Songfacts®:

• "Is It A Crime" is a sultry and soulful collaboration between Mariah the Scientist and Kali Uchis. The central question, delivered with equal parts seduction and defiance, is whether falling in love again could possibly be a crime. If so, both artists seem entirely willing to plead guilty.
• Mariah addresses the peanut gallery, those ever-present background critics who, armed with gossip and questionable taste, have already decided her relationship is doomed. Their chatter is beginning to seep into her thoughts, but she pushes back. The hook arrives like a raised eyebrow: Why, exactly, is love such a scandal?
  
  Kali takes over in verse two, leaning into the "love as a crime" metaphor. If romance is prison, she's already picking out curtains for her cell. She also slips in a pointed aside about the advice women often get: be guarded, be careful, never give too much away. Kali is having none of it. She knows what she wants, thank you very much.
• The title nods to Sade's smoky 1985 ballad of the same name, though Mariah and Kali's song isn't a cover, nor does it sample the original. It's more of a thematic nod.
• Mariah and Kali wrote the song with its producers Nineteen85, Mat1k and Oliver Easton. Nineteen85 is part of the OVO Sound collective and has worked on many of Drake's hits, including "Hold On We're Going Home," "Hotline Bling" and "One Dance." He previously worked collaborated with Mariah on three tracks from her debut album, To Be Eaten Alive, as well as her breakthrough single, "Burning Blue."