Kiana Ledé Shares the Origins of ‘Jealous’ and Her Duet With Ella Mai

For us, Kiana Ledé and Ella Mai's stunning new duet, "Jealous," was love at first listen.

The track has all of the trappings of a '90s R&B superhit, feeling totally classic yet modern in its edge, as the two share their own unique perspectives on jealousy within their relationships. Their chemistry is palpable, with Kiana's vocals reflecting a sense of desperation and need, while Ella's are more cool and confident. Once we heard it, we just had to learn more, and Kiana was kind enough to hop on a Zoom call with us (accompanied by her trouble-making orange cats, Shiv and Bumi) to dish on the song, working with Ella and more.

Sweety High: Is "Jealous" inspired by a true story?

Kiana Ledé: No, I think "Jealous" is just a feeling, and an emotion. For me, the song is like this internal conversation you're having about that sensation of being jealous. It's actually very, very, very rare that I get jealous, so this song makes a lot of sense to me. It's usually in the talking phase, where you're not 100%. The relationship is not solidified, which is kind of the fun part, too, because I like chaos. I thrive in chaos, so it's exciting. It's that feeling of, "I just want to make sure—like I'm the only one, right? Like I am that one, so let's just make that very clear." It's those moments where you falter a little bit. You're having this internal conversation, but you're still wanting to be the cool girl, you know?

 

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SH: Was the song always envisioned as a duet? How did Ella Mal get involved?

KL: It wasn't always envisioned as a duet, but I know Ella—I know her personality—and I knew that she would love to tell her own side of the story with this song. And I'm always down for a good R&B collab.  I think people can see that from my collabs with Kehlani and Ari [Lennox]. I just love an R&B girl moment.

 

SH: What would you say two different voices and perspectives represent? Are both of you singing about one guy, or are you just voicing your own approaches to jealousy?

KL: I just let Ella do her thing, you know? She was ready to go pop off on this dude—that's what she wanted to do. I don't think we both had the same guy in mind. We definitely had two separate stories, but as songwriters and as artists, when you collab and try to paint the same picture with your own paintbrush.

I think I have this vulnerability in the rougher and more aggressive parts of my personality. It's about duality, for me, and everyone that knows me knows that. If I'm telling you, "I love you," I'm probably going to say a couple of nasty words in between, "I love you," just because that's who I am. There's a balance between vulnerability and being straight up and blunt and saying what you want. Again, it's all just an internal conversation in my head.

 

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SH: What's your favorite lyric from the song?

KL: I think it's, "I ain't gon' tell you to drop them other b*****, but drop them other b*****. I never been jealous, but f*** it, I'm jealous." That's just a good line. It literally encompasses everything I think people in that situation go through at some point. You just want to feel special. You want to feel like the only one, but you also don't want to be naggy or jealous. So you just have to be upfront with yourself, or some people might be comfortable being upfront with the other person. It just encompasses that feeling perfectly. I've never heard it said like that before.

 

SH: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

KL: We have a visualizer that we just put out yesterday and a lyric video. I'm a visual learner, so I think it's good to see a visual along with the song to get more emotion out of it. It's not really story based. It is very emotional, and I edited it myself, so I'm also really proud of that.

 

For more interviews with our favorite artists on their new music, click HERE to find out what Lindsey Lomis had to say about her recent tour and her Universe EP.