rolling r&b 2019

i like the grittier timbre yk osiris accesses in his latest single. plus: guitar solo!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPiFfJ0UTqE

xp Yeah, the Drake remix just dropped (I’m... not a fan, but really cool for her obv.)

Looks like she also cleaned up her Instagram, deleted a bunch of stuff — making it more “professional”(?)

yeah i'm not feeling drake's contribution to the remix either. the only good thing about it is that it extends the overall runtime compared to the original, which always seems surprisingly short

The disarming brevity of most tracks on Last Day of Summer is a great feature, but it’s true that 2:20 is really brief for a single (it’s actually cool to know that the album version has been getting airplay).

Hot beat on this track.

Lauriana Mae - Something Real

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6z0K5w9mrk

This is jam u may dig if u also "just don't give a f***":

Shamba - IDGAF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4llHGZs1DUE

Hot stuff:

Quin & 6lack - Mushroom Chocolate

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

Tayla Parx - I Want You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lZ1EVyVLLo

saw her last week opening for anderson .paak! she was really good

Awesome!

this is a jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqRNV21MV14

i'm really excited about tayla

i think she will get her own thread before long

A girl can dream... 😝

(Srsly tho — I’m sure one of us will start a thread when her album drops)

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

Any final additions, to close out 2019? I feel like it was a good year for R&B.

how is sir's album (from top dawg entertainment)? i've been hearing his single w/ kendrick "hair down" on the radio and it's a welcome addition for me

a few others to have crossed my radar recently that i think are p solid:

teyana taylor & kehlani "morning"
h.e.r. feat. yg "slide"
r.lum.r "how this feels"

new-ish brian mcknight song is nice

teyana taylor & kehlani "morning"

This song is good but... those lyrics!

a couple eyebrow-raising lines for sure lol

h.e.r. feat. yg "slide"

Wow, this is some track (and video)... thanx for sharing. (I don’t like the rap too much, but the song’s strong enough to survive it.)

not a problem, glad you appreciate it. not my fav verse, guest or otherwise, from yg, but i'm glad it's there if only for the "i ain't gotta know astrology..." line lol

h.e.r.'s been hard to get a strong sense of. some of her music is remarkably good, pushes just enough against current fashion to thrill, and then some of it sounds so flat, as if calculated to go down easy with the grammy voters that seem to love her so much

Yeah, this is the first song of hers that I’ve really gone in for... She’s obviously v talented, but usually not quite my style?

Just got into “Ass Like That”, the Victoria Monét song posted upthread, thanks to SaidTheGramophone’s Songs of 2019🕸 list. The beat and the horns in particular are wonderful.

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

this may be the best of the admittedly few ro james songs i've heard (no slouch tho considering the company)