“Used to Love”: A Modern R&B Flip Only Maithili Raelle Could Deliver

Every so often, a new artist shows up with a record that feels like a memory you’ve lived before, and that’s exactly what New Jersey–born, NYC-raised singer Maithili Raelle delivers with her latest single, Used to Love. It’s a nostalgic, bittersweet reflection on a relationship that was golden until it wasn’t, sung with the kind of buttery Pop-R&B warmth that makes it feel painfully personal.

Maithili’s connection to music started early. She grew up surrounded by Bollywood classics, ’70s pop, and the melodies her parents blasted through the house, eventually training in classical Hindi music by age five. Add influences like Whitney, Mariah, and Ariana Grande, and suddenly her airy tone and easy whistle notes make perfect sense. She’s the girl next door with star potential, and this record proves it.

Used to Love brings all the R&B softness you’d expect, hazy, late-night-energy, slow-motion-ride vibes - but the lyrics add layers that hit even harder. She’s not angry, she’s not over it, and she’s definitely not pretending. Instead, she captures that messy emotional middle: nostalgic yet self-respecting, annoyed yet sentimental, aware of what she felt but unwilling to repeat old mistakes. It’s playful, a little sad, a little cocky, and deeply human.

And then there’s the sample. Maithili flips Usher’s iconic “U Remind Me,” one of the most recognizable R&B hooks of the 2000s, and somehow elevates it. Where Usher’s version warned about déjà vu heartbreak, Maithili reframes it through a woman’s lens, one where her loyalty was real, her effort unmatched, and losing her was his biggest mistake.

Vocally, she glides through the song with precision: breathy softness over crisp production, theatre-kid confidence meeting pop-girlie charm, and emotion that sounds lived-in rather than rehearsed. She doesn’t oversing - she lets you feel it.

Underneath the polish, Maithili represents something bigger. As an Indian independent artist thriving in a genre that hasn’t always spotlighted South Asian women, she’s carving space without watering down who she is. She’s loud, proud, and fully herself - and that’s part of what makes her so magnetic.

In the end, Used to Love is the kind of breakup track that lingers. It’s nostalgic without being stuck, emotional without being fragile, confident without erasing the past. The kind of song you replay because you’re still processing whatever it pulled out of you.