NAO has just unveiled her brand new project And Then Life Was Beautiful. The new body of work boasts 13 tracks and features from names like Lucky Daye, Lianne La Havas, Adekunle Gold, and more. The last single before the unleashed the album in full was “Better Friend,” which sees NAO opening up about the reality of the highs and lows of friendships:

I hope you call, I hope we laugh, I hope it’s love and I hope we land/ I hope you’ve been good, I hope you’ve been good, I hope you fly like ever since/ I hope you’re blessed and you never sink, I hope you win good

I promise that I’ll be a better friend, to you, to you next time when you come back/ To you, to you next time, to you, I promise that I’ll be a better friend/ To you, to you next time when you come back, to you, to you next time/ I’ll be a better, I’ll be a better friend

“‘Better Friend’ is a song for all the friendships we have lost or grew apart from,” she types about the song. “Wishing them nothing but love and luck on this journey we call life.”

A few weeks ago, Nao shared a taste of what’s to come by releasing her “Messy Love” single, which arrived accompanied by a stunning visual directed by Lisette Donkersloot. Prior to that, she shared “Wait” and also enlisted an assist from Adekunle Gold for their beautiful collab track “Antidote.” Nao explained the inspiration behind “Antidote” on social media. “We wrote ‘Antidote’ as a musical remedy 4 U during these times and as an ode to our daughters, who were both born weeks apart from each other during the pandemic,” she wrote.

Be sure to press play on Nao’s brand new album And Then Life Was Beautiful.