rolling r&b 2023

Ella Mai has dropped a Deluxe Edition of Heart on My Sleeve, adding three (nice) new tracks... check out "This Is":

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

happy to see this thread

this ella mai song is nice enough but i feel so sad that anything aiming for radio-ratified success is decreed to need a recognizable sample now, no matter the format

really really like this new daniel caesar song

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

new Liv.e album sounding great, guess I missed this single a few months ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUd9E08qoRM

Clever hook in this new Maeta track ("Can't spell 'sex' without 'ex'"), and the beat/vibe is solid — but she seems to be trying a little too hard (...that cover art), and the chorus melody reminds me of a specific Summer Walker song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mom3aT9N8w

Maeta - S(Ex)

Like that liv.e song a lot but have not been able to get into the album yet. Very scattered in sound and so many songs

new Liv.e album sounding great, guess I missed this single a few months ago

📹

“Slow Motion”, the Don Toliver, has a criminally short Wizkid feature (here and gone in 20 seconds):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsGOYQ2GqrU

the *new* Don Toliver

oh, it’s actually a track on his new album, Love Sick

i like that daniel caesar quite a bit! i'll be hanging out in here again all year if that's okay. not sure how much i can contribute; i forgot who first posted about eliza in the thread last year (morris it may have been you) but i continued checking her out. she's ??kinda goth idk?? + very spare late night vibes. new single is basically more of the same—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwZ4cb6sCls

maybe has a *bit* more of a proper ``indie rock`` thing going on with it. shrug. i like it.

and thank you all for contributions!!

Like that liv.e song a lot but have not been able to get into the album yet. Very scattered in sound and so many songs

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Saturday, February 11, 2023 1:09 PM

okay listening now. first few tracks were quite solid, but about ¾ through now and yeah— wtf is this album? i usually like "mess" albums so i'll definitely be listening more; moka just very otm for first impressions.

(the album *is* good though and i recommend it. more d`n`b revival! just... 17 tracks in about 40 minutes. lots to process!)

coco jones "icu" from her ep last year is starting to pop off and gosh it's gorgeous, i wish i weren't constantly behind the curve. i love the production on it, rly highlights her voice beautifully

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

So who were the most important R&B-artist of the 2010s? Asking because I'm not sure if there's really a consensus on this...

New Summer Walker EP out May 19

I like the Chlöe album more than I thought I would, based on the advance tracks. It doesn't have the charm of CxH for me, but there are some good songs for sure (the presence of a Chris Brown feature is a big turn-off, but what can you do).

The track w/Missy ("Told Ya") is particularly hot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOIfpiCclO0

This new Mahalia track ("Terms and Conditions") is a jam:

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

"Karma," a track from Summer Walker's 2018 album (retroactively branded a mixtape) Last Day of Summer, took off on TikTok recently, and is now Top 10 at urban radio. Nice opportunity to revisit it here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie_dLVcfi7E

weird. honestly not what i'd consider a standout from that project but good for her i guess

it was a sped up version that drove it so the revival of the song is in some sense a bit disconnected from what the appeal of the song might be to people who aren't 14 year olds on tik tok. honestly, 'still over it' is easily one of the best albums of the last 5 years for me, i'll fight to the death over that album's honor. but i haven't really gone back to her back catalog... i just care about 'still over it' too much idk. she's dropping a new EP in may

xp Yeah, it's not a track that I ever particularly "noticed"... though interestingly, it's singled out in this 2019 interview w/Arsenio Archer (who produced and co-wrote most of the songs):

When you look back at the tracklist of Last Day of Summer, what song has the most memories?

I would have to say ‘Karma.’ The process for that whole song was just different. To me, that’s the biggest song on there. It’s a really big ballad. It slows to a crawl at the end, but it still keeps your attention. The way we made it was so wild (laughs). We actually had it pitched up, crazy, changing her voice. I actually have that version. But, in the end, we ended up stripping it all back and keeping her natural voice.

We actually had it pitched up, crazy, changing her voice. I actually have that version. But, in the end, we ended up stripping it all back and keeping her natural voice.

fascinating that they had the idea to speed it up from the jump

that is weird

Yeah isn't it? Weird coincidence

(She recently re-released the entire album in "sped-up" mode... not being a 14-year-old on TikTok, I sure don't get that trend myself)

new luna luna!

"dance with u" feat shrt_lyf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktOkyPQ6tz4

probably the most blatantly pop thing they've yet done. over and done in under 3 minutes and honestly great fluff. hope this means more material is on the way; "talk too much" from last year has yet to leave my heavy rotation!

Damn, the new Summer Walker EP is so nice-sounding….. (it’s 9 tracks, v generous)

this track “Finding Peace”… it’s lush as hell, I can’t even

She’s such a fantastic artist

i love her so much. she posted on IG the other day about how her EPs are the only music she likes making & her albums are “radio bullshit” or some phrase like that. i’m slightly insulted on behalf of ‘still over it’ which is a stone cold classic to me but i do love that she has taste

i really like how you can hear the neo-soul influences coming out on this one… she’s always reposting badu on IG & there’s a few explicit references to her on the project so not a surprise but the way she sings ones like “hard life” or “pull up” are quite reminiscent of early badu. and she kinda extends the continuum to neo neo-soul of the solange era, even aside from the final song

my fav tho is “how does it feel” … there’s something about her really spare, acoustic songs that i love. she’s a bracing lyricist & i her vocals sound amazing to me in that context … “you don’t know me” from the last album is one of my fav songs of the last handful of years. i like how this one adds those little choral flourishes

Yeah she said this to Billboard (last year):

I am hella excited to do Clear 2. The last one was like four songs. This one — I want it to be a lot longer so I can really get that sound out. That’s my favorite type of sound. I make what I got to make for the radio, but I’m very excited for (Clear 2). Hopefully, my budget will be permitted. (If not), we got to protest. (Laughs.)

it’s funny cuz “ex for a reason” is an amazing song to me, like one of the best attempts at honoring that sound (compare to the horrible muni long song that outright samples “my boo”). “no love” is not one of my absolute favs but as far as “radio” music goes it’s also pretty great. and then the album is just classic R&B. but her perception of the world is very unique in general…

there’s something about her really spare, acoustic songs that i love

Two of my absolute favorite songs by her are "Tonight" and "Off of You," from her first album, which both fit that mold (...well, I guess "Tonight" isn't so "acoustic," but it's a spare ballad).

i’m gonna check those out. i also need to listen to the first clear EP

The songs on the original Clear have never connected with me, for whatever reason… I guess they feel somewhat slight or something. The musical approach is cool, though

You treat my love like an option
Bet on these hoes like an auction
Loyalty just ain't that common
But karma's a bitch, the sweetest revenge
Ridin' shotgun
All through the streets with my options
Don't come for me when you got some
Hope it goes straight to your head
How does it feel in the end?

<3

i'm having the same reaction to this as all of her other stuff: it's alright. not displeasureable to hear, just very mid. as usual, some of the beats are really nice. she's very wordy and i kind of want her to just rap the verses and sing the refrains.

Damn ok, looks like she also said this, lol:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FweKiGEX0AU98V9?format=jpg&name=medium

can't be too mad at that level of transparency.

this record does sound different but also still sounds like her

I wonder if she had fun making the Life on Earth EP… that’s my favorite of all.

Looks like there actually is a degree of fan disappointment out there on Twitter… I’m surprised.

Probably the wrong thread for this but…. Song of the summer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqtDXcwX61I
Jorja Smith - Little things

i think i connect with diff summer walker music than most of her fans…

i’ve been stopped dead in my tracks for 36 hours now over “how does it feel”

Did you play those two tracks from Over It I mentioned? Curious to hear what you think

i did! i liked "off of you" tho i think "fun girl" is more what i was looking for. it's a bit of a harsh recording but it feels very true to her mission statement as an artist, lyrically... it's basically the first draft of "unloyal" in a way. i liked "potential" a lot too.

i will say that there is some completely criminal vocal production on that album. after really sitting w/ over it i totally get why she looks at her albums as autotune bullshit she is forced to engage in... bcuz that's exactly what those songs sound like! if you listen to her live vocals during i.e. the performance of "unloyal" at the soul train awards, her entire team should have to stand trial for what they did to her voice on that album. thankfully i assume she wrested some creative control back for still over it? cuz good lord her voice is almost treated w/ disrespect

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdTpQ-URyTw

in going back thru the catalog i think it was "session 32" that really knocked me over

"playing games" could've been a great single if not for the unnecessary detour into destiny's child. i'm kinda incensed at how directly they connected her to turn of the millennium R&B hits at the outset, it's so gimmicky. i guess it worked but i wrote her off at this stage as, essentially, the R&B version of what we're now seeing from saweetie or coi leray. it feels like a miracle to me in retrospect that she was able to transcend that style of songwriting and bend it back towards her own artistry. clearly i'm out of step w/ the larger summer walker fanbase on this one but man does still over it sound so superior to me

you're right that the first 'clear' isn't very good... "riot" is actually great but the rest of have these jazzy affectations that feel very college town open mic to me so i'm glad that's been left in the past

+1 on the Destiny's Child interpolation (even one of the new songs mentions calling up Tyrone, which feels very... on the nose)

(That said – in the interest of self-interrogation – I'm fascinated by how often Lana Del Rey incorporates quotes from / references to other songs into her lyrics, as a core part of her "artistry"... including some of my favorite songs of hers. So not sure why I view it thru a different lens in her case.)

the specific act of trying to blow up in a pop way by rehashing old hits on multiple singles off a debut album leaves a sour taste in a way that lana’s more idiosyncratic, hermetic or even ironic references don’t

summer peformed at some festival a few weeks ago that usher was at & he came out to do his part on “come thru” and the video went viral on twitter bcuz usher came out all hyped and energetic and summer was… summer. but even putting the anxiety stuff aside it’s like… yeah maybe she rightfully thinks this song is corny trash and hates performing it

it’s funny you mention lana tho cuz i was on my 24th straight listen of “how does it feel” the other day & i thought, this woman is to me what lana is to other gay guys….

lol her disdain for some of her music is funny. i love "come thru" too ;_; i can imagine exactly the kinds of calculations that were behind "ex for a reason" but yeah when the results are that good... (tho i remember some fans disliking it)

but yeah this ep is really good + i'm glad she gets to go out there a bit musically. even album tracks on still over it were very much not, like, radio music so i don't entirely get her perspective but oh well

me either tho i think she’s maybe thinking about her live sets where songs like “playing games” and “come thru” still get the loudest responses (at least based on when i saw her in new york but i can’t imagine that being an outlier)

Just rec'd the CD which I ordered from her web store... not only is the cover signed by Summer (or, maybe, by the identically named LVRN employee who famously discovered her... lol), but turns out it includes both Clear EPs on the disc, which I didn't realize it would. Pretty cool!

https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/the-war-and-treaty/old-school-soul-class-is-still-in-session

New albums with old-school soul/r'n'b feel by William Bell, War & Treaty, and Billy Valentine reviewed