I wrote this song at the beginning with a guy named Greg Kurstin. We were in his house, in his studio. He played me a groove that I liked, and I started writing vocal lines to it. The first lyrical hook that came to me was, “We’ll go to the penthouse floor.” The original idea for the song was a little more romantic and sexy and about the idea of wining and dining and balling with the person that you’re interested in. Inviting them back to your place and saying, “Let’s enjoy the view from there. It’s gonna be sexy. It’s gonna be nice.” It represents us ascending to a blissful place.

That was the original idea, but I decided to make The penthouse a little bit more deep than that and what you’re leaving behind. It became a little more interesting as I lived with the song more. I worked with Blake Mills on it and some of my other team that was working with me on the album. We started to think more about the idea of ascension, but thinking more about ascension from something. From what’s going on in the country, in our cities, in our neighborhoods. The idea of even though you have an aspiration to achieve a certain dream and to achieve a certain status, do you still remember where you’ve come from and pay attention to what’s happening in places like where I came from and like a lot of other people come from?

I love Chance the Rapper as an artist. I thought he would be perfect for this song. I think he’s one of the most talented rappers out there right now. He’s got so much life and energy and creativity. He also is really a giving and charitable person as well. He is the perfect example of someone who’s aspired to be this huge star and be really successful doing what he loves to do, but he’s never forgotten about his city and the people in the neighborhoods where we often overlook people. He’s given to the schools. He’s done a lot for his hometown and for people all around the country. I felt like his understanding, his intelligence, and his sense of responsibility would be perfect for this song.

We talked a lot about the concept of the song. I talked about the idea of what it meant to ascend and even reference The Jeffersons idea of moving on up. We finally here. We finally made it. I also talked about the tension of finally making it, but also knowing that there’s a lot of people that look like you or came from where you’ve come from that haven’t made it and are often ignored. What are you gonna do about it? How do you feel about that? What is that tug that is pulling you back to make you think about where you’ve come from?

I talked to him about all of that and I think he wrote the perfect verse for it cause he talks about knocking on the door of the penthouse and arriving and feeling like, “Yeah, I’m in here. I made it. There’s crab legs and all this signs of luxury and opulence, but my folks are still down there standing in line. They never been in these rooms. They haven’t made it to this level, but I’m here and I still feel like a bit of an outsider in this setting, in this luxurious setting where it’s rarefied air that a lot of my friends can’t get into.” I love that verse because it’s funny, it’s engaging, it’s creative. It hits the subject matter perfectly.