It’s about Hot Girl Summer time and Cherae Leri adds some new heat to the scene with her latest single “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” a nostalgic offering inspired by the likes of Janet Jackson, Prince and Aaliyah. With her successful, top-charting debut album The Pain That Sex Brings under her belt, Leri sets a tone and expectation for seductive, sultry, trap-infused, quality RnB and she’s delivered yet again. This BRICKS and Steve Hybicki produced banger listens with an Aaliyah “If Your Girl Only Knew” aura married with Prince and Janet Jackson “If” influences yet laced in a lyrical narrative all Leri’s own.
Co-written by Steve Hybicki and Cherae, the record details a cryptic dichotomy between dominance and submission, between fantasy and reality, between assurance and possible rejection. It’s not merely a boastful record of praise and self-adulation but a narrative of chance meetings, euphoric introductions and a huge “what if” factor.