Track Review: Chlöe & Latto, "For The Night”

After giving “Surprise” some room to breathe, Chlöe has enlisted Latto for her fourth single as a solo artist, “For the Night.”

Written alongside pop music giants like Omer Fedi (“Call Me By Your Name,” “Mood”) and Nija Charles (“Positions,” “Rain On Me”) and produced by London on da Track, Chloe has finally delivered a single that showcases her viability as a pop star without sacrificing what makes her so arresting as a vocalist and performer. Built around a lush combination of strings, guitar, and an 808-laden trap beat, Chloe challenges her lover to let their guard down for a brief moment. It’s a 2000s R&B-indebted soundscape that finds her floating between being flirtatious and feeling forlorn. “And they don't know me like you / All the things that we've been through,” she sings in an attempt to construct a shield of intimacy around her and her lover — who, in the case of this specific song, happens to be none other than Gunna.

On earlier singles, it felt as if Chlöe was yet to find the right balance between her malleable range and her penchant for sing-rapping. "For the Night” allows her to finally find that balance simply because it’s constructed as a full song. With two full verses, a rap bridge courtesy of Latto, and four repetitions of the chorus, “For the Night” is Chloe’s first song that gives itself enough time to build into something greater than its hook. Chloe delivers the second verse with a rap-sung cadence that plays nicely off of how luscious and soft her tone sounds in each chorus. Latto is a fine addition to the song; her verse doesn’t necessarily add much to the track, but, more importantly, it doesn’t detract from the great work that Chlöe, Omer & Co. are doing.

In an era where sampling-as-nostalgia-bait is king, “For the Night” is a welcome treat in the way that it pulls from 2000s R&B and pop production motifs (check out those cascading strings in the background) without sounding like a carbon copy of a better song from that era. Hopefully, this turns out to be an even bigger hit than “Have Mercy.” It sounds like Chlöe has truly found her footing with this song.

Score: 75