rolling r&b 2019

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!

xp

the best zendaya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ULO5j7MdSU

cute song but her voice is so nondescript

that's my hangup with her too

This is good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYcw4CnvmVA

Catching up on these... OMG, that "Wet" song, no thanxx

This track does something cool toward the end:

Willow Smith - PrettyGirlz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYl4McIVvug

anyone check out the new BJ?

liked the first couple of tracks i heard

the whole Erika de Casier album is really lovely, my favourite is "Space"

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

'What U Wanna Do?' -> 'Rainy' -> 'Space' is a great run.

Anyway, this album is ideal ILM fodder (and I mean that in a good way).

maybe make a thread for it? i really love it. it's drawing so heavily on 90s r&b but the production feels much more modern with how much space there is and every individual sound is so good

I considered making a thread for it too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1jOvBabKMA

also, zo! put out a new album last week and it's lovely. (it's called fourfront, which is easier to search than his name.) i want to try and catch him at city winery on monday - he's doing a "piano & a microphone" tour with carmen rodgers, whose vocal makes this track extra bubbly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa7iS0261yU

phonte (naturally), stokley, and madison mcferrin are among the other guests

Is this the thread where I can gush about the new Normani single with the rest of the Internet or should I take it to the pop thread

Do it here! I haven't listened to it yet.....

I feel like normani almost deserves a thread of her own at this point

anyway it’s delightful. I’ve sort of thought she would be a star ever since her ad libs of “that’s my girl”, and it’s been pleasing to see her build this oeuvre of confident collaborations over the past year or so before now having this break out moment

i came around on "dancing with a stranger" but honestly didn't really feel any other songs normani was involved in. this song is pretty good and i'll be glad if it finally enables her to properly step out as an artist -- the fact that she had to maneuver her way in thru very strategically selected collaborations honestly struck me as highly unfortunate. as 'confident' as was on those hits they were also ample evidence that her label was, like, the opposite of confident in her potential as a pop solo personality. major props to her if she really gets to go the distance and thank fuck she's proving herself now.

i have to say the excellent video kinda makes the song. i don't think i would find the track nearly as striking without it.

in theory I'm skeptical of the massive pr push behind normani but "waves" is one of my favorite R&B songs of the year and this is also pretty good

I like how unselfconsciously oldschool this is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u8HFDULaq0

my fav track from elle varner's new album, which is indeed good tho not as great as the debut (but tbh what is?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCLsxNiNfZ4

it took a while for me to give the album a shot b/c one of the pre-release singles w/ wale was so dull but fortunately that ended up being among the worst couple of tracks