A couple years back, Justin Bieber and Kehlani teamed up for “Get Me,” a lovey-dovey track from the Biebs’ Changes album. Now he’s returned the favor by guesting on “up at night,” the subtly funky new single off Kehlani’s forthcoming blue water road album. It landed yesterday and crept into the Top 10 of the Genius Top Songs chart.
Produced by Rogét Chahayed and Pop Wansel and written by a whole mess of people, including both producers and Bieber and Kehlani, “up at night” describes a relationship that’s apparently still going on, though it’s a little hard to tell. Kehlani opens the song with a verse that mixes present and past tense. She seems slightly defensive, like maybe her lover called her “calculating.”
You wonder why I love you, there was never pressure
Easy as I want to, there’s just no one better
You think it’s calculated, baby, I’m just not that clever, never
The pre-chorus is similarly ambiguous. Kehlani almost makes it sound like they’ve come to the end of the road, though she’s clearly still thinking about him.
And what could I say? I knew that it would go this way
Or could you blame it on fate? I couldn’t let it just escape
Now at the end of our days, I’ll run back thoughts of you
In the chorus, she’s losing sleep—maybe from heartbreak, maybe from desire.
Thoughts of you keep me up at night
Up at night, up at night
Bieber’s verse is way more positive. He’s in love and lust, though not necessarily in that order. Here’s how he starts things off.
I think about all of the ways you turn me on (Turn me on)
And my bed gets lonely whenever you’re gone
But, baby, I’m a wreck without you
All I do is fantasize about you (You)
But he’s missing more than just her body. The way he ends his verse, it definitely seems like this couple is still a thing.
And when you feel like nobody cares
I’ll be right there to remind you that
Kehlani, it seems, agrees with this interpretation of the lyrics. “It’s about having a healthily obsessed relationship,” she said of the song in a statement. “You’re telling someone, ‘I love you so much it keeps me awake at night.’ I love what Justin did, and it’s such a fun one to dance to.”
You can check out all the lyrics to “up all night” on Genius now.
