"Lately" is an R&B love song with blues influences, driven by a guitar and Hammond B3 organ played by Woodruff. Chuck Taylor of Billboard noted that the song stands out from most hip hop tracks and female-sung ballads of the time, and Red Ant's president, Randy Phillips, compared it to a 1999 incarnation of Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay".
The R&B love song "Lately" features blues influences and is characterized by guitar and Hammond B3 organ work by Woodruff. Billboard's Chuck Taylor highlighted its uniqueness compared to hip hop tracks and female-sung ballads of the era, while Red Ant's president Randy Phillips drew a comparison to Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" from 1999.