If a man sounds this good at 3 AM my ass is not showing up in pajamas to discuss our tender little feelings. Nate Gott gets that and turns ‘Kiss + Ride’ into a slow-grind R&B invitation for the kind of night where the guitar keeps slipping around the beat while the bass seems determined to make your thighs open on principle. His vocal starts low enough to sound like he is trying to talk you out of your panties then stretches upward when the tension needs somewhere to go – and that range makes the whole thing feel increasingly indecent without ever rushing the mood. Written with Kevin Michael and Chad “CJ” Holland, the track knows classic R&B sex songs work best when they take their fucking time. Nate is aiming somewhere the lights are lower and your clothes have become temporary.
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The first verse makes his intentions pretty difficult to misread. Nate sings “Wanna feel you all on me / While I’m feelin on yo booty / Like I own that / and I’m on that shit / Cuz I want it,” and there is nothing tentative about the appetite underneath it. He wants her body close enough that whatever polite little rules existed earlier in the evening have already stopped mattering, and the low-slung production gives him room to sound confident instead of desperate. I appreciate a man who can admit what he wants without making me sit through forty-five minutes of fake conversation first. If we are already at his place after midnight and that guitar is curling around the room like this, babe, nobody came over to admire the fucking furniture.
Nate gets considerably dirtier once he turns the hookup into a two-way proposition. “If you kiss it I won’t tell / And if I kiss yours, keep it to yourself / Don’t you tell nobody / It’s a private party” is very obviously not about exchanging sweet little kisses on the mouth. He is offering oral reciprocity with a confidentiality clause, which is honestly an efficient use of everyone’s time. The secrecy is part of what makes it hot because this connection belongs entirely to the two people having it, with no audience and no relationship shit scheduled for breakfast. He can put his tongue between her thighs, she can return the favor, and apparently the only rule is that neither one needs to submit a fucking press release afterward. I support privacy when it is being used this responsibly.
The hottest thing in the song is the contrast between the woman everybody sees and the one Nate knows exists once nobody else is around. When he sings “A little freak on the low / Show me everything you know / Girl I know you want it why you keep on teasing / Hop up in this bed lets start the show,” he is turned on by the fact that her public image tells him almost nothing about what she wants sexually. That fantasy works because he is not looking for innocence. He is hoping the composed girl has a filthy side she saves for somebody who earns access to it, and his entire job now is proving he can handle what happens when she stops holding back. Girl, being underestimated is already fun. Watching a man discover you are significantly nastier than he budgeted for is fucking recreational.
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Nate Gott is a Hendersonville, Tennessee singer-songwriter whose résumé has been quietly getting around long before ‘Kiss + Ride’ started trying to do the same thing. After college he signed a developmental deal with Starkitechs, then earned a major placement when a song he wrote as ‘Press It’ became ‘Drunk On You’ for JUS2 of GOT7. The project reached No. 6 on Billboard’s World Albums chart, and Nate later landed another cut with 4th Ave on their Detour EP. He has since moved into his solo chapter with Brain Candy Management while continuing to write for other artists through Greater Than Collective. Apparently the man can put together a publishing résumé and a sex playlist, which feels like a very useful range.
By the time ‘Kiss + Ride’ is over 3 AM feels less like an irresponsible hour of dancing in the sheets and more like a color-coded scheduling suggestion. Nate understands that the hottest R&B does not need to sprint toward sex when it can drag the anticipation out until everybody is already halfway undressed mentally. The guitar keeps the room warm while his voice does the increasingly inappropriate part and somewhere between the secrecy and the oral-sex negotiation her orgasm becomes the fucking destination. If he tells me to keep the night to myself – fine. I have kept worse secrets with my panties still on.
