til the Room Stinks.” That one got a mixed reaction for sure. After the [Philadelphia] show, I stopped performing [the song] because they had the worst reactions. But it was always 50-50. It was the same on TikTok. Not everything is for everybody, and I have no problem admitting that.
I’ve got one of my favorite artists on that song, so if he said yes, I must have been doing something right!
What was it like linking with Ty Dolla $ign?
There was a point in my life, probably like when I was 17-18, where he was the only person I listened to. He had been showing me love in my comments and DMs, so I hit him like, “Bro, I think I’ve got a song for you.” When I sent it to him, he sent back a few laughing emojis and said, “This is crazy; no one’s ever said this before on a record.” Within a day or two, he sent his verse back. 17–18-year-old me would not believe it if I told them that we had a song with Ty Dolla $ign.
You got a Brit Award nomination at the top of this year, and you’re up for a BET Award later this month. What did this kind of recognition mean to you?
It’s all happening so quickly, and the only word I have is gratitude. I don’t let these things get to my head too much because when you do, you start to become complacent. There’s no stopping me now, but at any moment, s—t can change. If anything, it makes me want to work harder and get better because I don’t want this to ever start falling down. I always want my trajectory to be up.
What else can we expect from you this year after this drops?
I’m doing festivals throughout the summer, and then hopefully I get a few months off at the end of the year.
After tour, I took my family to Jamaica on holiday. That was the best thing I could have done; it was a complete reset. I was barely on my phone! Towards the end of the year, I really want to spend a good few months creating where I’m most comfortable. I just want to make more music.
