Chinedum Raymond Okechukwu’s instrumental composition and arrangement of Lilian Kellany’s “We Are Together” walks that line carefully, pulling its mid-tempo groove and warm bassline that seems straight from the Plantashun Boiz playbook while still looking for ways to retain its own identity. Taleen Beatz leads as the main producer, but Okechukwu’s contributions shape the arrangement’s finer details. Together they turn the musical formation into a soulful, refreshing piece.

Okechukwu commences with the rhythm, because the song’s success or failure depends on it. He lets the drum loop unfurl before laying down the kick and snare, locking them into a steady, head-nodding bounce. Underneath it all is a warm, synthesised bassline that hugs the kick closely, giving the track its low-end pull, before adding the hi-hats to keep them crisp and lustrous. With that, his position as the assistant producer tends to show up most clearly. Though not in its entirety, but in specific pieces of it. That perceptible pattern is exactly what Okechukwu was brought in for.

Above that foundation, the melodic setting does a lot of work, the type of standalone synth element a co-producer often gets handed to develop before it’s arranged back into the larger mix. Intense staccato keyboard stabs punch through the verses, giving the song little bursts of energy while giving Kellany’s vocal space to deliver its message of unity.

Kellany’s modulation of his voice to remain on beat is where a good chunk of Okechukwu’s actual hours are spent. Getting Kellany’s voice to remain comfortably in the pocket rarely happens by accident. It usually means careful comping between multiple takes, pitch correction applied with a professional hand that never flattens the performance. Tuning work that smooths the rough edges without sanding away the character in the singer’s voice is an exceptional skill.

Leaving room for Kellany to actually tell a story instead of competing with a busy instrumental, the verses strip back to almost nothing. The whole idea of the song becomes glaring when the chorus arrives. The instrumentation doesn’t explode but thicken, layer by layer, until the song reaches its most alive moment.

The beat arrangement plays a little too safely in places. The transition from verse to chorus follows almost exactly the shape without small deviation. Perhaps a fill that breaks the pattern, or an unexpected drop before the final chorus, could have spiced up the arrangement.

While smooth, the vocal comping occasionally strips away a little too much grit from Kellany’s delivery. There are a few lines, particularly heading into the second verse, where the pitch correction sounds slightly too even, evening out small imperfections that might have actually added character to the performance.

The technical cleanup, though tidy, leans toward caution as well. The stems feel well-aligned and free of clutter, but that same carefulness means the mix rarely takes a risk. As it stands, the cleanup does its job well, but it plays it a little too safe to leave an impressive mark.

The production of “We Are Together” works because the fundamentals are handled by skilled hands who know how to create music without muddling up the sound. Okechukwu’s contribution is a broad creative stamp, a specific, unglamorous work co-producers are usually hired for.