Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmunds - Girl's Night Out

Babyface has dedicated his life to composing songs. Raised in Indianapolis in the 1960s, Kenneth Edmonds was so infatuated with the idea of romance that years later, anytime he produced a record, he would plug into those hidden teen thoughts and feelings. That obsession sprouted into a professional life of music, drafting, and creating heartfelt records like the 1987 track "Two Occasions" and solo single "Whip Appeal," published years later, at the start of his most success.

Babyface: I remember riding in the car—a Studebaker—and hearing that song. I was living in Indianapolis, on the north side. I can picture everybody in the car: my father driving, my mom. That emotion hit me early on, and it stuck with me. It wasn’t a lot of riffs—just a simple tone. I learned something from that: It wasn’t so much about being an amazing singer, it was about having a good tone that made people feel good.

In his newest project, Kenneth Babyface Edmonds marked several female stars in hip hop's newest - "Girls Night Out". Back in 2020, with much of the country in pandemic lockdown, Teddy Riley's Verzuz event introduced Babyface to a younger generation of R&B fans who were unfamiliar with his legendary catalog. The enthusiasm of his younger viewers prompted him to begin planning his next project. He then emerged on "Girls Night Out" alongside Queen Naija, Ella Mai, Ari Lennox, Kehlani, Doechii and others.

Babyface and Ella Mai performed the album's lead single "Keeps on Fallin'" at the 2022 BET Awards: his first album since 2015's "Return of the Tender Lover" will also be his Capitol Record's debut. When he declared that his new album, "Girls Night Out," resembled the highly praised 1996 soundtrack-"Waiting To Exhale," he raised expectations. R&B diehards like myself were skeptical of comparing today's R&B to the era of Whitney Houston.

In a statement, he shared, “I am extremely honored and humbled to be signing to a legacy label like Capitol. They have welcomed me with open arms and treat me like family. And, in the end, that is what it’s all about – doing what you love with people who have the same love for music as you do. I am very excited about the upcoming album and everyone on it. The process for it reminded me of when I did Waiting to Exhale and I’m excited for the world to hear.”

Prior to the release of Girls Night Out, Babyface released two other singles: "Seamless" featuring Kehlani and "Game Over" featuring Queen Naija. Ari Lennox's "Liquor," Tiana Major9's "Say Less," and Muni Long's declarative plea on "The Recipe" are among the album's standouts.

All in all, Babyface wanted to highlight women who he thought possessed something to offer.

“We talked about what was going on in their lives and said, ‘Okay, let’s write something.’ Whatever it is, what that feeling is,” Babyface explained. “It wasn’t me handing them something and saying, ‘Okay, hey, you do this and be quiet. Go sing and do this.’ It was clearly a collaboration.”

“It’s not to downplay what I’ve done, but I just know that the things that I have done at this particular point, I’m very happy and I’m very blessed to have done it.…if I get labeled ‘G.O.A.T.’ or legend in the process, well, that’s wonderful but that’s not why I do it. I do it because I love doing this job.”

Biggest secret to his career longevity

I don’t know. I think keeping an open mind and listening and don’t think that you’re right all the time. If I heard something that I didn’t think was great but everybody else is loving it, then I wouldn’t hate on it. I’d keep on listening to try to figure out, Okay, what is it that everybody loves about it? Then sooner or later, I would get it and say, “Okay, that makes sense.” Then I’d learned how to make it feel good to me. R&B is definitely different today. When you send a young artist in the studio today, they always sing behind the beat now. It’s a natural thing that they do............

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