With three new songs on his EP, Intimidated, Grammy winner Kaytranada, gets romantic, romantic again, and then socially conscious. There’s hardly anything as swoon-worthy as Thundercat singing in his falsetto, “Just let me get them jeans off.” Louis Kevin Celestin, the producer behind Kaytranada, is used to working with big hitters, in his time as a dj and producer, including songs with Anderson .Paak and Vic Mensa. On this latest offering, he also works with the beautiful singer, H.E.R., and rapper Mach-Hommy.

His track, the title track, with H.E.R., starts with piano and hand clapping, until H.E.R. comes in: “Open wider / I just want you more than.” His music, like much R&B influenced beat music out there, is perfect to spark the feelings between lovers. “Hold on, love / Let’s make the most of this before we’re sober, sober.” It’s songs like these that become couples’ love anthems, played on repeat. The piano vamp throughout is gold.

The second track, “Be Careful,” is hypnotizing in its Weeknd flavored funkiness. It’s no wonder Kaytranda has won awards like the Juno award and Polaris Music Prize (he was raised in Montreal) and opened for Madonna on her Rebel Heart Tour for a run of shows. “I just wanna see you move / I only got dressed up for you.” It’s a song about two lovers getting ready for a party, but not making it out the door because the sexual tension is too intense. “Be careful how you look at me / Cause we might not make it out the room.”

The last track pulls from Celestin’s roots in Haiti, called “$payforhaiti.” Mach-Hommy speed raps over an afro-cuban beat and vamping keyboards. Many of the lyrics seem to be in Haitian Creole and the song shows Kaytranada’s versatility, how he is able to go from R&B to hip hop in breath. The track seems to riff off of Mach-Hommy’s latest album, Pray for Haiti. It’s a short offering, Intimidated, but Kaytranada is a hit maker.

They’re songs to soundtrack a passionate love affair or a summer street jam. After his hit album, Bubba, from 2019, his fans must have been clamoring for something new, and so Kaytranada delivers. Beware rivals, this is some music to “intimidate,” with its pure talent and feeling.

Order Intimidated by Kaytranada HERE