rolling r&b 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWmCPdTzAKI
Genesis Owusu - Bye Bye

Rather falls under D'Angelo-style neo-soul, the guy is Australian of Ghanaian origins. I do not like his voice / vocals so much but there's no denying that there is very tasty production and licks on that album. That's the closer.

Maybe it's also worth posting the obvious lead song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25CBe5FAvtI
Genesis Owusu - The Other Black Dog

really enjoyed this Genesis Owusu album, but damn the melodic hooks in this Frank Ocean-esque collab track are a total earworm!!


Billy Davis- Dream No More (feat Ruel and Genesis Owusu)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R26Hsluzhiw

I've been waiting for this Joyce Wrice album for 3 years and it's finally out today. Everything I wanted it to be so far.

Gets less good as it progresses. Oh well.

Maeta's Teen Scene (feat. Buddy) was a favorite of mine last year - now she released this gorgeous, minimal new track:

Maeta - Toxic (ft. BEAM)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo1tkWTrFb8

Another hot new jam from Muni Long!

Muni Long - Bodies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qJ_1I3b1UQ

Really glad to be discovering Maeta. Her first single, Debbie Downer, from 2 years ago is a hell of a first song.

"toxic" is fantastic

good track with Masego:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id4tzsOgq_8
Elhae ft. Masego • My City

and yes, “Toxic” is great

and, damn, so is “Teen Scene”, forgot all about that one

This is is chill & vibey (nice guitar):

Christian Kuria - 23rd Street

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enKD9I-CXhc

This is also chill & vibey (nice bassline):

Yeek - Lumbago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOwQ7qOCPm0

anyone been listening to the joyce wrice album? one of my fav records of the year so far. it reminds me of teedra moses, amerie era R&B, upbeat and melodically driven. they also picked great singles as evidenced below but the album is dope front to back

"on one"

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

"so so sick"

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

I've given it several tries, but it just hasn't grabbed me. I don't really care for her voice, tbh

oh, this is smooth (remember going out?) -

Rayana Jay - last call (Audio) (feat. Braxton Cook)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3MdFFtueiU

Mahalia's voice is beautiful on this bedroom jam:

Chiiild - Awake (ft. Mahalia)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K58GojV2tz0

the Genesis Owusu album has way more going on than just neo-soul. i'm not sure if i love it, it's really all over the place, but i'm fascinated by it. also definitely not somewhere i was expecting kirin j callinan to show up?

not that r&b in general is lacking in rich and thrilling production lately, but gallant's new ep neptune is certainly a pleasure on that front. i'm not sure all of it works for me yet, but at its best it's deeply compelling stuff. it's bookended by both of the pre-release singles ("comeback" and "relapse"), and while i like both, some of the tracks i'll be returning to most are those in the middle, like "julie" (which includes the phrase 'carbon-based lifeform') and "scars"

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

"scars" drops an 808 beat over its achingly beautiful bed of synths at the arrival of the chorus -- specifically the pattern that has been in countless bass and freestyle records over the years but which is most fondly associated in my mind with tunes like "when i hear music" and lathun's "freak it". it's quietly, relentlessly insistent in a song about coping with loss and pain but it takes me somewhere effortlessly. a comment he liked on the youtube upload more-or-less confirms what's already fairly evident, which is that he was thinking of the so so def bass records when recording it, and i think he really tapped into the sense of latent nostalgia and regret that's long been hiding in those records to begin with. i am deep in my feelings abt the passage of youth (lol). it ends with a string quartet(?) that is also beautiful

(riyl haim's "i know alone" from last year, as i do most particularly)

that's really lovely except there's a few moments where it just adds in an extra pause before "scars" and it sounds so disjointed

Yeah, that extra little glitch is odd...

I find the production almost TOO glass-wall smooth on this track, somehow.

That Genesis Owusu album finally kicked in, and it's a good one. Been flipping between it and Prince's Come, for which it serves as as a complement lol

Maeta signed, EP on the way: https://variety.com/2021/music/news/maeta-roc-nation-1234952214/

HABITS OUT FRIDAY!!!!!! 💚 pic.twitter.com/KTe0DHTNuk

— Maeta (@Maetasworld) April 27, 2021

the Rochelle Jordan album is amazing

yes. dawn-hive get on it. similar r&b/club interzone

i got heavy kelela x night slugs / brandy vibes too. kept waiting for a bad song to turn up but it never happened, and the last two might be my favourites of the lot!

Excellent album. I'm also reminded a bit of Vikter Duplaix's pre-album singles. I had the exact same experience of waiting for it to hit a pothole and it never happening.

great album, adding "love you good" to the r&d&b playlist

rochelle jordan album is.... the freakin best

I think this is an impressive track:

Teedra Moses - Make Me

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

Oh, I really like this:

Mereba - Rider

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l8wpMReGxU

love the Rochelle Jordan

fav track atm:

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

“Count It”

the new Teedra is good and “Rider” is indeed lovely, r&b on an afro tip, how could I resist?

Looking forward to the Jorja Smith EP. The two songs 'Gone' and 'Bussdown' ain't half bad. Not that I can be objective with her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XjOSNdalsc
Jorja Smith - Bussdown feat. Shaybo

an arresting jam:

Elaine - Right Now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igFPs1514QA

i gotta dig into this DRAM album but this duet with Summer Walker is a prime cut (official video live but sans walker)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7xL9RVncfA

Masego microtargeting ILM with an IzyBeats-produced amapiano track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjpTZwfU8IY
Masego • Yebo/Sema

(from the Extended Stay version of his Studying Abroad EP)

this radical reworking of "Mystery Lady" is something to behold as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ZuA8t0154
Masego • Mystery Lady (TrapHouseJazz Remix)

Masego microtargeting ILM with an IzyBeats-produced amapiano track:

“The industry has changed… a key metric of success is now placing in the Top 15 of the ILM Tracks poll”

lol! well the track is good so i guess it's working for me

George Riley's "Power" is insanely good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDpZGvnKqSc

oh wow that absolutely rules

I dig the dnb beat

The new Mereba EP (featuring the above-posted "Rider") is nice; I particularly like this track:

Mereba - Go(l)d

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3FwFdlqraY

Great new track from Mariah the Scientist ("2 You") – her album comes out July 8:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKuk55NEAc0

ooh love this!!

so good

the Neptunes were madly overrated to begin with and Pharell in 2021 seems even worse, I wish artists would realise this

eh I just like the sound, it’s fun to hear every once in a while

another quality project from summer. some of it could definitely be excised including the neptunes track but i found stretches of it great

india shawn's EP "before we go" is out - the second track "don't play with my heart" is so lush, one of my favourite songs this year

https://open.spotify.com/album/1MnOpmiIDEfloQektuOGkr

Muni Long has a new EP out, called Public Displays of Affection. It's good! She really has a way with words...

I'm not a big SZA fan, but I like her new song ("I Hate U"). I also think the best track on the Summer album is the song w/SZA ("No Love").

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38TEd55NcXs

new brent faiyaz track "mercedes" is really good

Seeing a few r'n'b albums showing up on some 2021 critics lists... Caramanica in NY Times has Summer Walker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYCKZ1Wk7ZE
Amaal - Honey (from her EP Milly)

this faiyaz song is my fav of his so far this year

i'm still playing summer walker's album myself (skipping a handful of tracks). "no love" is great as is "screwin'"

I had a tune in my head all last week; realized today it’s the chorus of “Constant Bullshit.”

i'm obsessed w/ the summer walker album. top 2 of the year for me. ex for a reason, throw away, reciprocate, you don't know me, constant bullshit, unloyal, screwin are all knockouts to me. you don't know me in particular is just stunning. and the rest is pretty great too

It's kind of similar to the last album, in that I underrated / didn't connect with it so much at first, and then it has grown on me. There's no "Tonight" or "Off of You" this time (the two astonishingly great tracks from Over You), but overall she was a step ahead of my expectations once again.

*Over It

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

also, i understand she has some real anxiety issues as it pertains to performing and stuff (feel you, girl), but i love the way it comes off as this kind of too cool for school anti-stage presence, her voice sounding so smooth and poised

I had the chance to see her in a theater a few years back (before she blew up), but couldn't go... regret missing that opportunity

my sister sent me this incredible Amber Mark song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXaPGlkd5do

new album next month, the other four singles are pretty great too

I don't know anything about dvsn, but I really like this lush R&B cover of a song I dislike.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiMrzqdFiA4

https://slate.com/culture/2021/12/best-r-b-albums-2021-jazmine-sullivan-summer-walker-bell-hooks.html

Briana Younger on her fave 2021 r'n'b and what it meant to her

Nice Maeta cover of a Don Toliver song ("Swangin on Westheimer"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX-Pau6S8wc

EOY Errata: two unrelated (but both good) 2021 songs titled "Sneaky Link":

Muni Long
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXjnm4UPqC0

Savannah Cristina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L0pyTQBxJk