rolling r&b 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU7hz2j3Qs4

i've come back to teyana taylor's "concrete" several times now, but i still can't get fully into it. at times it sounds terrific ("i thought you grew up christian / let's talk about forgiveness") and at others the magic dissipates almost entirely :\

Dang, that YouTube thumbnail!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGfe2yhu0e0

i know k camp is technically a rapper but this is still the correct thread to post this in. i like the whole song but the extended talk box outro in particular is excellent!

cool vibe on this one by Van and Jess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC8w5TzC8LA

Has anyone listened to the new Omarion album? It's being overshadowed by Ariana, Busta, and Oneohtrix, but I think it's solid so far.

Ayanis also just released a long EP that I’m looking forward to checking out.

haven't heard the omarion album in full but enjoy "involved" and "do you well" from it. the latter will fit perfectly next to chloe x halle "do it" on my 2020 playlist but i think i like the former even more

I missed this slinky jam when it was released (a few months back):

Bellah - Something U Like

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

This Omarion IS very good.

Standout track:

Rose Gold - Soon as You Get Home

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

Cool song from an artist with an interesting background:

Aleesha - No Man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGow393o1GU

DaniLeigh has now released an entire new album (Spotify; YT Music)... as far as I can tell over kids screaming in the background, it's good!

does anyone in here remember an R&B song called like ... 'padded room' or 'padded walls' or something along those lines, by an R&B singer from about 10 (give or take three) years ago?

Female R&B singer, very bold voice, never quite crossed over, maybe a songwriter for others but i can't recall

concept of the song was that she and her partner were so loud they needed padded walls etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD8w4TaQmII

thats it!!

more literal than i rememebred

two of my favorite men in r&b right now - they sound great together:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i6A1IHAQsg
Masego ft. Don Toliver • Mystery Lady

Masego has a new EP, Studying Abroad, out as well - it’s good! (how) can it be that this guy has never even been mentioned on ILM?

his voice reminds me of Raphael Saadiq and he is a bit of a classicist too, but he’s also got plenty of fresh African and Caribbean touches in his sound palette.

I also liked “Veg Out (Wasting Thyme)” from earlier this year and last year’s “Queen Tings” (which has a good remix with Nigerian alté artist Cruel Santino, who was still called Santi then).

lol Nabozo just made the actual first Masego post an hour ago on the Rolling Dancehall thread, he also has a song with Shenseea on his EP.

damn that song is great

masego's "tadow" is a favorite of the youtube algorithm. it's up to 248 million views lol.

it has also been streamed 186 million times on Spotify alone, which suggests it was a massive hit, when in fact it never charted at all afaict.

i am glad to have heard of "mystery lady" and masego now, whatever thread they should be posted in. lots of interesting, sometimes disarmingly frank lyrical turns in there that reward repeated listening.

toliver does sound good on it too. i was definitely late to engage with his music, i guess b/c i initially judged him to be a bit too travis scott-adjacent for my tastes. (not that i dislike travis scott, but, idk, not my main thing.) having caught up a little, his album is definitely impressive and "after party" is easily among the most striking singles i heard on the radio this year. he sings the hook on a pretty big current radio hit too ("lemonade") that's less interesting than much of his own music but also far from the worst thing on the airwaves right now. hoping there will continue to be more, bigger/better things to come for him

don's project from ... 2? years ago is really great. we talked about it on the rolling rap thread that year

donny womack, still prob my favorite project of his, and i liked heaven or hell. it dropped the same week as astroworld, iirc

whatever thread they should be posted in

sorry not sorry for blurring the boundaries between rap and r&b**, again - Don Toliver came up in this thread earlier this year, some discussion ensued. as for Masego, he’s very much an allround music guy from what I’ve heard of him, much more at home on an r&b than a rap thread imo.

**obviously I didn’t start that particular fire, singers rap and sing rappily, rappers sing and rap sing-songily, it’s been going on for a while. what are the criteria? should Ne-Yo’s “Pinky Ring” (to name a song that was around during the previous Toliver tussle) go on the rap thread?

no objections on my end! sorry if i inadvertently implied otherwise. the boundaries are blurry, the categorizations imprecise to begin with, and i don't mind that

"mystery lady" is great, love the syncopation

i thought "mystery lady" was my intro to masego but apparently it was actually this, which has been sitting in one of my playlists for a little while

he’s also featured on Kehlani’s “Hate The Club” (which he co-wrote) off her current album - not as a vocalist tho, he does the saxophone in it.

This was my intro to masego
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhufJDhL9xw

This sounds just like all the other sh!t in this thread that I love (lol)... nice slow jam

Teenear - Special Attention

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ovM_5lLOI

Tayla Parx has a new full-length album out, btw... (I haven’t listened to it yet)

I’m pleased that Summer Walker’s Over It won Album of the Year at the Soul Train Awards.

released in October last year, no less.

...but speaking of Summer Walker, can't say I *loved* this year's Life On Earth EP, but I'm still totally smitten with "White Tee" with NO1-NOAH:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgJhcGl_h7Y

I assume Soul Train has an eligibility period that doesn't sync up w/the calendar year (like the Grammys).

Meanwhile, I *did* love Life on Earth, and wish it were getting more recognition!

good for summer

listened to tayla's album last night... got some interesting tracks but it also shifts gears a lot, which can be dizzying esp given that almost all the tracks are shorter than 3 mins...

idk, might have to give it another go

Yes, I’ve just given it one listen so far... felt very hard-edged and breakup-y

I really liked the Tayla album and its conciseness was a feature not a bug for me

Getting organized for end of year... this is another favorite track that hasn't shown up in this thread:

Mariah the Scientist - Always n Forever (feat. Lil Baby)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ru3FPlRioM

that owns

Juls - ' blessed' feat mira may and donne'o

think some will like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFz9-j2lUOw

baegod and sbvce - ' never you mind'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghG8Ahf6nKA

slept on crew outta cali, baegod and sbvce have been consistantly churning out dreamy, smooth and smart r'n'b. check out their singles back catalogue, solid.

I think this brief, spare track is intriguing (it's the title track of a recent EP):

María Isabel - Stuck in the Sky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5X0ITga-W0

I don't know much about this artist, Alycia Bella (apparently she has surfaced in the past, under other names); but she has three lovely new singles out:

Alycia Bella - Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prBdOv6NeeA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwoWItvMqng
Tkay Maidza feat. Kari Faux - Don't Call Again

A little bit the Doja Cat school

Yeah her album is cool (if not quite my speed)

Just came across this – not really sure how to classify it... it has an “indie” quality, reminds me of something I can’t put my finger on... I think it’s a fascinating single:

Maeta - Teen Scene (feat. Buddy)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8butWJabQy4

(I wasn’t familiar with the track’s producer, Kaytranda – he clearly has a rep)