>The opener, "I Want You To Love Me," is my favorite song, and
>maybe it's because I feel like it melodically and songwriting
>wise is most similar to her previous work?

Although that isn't my favorite song, I completely agree with you on the second part. I think that starting the album off with that song was a great way to disorient the listener haha. To be honest, that song and "Shameika", I love those songs, but they are definitely outliers sonically/in general structure.

I think had she released "I Want You To Love Me" as a single, it would've definitely affected people's initial reactions to the album by setting expectations of a sound far away from the majority of the tracks.