The English duo Children of Zeus spin a cocoon of neo-soul on “No Love Song,” a single from their new album, Balance. This track is a magnificent bummer, a laundry lists of flaws, failings, and shortcomings. The first line is a warning: “The emotions of a stone expectin’ me to …
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Paloma Rocío Castillo Astorga was just 18 when she wrote her first song. She self-released it as a single — “Not Steady,” a gauzy, Spanglish R&B reproach to an overzealous suitor — with a music video that she filmed in the parking lot of her tía’s apartment complex. Within a …
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Leela James applies her gale-force voice in precise, leveling blasts in “Complicated,” a bouncy, lavish love song that marks her first release since 2019. This is a track about tearing through, if not obliterating, the red-tape that’s been standing in the way of a romance. James reduces everything to the …
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A few years ago, the producer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Dernst Emile II, known as D’Mile, was on the verge of quitting the music business. He was writing and producing at the highest levels, and had been for more than a decade, landing credits on albums from Janet Jackson, Justin Bieber, Usher, and more. …
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R&B is wallowing in its past: It feels like nearly every commercially successful R&B single at the moment is built on a prominent sample or a conspicuous interpolation of an old hit. It’s not the act of sampling itself that’s troubling. The sampler is one of the more extraordinary inventions …
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Tinashe is no longer signed with the record label RCA, according to her longtime manager, Mike Nazzaro. Contrary to reports circulating on the internet, “she wasn’t dropped,” Nazzaro says. “We initiated for her to be released. It was a positive split for her. It’s giving her back creative control.” He …
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The 2010s haven’t been kind to Terius Nash, who releases music as The-Dream. He was once a first-call writer-producer entrusted with artists’ lead singles, thanks to his work on major hits for J. Holiday and Beyoncé; now he’s an album-cut guy. And after an initially successful solo career, Nash hasn’t …
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The R&B singer H.E.R. has never cracked the Top 25 on Billboard‘s Hot Hip-Hop/R&B Songs chart. But when she releases her debut album this fall, she can rest assured that plenty of listeners will be interested: She has already amassed more than a billion streams across various digital platforms. H.E.R.’s …
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Maxwell released “Shame,” which he described as “a modern love song,” on Friday. On his latest track, the veteran R&B singer croons about romance in the social media age — misunderstandings about Instagram comments and similar sources of angst for any plugged-in couple. “Social media has created an alternate world …
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In September 1998, Maxwell took the stage at the Lady of Soul Awards — an offshoot of the Soul Train Awards that celebrated the achievements of female artists — to perform “Matrimony: Maybe You,” the sly, funky second single from his Embrya album. Dressed in a straw hat and flowy …
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