Light of Mine

This article is about the Kyle album. For the gospel song, see This Little Light of Mine.

Light of Mine is the debut studio album by American rapper and singer Kyle. It was released on May 18, 2018, by Independently Popular and Atlantic Records.^[2][3][4] The album features guest appearances from Kehlani, 2 Chainz, Sophia Black, Khalid, Take 6, Avery Wilson, Lil Yachty and Alessia Cara. The album was supported by four singles; "iSpy", "To the Moon", "Playinwitme" and “Ikuyo". A deluxe version of the album was released on August 23, 2019. It features three previously released singles: "Moment" featuring Wiz Khalifa, "SuperDuperKyle" featuring MadeinTYO, "Hey Julie!" featuring Lil Yachty, and most recently released single "F You I Love You" featuring Teyana Taylor, along with two new songs.

Light of Mine
Studio album by Kyle
Released	May 18, 2018 (2018-05-18)
Genre	Pop-rap[1]
Length	50:58
Label	Indie-Pop Atlantic
Producer	Austin Sexton AxlFolie Beni Haze Billboard BOSSMAN Charlie Handsome Deffie Jake Troth Jordan Reyes Lege Kale M-Phazes Monte Booker naz. Ricci Riera Sunny Norway superduperbrick 10A
Kyle chronology
Smyle (2015) Light of Mine (2018) See You When I Am Famous (2020)
Singles from Light of Mine
"iSpy" Released: December 2, 2016 "To the Moon" Released: March 9, 2018 "Playinwitme" Released: March 20, 2018 "Ikuyo" Released: May 10, 2018 "Moment" Released: August 24, 2018 "SuperDuperKyle" Released: September 21, 2018 "Hey Julie!" Released: November 29, 2018 "F You I Love You" Released: August 23, 2019

Artwork

The cover art was designed by SuperDuperBrick and James McCloud, who previously collaborated on the art for Kehlani’s debut album SweetSexySavage.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Highsnobiety	3.5/5[5]
HipHopDX	3.8/5[6]
NME	[7]
Pitchfork	6.9/10[1]
Vice (Expert Witness)	[8]

Light of Mine received favorable positive reviews from music critics. At Album of the Year, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 75 based on five reviews.^[9]

In his review for Highsnobiety, Russell Dean Stone wrote that "At best, you could say that Light of Mine is optimism as cultural rebellion – at worst, it plays things too safe in an attempt to be liked by everyone (in Kyle’s defense, at least it doesn’t feel he’s ever trying to be anything he’s not)".^[5] In Vice, Robert Christgau summed it up as the "best innocent act in r&b, with girlish female cameos nailing two fetching numbers", naming "Ikuyo" and "Games" as highlights.^[8]

Commercial performance

Light of Mine debuted at number 29 on the Billboard 200, selling 17,000 album-equivalent units and 2,000 pure album sales in its first week. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 copies in the United States. It was also certified gold in Canada.

Track listing

Standard edition^[10]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Ups & Downs"	Kyle Harvey Mark Landon Luke Liang	M-Phazes	4:44
2.	"Coming, Going?" (featuring Take 6)	Harvey Ricci Riera Matthew Alexander Joshua Portillo Aaron Michael Vigil Lawrence Ross	Ricci Riera	1:57
3.	"Zoom"	Harvey Benjamin Perkins Hazlegrove Dana Lorenzo Everett II Michael Mario Perry	Beni Haze Deffie	2:46
4.	"Ikuyo" (featuring 2 Chainz and Sophia Black)	Harvey Tauheed Epps Sophia Black Alexander Portillo	BOSSMAN naz.	3:41
5.	"Games"	Harvey Black Alexander Portillo	BOSSMAN naz.	2:19
6.	"Babies" (featuring Alessia Cara)	Harvey Alessia Caracciolo Axel Morgan Portillo Landon Aaron Vigil	M-Phazes AxlFolie naz.	4:00
7.	"OpenDoors" (featuring Avery Wilson)	Harvey Jordan Reyes	Jordan Reyes	5:03
8.	"To the Moon"	Harvey Austin Sexton Jamahal Osley Justin Howze	Sunny Norway Austin Sexton	2:51
9.	"Playinwitme" (featuring Kehlani)	Harvey Kehlani Parrish Jake Troth Portillo Howze	Jake Troth naz. superduperbrick	3:11
10.	"iMissMe" (featuring Khalid)	Harvey Mathieu Jomphe Lépine Khalid Robinson Landon Portillo Vigil Black	M-Phazes naz. Billboard	3:09
11.	"ShipTrip"	Harvey Ahmanti Clifton Booker Landon	M-Phazes Monte Booker	2:55
12.	"Rodeo"	Harvey Landon Tenei Hapurona Howze	10A M-Phazes	3:54
13.	"It's Yours"	Harvey Landon	M-Phazes	4:11
14.	"Clouds"	Harvey Landon Ryan Vojtesak Keenan Davis	Charlie Handsome M-Phazes	2:05
15.	"iSpy" (featuring Lil Yachty)	Harvey Miles McCollum Portillo Howze Malik Keith	naz. Lege Kale	4:12
Total length:				50:58

Deluxe edition bonus tracks^[11]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
16.	"F You I Love You" (featuring Teyana Taylor)		M-Phazes	3:56
17.	"Hey Julie!" (featuring Lil Yachty)	Harvey McCollum Maurice Powell Howze Ray Jacobs Portillo	naz. superduperbrick	2:36
18.	"Mmmm"			2:48
19.	"SuperDuperKyle" (featuring MadeinTYO)	Harvey Malcolm Davis Ronald Spence, Jr.	Ronny J	2:49
20.	"Moment" (featuring Wiz Khalifa)	Harvey Thomaz Landon Dacoury Natche	DJ Dahi M-Phazes	3:08
21.	"Kyoto"			3:06

Sample credits

• "Ups & Downs" contains an interpolation of "Just What I Am", as performed by Kid Cudi featuring King Chip.

Charts

Chart (2018)	Peak position
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[12]	33
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[13]	144
US Billboard 200[14]	29
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[15]	16

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[16]	Gold	40,000‡
United States (RIAA)[17]	Platinum	1,000,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label	Ref.
Various	May 18, 2018	Digital download streaming	Atlantic	[10]
	July 20, 2018	CD		[18]
	October 19, 2018	Vinyl		[19]