rolling r&b 2019

Interesting piece on LVRN (with a particularly interesting bit on Summer Walker):

https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8501674/lvrn-atlanta-record-label-look-story

They discovered her by chance, when LVRN’s studio manager, also named Summer Walker, decided to Google herself one day. “She saw there was a girl also named Summer Walker who sings and puts videos on YouTube and Vine and built a relationship with her because they shared the same name,” recalls Baiden. Soon after, they all got a text in their group chat that there was an artist they had to meet.

“(Walker) is one of those people that pisses you off just by how talented they are -- but she’s not a try-hard,” Baiden says. “She might be the first punk-R&B chick. She doesn’t like doing press. When you speak to her, her responses are literally one-word answers. She did her first TV performance in a hoodie. As an R&B chick, you’re supposed to get dolled up, stand there, look pretty and sing. But she gives no fucks.”

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-new-r-and-b-is-here-reflecting-confused-modern-love

Summer Walker is also in this Briana Younger r’n’b overview piece along with Elhae, VanJess, Pink Sweat$, Marco McKinnis, Eric Bellinger and more

ella mai was good tonight

Nice. Missed her DC appearance but wanted to see her

this is dope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdegiQel3yc

i like the beat but not a fan of the song

her uh questionable stagename is unfortunately impossible to ignore in her followup single called (not kidding) "hey lightskin"

Ciara - Thinkin Bout You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVczk4uIPPg

pretty good one

has an effortlessly joyful sound to it

a perusal of the youtube comments suggests this was algorithmically served to a large portion of its viewership

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bs1c-L-CUk

the video actually contains portions of three songs from the artist's album satin psicodelic. i think my favorite is the one that plays in the middle, the v lush-sounding "baby i don't mind"

Ariana Grande and Victoria Monét - Monopoly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0pryRrJvfI

https://devinmorrison.bandcamp.com/album/bussin

Tayla's album is out (paging dyl!): https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mjnyW2rKiZuHiHG1Jbwtss0WBJEnIuImM

the final track, "easy", is great even if it ends too early. still need to spend more time w/ the rest

new elle varner

http://smarturl.it/KindaLoveElleVarner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3aHdZfJckg

v much enjoying the new tink so far

Jessie Reyez & 6LACK - Imported

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOYj7WfJQD8

Ceraadi - Loyal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79t9AQYOE7A

So much great stuff already this year, IMO

"loyal" is so nice -- such a smooth, bright springtime vibe to it

some of jessie reyez's vocal quirks are a little hard for me to stomach but she's pretty all right. she wrote "promises" with calvin harris and sam smith!

Yeah — I agree about the vocal quirks, but that song works well for me... I like its woozy, (purposefully) amateurish/“naive” vibe, if you know what I mean (that sounds like a knock, but it’s not meant to be!)

(“that song” being “Imported”)

almost every fifth harmony solo single is miles better than the band's stuff, and this in particular is very early-200s Mya

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmBcEZ-ruAc

Kiana Ledé (whose single "EX" was linked by Dyl upthread) has a good new EP out.

pretty solid collection. i was almost mad at "shawty" finishing so soon!

ever since jeremih's "planes" i'm always nervous when i see j. cole guesting on an r&b singer's track but i'm feeling this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFuZ2avoYmw

never heard of ari lennox before

her album is nice! "whipped cream" has been a favourite of mine since late last year.

Ari Lennox lived in the DC / Maryland area for awhile so she has a big following here. She had a bouncebeat go-go band back her for a song recently

I did listen to a lot of Erykah Badu, don't get me wrong. But I'm also inspired by Missy Elliott, Tweet, SWV, 702, En Vogue, Anita Baker, Oleta Adams, Billy Ocean, D'Angelo, Bilal, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Omarion, Ciara, Ashanti, Petey Pablo, Kanye West, Common, Jazmine Sullivan, Chrisette Michele, and Floetry. I listened to all of them, studied all of them.

Ari Lennox in GQ making sure you know she’s listened to more than Badu

https://www.gq.com/story/ari-lennox-interview

Wow, I like this:

Chloe x Halle - thinkin bout me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgXndUfQ4_E

The new Daniel Caesar album is good.

dang, that dropped quietly!

oh shit this brandy track

the new gallant video is wonderful, song too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OprPmcx0QXQ

oh dang how had i not known about that already

he is pretty frequently great

song is beautifully produced

new janet jackson-saluting cassie single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1OKG_ZJ6P4

also elle varner’s album is finally out!

feel like there's also a subtle nod to "doin it" in the production, or maybe the grace jones song "doin it" was built around

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW6J4v2XCXU

this song is gross but i like the (initially) spare beat even if it is a bit behind the times

was wondering what polow was up to; dumb song, interesting musical choices

i had basically given up on elle varner ever releasing anything again, so for her new album to not only be out but also...really fantastic is such a pleasant surprise

oh i'm glad to hear it's good! i wasn't too excited about it based on some of the singles she had put out in advance. will check it out.

Ari Lennox in GQ making sure you know she’s listened to more than Badu

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, June 19, 2019 11:45 AM (three weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

i do hear a mixture of influences here, but i checked out the album today and it's still very distracting just how much she sounds like badu. it's funny that she's on dreamville, cause i feel a similar way about jid and kendrick--they have stylistic differences but the vocal similarity exists in a type of uncanny valley for me, where i can hardly notice anything else. my fav track is 'i been,' which uncoincidentally is a track where she switches up her vocal style.

man that polow song sucks. the back half is a complete mess what is he doing.

i dunno; i think you give that to jacquees or lloyd and rewrite the lyrics and you've got something enjoyable. wouldn't argue it's listenable as is.

jacquees doesn't need to do another song like that after already having done "you"

(tbh neither does bando jonez -- his closest thing to a hit so far "sex you" does some of the same things but stays on the right side of the appealingly-sleazy/gross line)

beyond all the mustardwave things the track reminded me of, the song the more chaotic (or messy) back half had me wanting to revisit was zendaya's "replay"

which admittedly is much better executed, altho honestly i'm also pretty ambivalent about "replay" as a song

it sounds like a "cool" jason derulo song

Good call on “Replay”, which I love to bits, without any reservations whatsoever. I also like this!