The Singles Jukebox

Or “Crazy” by KELHNI.

[Video][Website]
[5.89]

Alfred Soto: Kehlani also released “Distraction,” a better tune and performance. Despite the vocal stutter and electropop sheen, “CRZY” promises the kind of forced cheer announced by the title.
[5]

Natasha Genet Avery: It’s a pity Kehlani paired some of her most delightfully self-assured verses with an empty, throwaway chorus.
[5]

Will Adams: There’s a compelling, if a bit familiar, concept in a woman reclaiming a word like “crazy.” But it would’ve been more satisfying if the chorus earned its all-caps title, or at least had been finished.
[5]

Juana Giaimo: Kehlani is trying to be taken seriously, but she is most of the time talking with disjointed phrases. It fits the idea of “CRZY” though: don’t go near her because she is out of her mind and ready to do anything to defend herself. I just wish the chorus was less annoying or that she stopped trying to be loud in order to be substantial.
[6]

A.J. Cohn: There is much to love in this track, from Kehlani rhyming “assassin” with “compassion” to “If I gotta be a bitch, I’ma be a bad one,” but the obvious highlight is the chorus with its rhythmically repeating lines–each hard, pulsed, and nearly perfect.
[7]

Jibril Yassin: From an artist comfortable enough to publicly disclose her personal struggles with mental health, her confident boasting in “CRZY” don’t sound anything but dishonest. Her massive hook is a snug fit for the exuberant production and it helps that her bars sound fantastic too.
[8]

Edward Okulicz: The beat struts and stutters with imperious confidence, perfect for the sort of song that makes the artist out to be 10 feet tall, and to make the listener feel the same. Kehlani’s calling herself a bad bitch has plenty of sweetness and sassiness at the same time, so she’s put in a performance that fits the mood too. It’s a pity that the song loses a lot of of its momentum on an essentially meaningless chorus of “I go, I go, I go, I go, cra-y-y-y-zy,” because it feels like a non-sequitur and a cop-out.
[6]

Brad Shoup: It’s close, but I think she topped Nick Jonas for “best deployment of the AI practice rant in a 2016 pop song”. Everything’s so light: the synths bulge but don’t press, the snare hits are spaced, and Kehlani’s skipping over everything. It’s the primary-color version of one of Rihanna’s world-eating digressions. 
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: Not everyone can be the Aaliyah. Someone’s gotta be the Toya.
[5]