TOLANI – SHT I NVR FINISHED

Tolani

Tolani’s return is personal, reflective and refreshingly low-pressure. Her new SoundCloud-first series SHT I NVR FINISHED* isn’t trying to be polished or chart-ready — and that’s what makes it worth paying attention to.

Across eight weeks, she’s sharing one track a week straight from the vault, songs that until now had never seen the light of day. Some are demos, some are voice notes turned into near-complete songs, and all of them carry an unfiltered honesty that feels rare in an industry obsessed with perfection. She’s not trying to impress here — she’s trying to express.

The timing is intentional, coinciding with Mental Health Awareness Month. It makes sense — the series is less about spectacle and more about catharsis. Each track sounds like something she needed to get off her chest. The lyrics feel lived-in and direct, the kind of songwriting that leans into feeling over finesse. There’s no pressure to wrap things up neatly — she lets each emotion breathe.

Musically, it still carries that signature Tolani sound: soft R&B vocals laced over Afro-pop grooves with the occasional bounce of percussion or an unexpected chord switch. There’s a nice balance between laid-back melodies and lyrical weight. She touches on doubt, frustration, connection, and growth — never in a way that feels self-pitying, but in a way that feels real.

It’s not flawless — and that’s kind of the whole point. Some songs feel like sketches rather than fully built tracks, but there’s beauty in that. This isn’t a project that demands attention; it invites you in if you’re willing to listen. It’s vulnerable, and for an artist known for being somewhat private, it’s a bold shift.

What’s most exciting isn’t any one song in particular, but the way the project unfolds. She’s turning her audience into a sounding board, letting people comment, share, react in real time — which makes the process as much a part of the art as the songs themselves. It’s not just about what the music is, but what it becomes through community.

SHT I NVR FINISHED* isn’t a flex, it’s a release. It’s for the overthinkers, the almost-finished-demos, the "maybe later" folders on everyone’s hard drives. It’s for people still figuring it out — which is all of us really. And in that way, it’s one of Tolani’s most relatable moves to date.