Key Takeaways

• Kehlani scrapped 80 songs before finding a new direction with “Folded.”
• Creative breakthroughs while recording in Hawaii and Miami helped shape the sound of their forthcoming album.
• Their 2026 album is nearly complete, with features confirmed and a title reveal expected in December.

Kehlani is deep in album mode with her next project, inspired by the success of “Folded.” The offering is set to drop in spring 2026, and the singer-songwriter plans to reveal the album title in December. “Spring is like my little happy time to bloom,” they said in a new interview for “The Cruz Show” on Thursday (Nov. 19).

Last year, they dropped off two LPs, CRASH and While We Wait 2. This year, “Folded” fended off a musical drought, a single that generated praise from fans and legends like Toni Braxton and Brandy, as well as Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance nominations ahead of the 68th annual Grammy Awards. Earlier this month, they doubled back with a second serving of hit vocals on the track “Out The Window,” further fueling anticipation of what’s in store on the new album.

During the interview, Kehlani shared that the forthcoming project came together in just four months, with every track created after “Folded.” “It’s almost done. I’m in, like, final vocals, mixing, the features are rolling in … They’re all really cool; they’re all really people I really respect and look up to,” they said.

The real gag may be that an entire album concept was scrapped after the Billboard Hot 100 smash success. “I was in my room, and I made like 80 songs … And then, one day, I go to Hawaii, and I make one song, and I go, ‘This is probably what I should be making. I have to pivot.’ Everything else was sounding like I made it in the corner of my bedroom. It was a little more introspective and darker,” the “After Hours” artist said.

A second shift in the creative process unfolded during a trip to Miami, where they were working on a track for another artist. Kehlani recalled, “[Andre “Dre”] Harris came with this beat from him and D.K. the Punisher and Chris, and they just handed it over to me in the room, and I just kept singing, ‘Come pick up your clothes’ … And the song became what it was, and now here we are, and now everything on this album is after that.”

Why does Kehlani see “Folded” as a breakout record?

Kehlani has been a star for years, but this summer marked a different level of success, one that many knew would come to fruition. “I’ve been getting told my whole career that I was one song away … I always get, ‘But you’re one song away from this leap that everybody wants you to make from poking through this ceiling that we feel like you deserve to poke through,’” they said during “The Cruz Show” interview.

Moreover, the singer noted, “‘Folded’ finally breaking that mold has been a really interesting feeling because on the one hand I’m like, ‘Wow, it’s been so long,’ whereas, on the other hand, I’m like, 'But if you peep that I have the foundation’ … When people move on from 'Folded,' no one can say I’m just a 'Folded' girl." The massive success marks a major turning point in their career, one where Kehlani is entering a new era of sound and visibility and accolades that are sure to follow.