R&B
Arlo Parks Announces Debut Album Collapsed in Sunbeams, Shares “Green Eyes”: Stream
20-year-old British singer Arlo Parks has announced her debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams. It arrives January 29th, 2021, and to herald its release, she’s shared the new single “Green Eyes”, featuring vocals from Clairo. Parks has developed a reputation as your favorite songwriter’s favorite songwriter, with co-signs from Billie Eilish, Phoebe Bridgers, and Florence Welsh. Her breathy voice and sensitive lyrics create an atmosphere of vulnerability. To listen to her songs is to be transported to a specific place and time: listening to a friend’s problems over Taco Bell, or trying to get a depressed person out of their bedroom. That immediacy is why her first album-length statement has developed such a buzz. In a statement, Parks explained the goals for Collapsed in Sunbeams,...
Tayla Parx Reveals New Song “Residue”: Stream
Ghostwriter turned solo artist Tayla Parx has shared the new song “Residue”. It’s the latest single from her forthcoming album Coping Mechanisms, which drops on November 20th. After penning hits for Ariana Grande, BTS, Janelle Monáe, and Panic! at the Disco, Parx experienced a breakthrough in 2019 with her debut album We Need to Talk. But success comes with stress, and as the title of Coping Mechanisms implies, the songwriter has spent the last year working on herself. “Residue” wrestles with unhealthy attractions. Parx sings, “Baby you’re a thought/ A thought that’s stuck to me like glue/ No matter what I do/ You leave your residue (doo doo).” In a statement, she explained the impetus to write “Residue” and analyzed her own “avoidant” behaviors. She said, ‘It’s about one of thos...
The Weeknd Officially Releases Saxy New “In Your Eyes” Remix Featuring Kenny G: Stream
The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” may be one of the best songs of 2020, but it’s the After Hours single “In Your Eyes” that’s extra sax-y — quite literally. Today, the R&B superstar has shared a new remix of “In Your Eyes” featuring the one and only saxophone legend Kenny G. The unlikely collaborators first debuted a version of this rework at last month’s TIME 100 event, where The Weeknd was honored as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. While that live rendition saw Kenny G lend a silky instrumental outro, this official studio release of the remix features two additional solos from the jazz musician and Kanye West associate. We never would have guessed we’d be mentioning The Weeknd and Kenny G in the same breath — they each offer their own very different vision of “sexy mu...
Stevie Wonder Launches His Own Record Label, Releases Two New Songs: Stream
Even as he enters his seventh decade on this planet, Stevie Wonder continues to reinvent himself. The legendary singer-pianist has launched his own record label, So What’s the Fuss Music, which he’s christening today with the release of two new songs. After spending his entire career with Motown Records, Wonder launched So What’s the Fuss Music in partnership with Republic Records. The label takes its name from Wonder’s 2005 collaboration with Prince. For the label’s inaugural release, Wonder has dropped a two-song single. The first, “Can’t Put It in the Hands of Fate”, features contributions Rapsody, Cordae, Chika, and Busta Rhymes. The second, “Where Is Our Love Song”, is a collaboration with Gary Clark Jr. Both songs were made with the hope of providing “instruction and inspiration...
FKA twigs Says She Made a “Whole Album in Quarantine”
Fans had to cool their heels for five years between 2014’s LP1 and 2019’s MAGDALENE, but the wait for FKA twigs’ third album is already nearing its end. In a recent interview, the British songwriter said that she made a “whole album in quarantine.” The news came in conversation with Scott Goldman as part of the Grammy Museum’s Programs at Home. Early on in the pandemic, twigs acknowledged “struggling a little bit to find my rhythm.” A professional dancer before she was a professional musician, twigs missed going to dance studios and pushing her body to its limits. But she eventually settled in, finding a songwriting routine over FaceTime. She explained, “In the beginning of the quarantine I was struggling a little bit to find my rhythm, because I love to train, I love to go to da...
Kali Uchis Shares Spanish-Language Single “La Luz”: Stream
Over the summer, Kali Uchis shared the Rico Nasty collaboration “Aquí Yo Mando”. The track found Uchis singing mostly in Spanish for the first time, and it looks like we can expect a lot more bilingual lyrics from the Colombian-American artist. She’s today shared “La Luz”, the second single from her forthcoming sophomore full-length, which is said to be “her first Spanish language project.” “La Luz” — which translates simply to “the light” — features a guest verse from Puerto Rico singer-songwriter Jhay Cortez alongside production from Tainy. The Latin vibes are strong with this one, bouncing slowly on a sweaty beach groove. Like “Aquí Yo Mando” before it, the track finds Uchis making it very clear who’s in control. “You or if it’s not me/ We’re going to turn the lights off/ And we’re goin...
Win Sade’s Career-Spanning This Far Vinyl Box Set
It’s been a full decade since Sade released a new album. Now, as 2010’s Soldier of Love hits its 10th anniversary, fans will get a chance to revisit it alongside the band’s entire discography in the new This Far vinyl box set. Arriving October 9th through Sony Music, This Far features every Sade album released, well, this far: Diamond Life (1984), Promise (1985), Stronger Than Pride (1988), Love Deluxe (1992), Lovers Rock (2000), and Soldier of Love. But this isn’t just any set of standard reissues, as the music underwent a unique remastering process. It all began at the legendary Abbey Road Studios, where Sade worked alongside frequent co-producer Mike Pela and engineer Miles Showell to make digital transfers of the original stereo master mixes. Those mixes were then put into a restored N...
Zayn Unveils New Single “Better”: Stream
Zayn has returned with his first solo single in two years, “Better”. This is the first preview of his forthcoming third album, the follow-up to 2018’s Icarus Falls. “Better” is a velvety R&B love jam about the sexiest thing there is: open communication. Zayn asks his lover to express her negative emotions now, rather than waiting for the problem to get worse. “Why? Why wait to fight?” he croons, later wondering, “Can we save tears in your eyes?” The music video was directed by Ryan Hope and the concept seems simple enough: Zayn starts out shirtless, and then he gets dressed in slow motion. But there are also brief cutaways to people watching him through binoculars or listening to tape recordings, which suggest that the pop star might be under surveillance. Paparazzi? Foreign ...
H.E.R. Is First Black Female Artist to Launch Fender Signature Guitar
Two-time Grammy-winner H.E.R. is the first Black female artist to launch a Fender Signature Guitar in the company’s 74-year history. H.E.R. first revealed the new axe in her performance Sunday at the 2020 Primetime Emmy Awards. During the “In Memorium” segment, she covered Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U”, ripping through a flawless guitar solo in the process. Now, that same model can be yours for $1,099. The H.E.R. signature Stratocaster comes with an alder body that’s finished with a new iridescent color, which Fender is calling Chrome Glow. It features a modern oval “C”-neck shape, which should be comfortable for most hand sizes, as well as Fender’s Vintage Noiseless pickups that promise a clean, well-defined tone. The custom neck plate is engraved with H.E.R.’s artwork. In a statement, ...
R.I.P. Pamela Hutchinson, The Emotions Singer Dies at 61
Pamela Hutchinson, a member of the famed R&B trio The Emotions, died Friday (September 18th) at the age of 61. A post on The Emotions’ Facebook page confirmed the news on Sunday. “In loving memory, we are saddened to announce the passing of our sister, Pamela Rose Hutchinson,” read the posting. “Pam succumbed to health challenges that she’d been battling for several years. Now our beautiful sister will sing amongst the angels in heaven in perfect peace.” Hutchinson’s sisters Wanda, Jeanette, and Sheila began performing gospel music as the Hutchinson Sunbeams in the early ’60s. By the end of the decade, though, they’d pivoted to making soul and disco music as The Emotions, releasing their Isaac Hayes/David Porter-produced debut in 1969. The Chicago-based girl group found relative fame i...
Jamila Woods Shares New Version of “SULA (Hardcover)”: Stream
Last month saw Jamila Woods return with “SULA (Paperback)”, her first new music since releasing one of 2019’s best albums, LEGACY! LEGACY!. Now, she’s shared a different version of the track, appropriately called “SULA (Hardcover)”. Inspired by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison’s 1973 novel of the same name, “SULA” finds Woods rejecting conventional ideas of identity in order to “embrace my tenderness, my sensitivities, my ways of being in my body.” Whereas the “Paperback” version did this as a peaceful mantra, the “Hardcover” take features a more sensual grove. With a silky beat from Slot-A, “SULA (Hardcover)” fully embodies the sexuality at the song’s core. As does the accompanying music video. The clip would be labeled slightly NSFW in normal days, but let’s be real, this is a pa...
Blood Orange Teams Up with 박혜진 Park Hye Jin for New Song “CALL ME (Freestyle)”: Stream
Blood Orange (photo by Ben Kaye) and 박혜진 Park Hye Jin (photo courtesy of artist’s Bandcamp) Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes, has teamed up with Los Angeles experimental pop musician 박혜진 Park Hye Jin for a new song titled “CALL ME (Freestyle)”. The track marks his first Blood Orange release since guesting on The Avalanches collaboration “We Will Always Love You” back in February. Today’s so-called “freestyle” falls somewhere between a remix and an interpolation of Park’s original “CALL ME” from 2019. Hynes alternately raps and sings over that song’s weary, lo-fi piano beat for a while, and then Park pops in later for her own verse. The collaborative track is accompanied by a video featuring footage that Hynes shot while wandering around New York City in March. It pairs perfectly wi...
