rolling r&b 2021

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

love this, out of Australia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUBoFfOaUIM
Wafia ft. Ta-ku & Masego • Wide Open

I don't think I've ever heard of any of them before, but I like this a lot.

Masego has been on these threads before (he’s the one American here)

speaking of masego, i heard "mystery lady" in an ad during the nba playoff game yesterday.

good for him.

oh yay, a new muni long track
oh noes, it’s a song-length tribute to kanye :/

a welcome palate cleanser:

Mariah the Scientist - Aura

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlN8jduG228

Enjoying the Cosha “album” (in quotation marks as there are only 8 tracks, 2 of them not previously released as singles, and one that also appeared on a previous album / mixtape)

Summer Walker working on album w/Pharrell and Sean Garrett.

Fun new Tinashe track ("Bouncin"):

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

(about to get into the Mariah the Scientist album; psyched that it's out today.)

one of the highlights - "Maybe":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy0hf3n0LcY

new Mariah the Scientist album is really good. Also very concise, I think most tracks are under three minutes.

New Sno Aalegra out

honestly remarkable how much drake kills the vibe on that otherwise pretty good brent faiyaz single

i dunno, i hated the beat. "the neptunes" is such a negative signifier these days for me, the gulf between clout for the artist and quality of production is really wide

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