R&B
James Blake Releases Studio Cover of Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed”: Stream
Earlier in the year, James Blake shared an intimate piano performance of Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed” on Instagram. Today, he’s released an official studio version of his cover. Blake is extremely familiar with the Blonde cut, considering he provided both production and arrangement for the track. He’s also been known to whip out his solo version during live shows. But he’s done something an extra special for this official version: He’s actually dyed his hair platinum blonde, so now he’s a blonde playing Blonde. Obviously, his take is very faithful to the one Ocean recorded, only without the studio flourishes. It’s as sparse and evocative as ever, though, as you can hear below, followed by the Blonde rendition for comparison’s sake. Via his Instagram, Blake has delivered a number of other ...
Alicia Keys Teams with NFL to Launch $1 Billion Endowment for Black Businesses and Communities
As America continues to wrestle with the systemic racism that to this day impacts millions of its citizens, the NFL is undergoing a reckoning of its own. After blackballing Colin Kaepernick for beginning the “take a knee” protests during the National Anthem, the league has been clawing its way back from a hole of racial insensitivity. The latest move comes in collaboration with Alicia Keys, who has agreed to perform at the NFL Kickoff event and is teaming with the league to create a $1 billion endowment fund for Black business and communities. In a statement to Billboard, Keys said she saw the collaboration as an opportunity to “use my platform to further racial equity.” She also penned a letter explaining her decision to take part in the Kickoff show, which airs tonight, September 10th, a...
Bilal Releases New Star-Studded Album VOYAGE-19: Stream
Veteran R&B and soul artist Bilal has returned with his first album in five years. Stream VOYAGE-19 below via Bandcamp. The long-awaited follow-up to 2015’s In Another Life was created over the course of just three days last month in partnership with Brooklyn-based studio HighBreedMusic. Joining the Grammy-winning musician remotely was a long list of special guests, who all recorded their parts in real time as part of a live event. Among those who participated: Erykah Badu, Robert Glasper, Nick Hakim, Cory Henry, Madison McFerrin, Marcus Strickland, and Jaime Woods. Ben Williams, Ray Angry, Brandee Younger, Marcus Gilmore, Louis Cato, and Melanie Charles also appear on the project. VOYAGE-19 is broken up into three separate parts, one for each day: “Day One – Warning-19”, “Day Two...
Sade Announce This Far Vinyl Box Set with All Six Albums
Sade Adu and her eponymous band have announced a new vinyl box set that collects every Sade album to date. The career-summing This Far will be available October 9th through Sony Music. Over six luscious LPs, Sade has written about the great human passions with disarming sincerity and a killer instinct for the smooth. The lady herself was always the star, ensnaring and elusive, with a rare gift for retaining her charms even as she maintained her privacy. But real ones know, Sade is a beloved band and not just a beloved singer, and the contributions of Stuart Matthewman (saxophone/guitar), Andrew Hale (keyboards), and Paul Spencer Denman (bass) should not be dismissed. Now, all six records — Diamond Life (1984), Promise (1985), Stronger Than Pride (1988), Love Deluxe (1992), Lovers Rock...
Song of the Week: SZA Simmers with Infatuation on Surprise Single “Hit Different”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify New Sounds playlist. Stardom didn’t come immediately for SZA, nor did she take a path most would associate with a typical rise to fame and fortune. Long before she began topping charts, earning Grammy noms, or collaborated with Kendrick Lamar on Consequence of Sound’s 2018 Song of the Year, “All the Stars” (from the Black Panther album), the singer-songwriter — raised orthodox Muslim and later studied as a marine biology major — was honing her craft, developing her voice, and slowly building a fan base and reputation. If industry stories are to be believed, SZA worked so hard and obsessively on her game-changing debut, 2017’s Ctrl, that her label final...
Saint Bodhi Pops Off on New Song “Gold Revolver”: Stream
Dual threat rapper/singer Saint Bodhi pops off on a cheating partner in the new song “Gold Revolver”. A former ghostwriter, the 27-year-old SoCal native earned her stripes collaborating with Beyoncé, Kevin Gates, Erykah Badu, A$AP Rocky, and more. Now a solo artist signed to Def Jam, she first made waves in August of 2019 with the hard-luck R&B of “FlowerChild”, and then returned in the spring of this year with the balls-to-the-wall banger “Bad Mood”. “Gold Revolver” is her most exciting release yet. Over haunting pipes and head-nodding drums, Saint Bodhi raps a tale of violent madness worthy of early Eminem. “Yo, I have a n—- hogtied to the furnace/ Bitch should’ve watched his words/ I’m slipping in my mental/ I’m whispering to the birds.” The narrator’s unfaithful partner is in for a...
SZA Drops Surprise New Song “Hit Different” with Ty Dolla $ign: Stream
SZA has returned with little forewarning to deliver a new song called “Hit Different”. Produced by The Neptunes and featuring Ty Dolla $ign singing the hook, the track marks SZA’s first single as a lead artist since dropping Ctrl in 2017. The smooth R&B tune sounds like a love song, but the thing that “hits different” is the heartbreak. “You’re a wild one/ And I’m wading in you like it’s cool water/ Like it’s cool when you pull up boo’d up with a new and it’s not me,” SZA sings. The cut is also something of a two-fer, as the back third feels like an entirely separate movement with its own lyrical flow and slower beat. The track comes equipped with a music video that happens to mark SZA’s directorial debut. Check it out below. “Hit Different” is the latest in a string of 2020 colla...
Actress Announces New Album Karma & Desire, Shares Sampha Collaboration “Walking Flames”: Stream
This past spring, electronic music producer Actress shared a mixtape called 88. Proving he’s not quite done with 2020, the English artist has now announced a new full-length album: Karma & Desire is expected to arrive next month through Ninja Tune. According to a cryptic statement, the upcoming LP is “a romantic tragedy set between the heavens and the underworld.” Its 17 songs are said to carefully examine “the same sort of things that I like to talk about – love, death, technology, the questioning of one’s being.” The producer born Darren J. Cunningham is assisted on the album by Zsela and Aura T-09. Mercury Prize-winning R&B crooner Sampha also appears, contributing to lead single “Walking Flames”. A meditative number featuring strings and mellow, muted percussion, today’s offeri...
The Weeknd Performs “Blinding Lights” High Above NYC to Kick Off 2020 MTV VMAs: Watch
The Weeknd has kept up a relentless schedule since dropping one of the year’s best albums so far in After Hours. Following a virtual concert on TikTok and collaborations with both Juice WRLD (“Smile”) and Calvin Harris (“Over Now”), the R&B singer also known as Abel Tesfaye took his magnetic energy to the 2020 MTV VMAs on Sunday night. The Canadian crooner kicked off the awards show with a high-flying performance of “Blinding Lights” from atop New York City’s Hudson Yards. He was even accompanied by a wave of fireworks. Watch him sing one of the best songs of 2020 below. Hosted by Keke Palmer, this year’s VMAs were originally supposed to take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. However, due to the ongoing pandemic, the evening’s performances were filmed with “limited or no audien...
FKA twigs Wields a Mighty Sword in New Video for “Sad Day”: Watch
Last year we saw FKA twigs master the art of pole dancing in her “Cellophane” video. In today’s newly unveiled clip for MAGDALENE single “Sad Day”, she shows off a newly acquired skill: sword fighting. Clocking in at over seven minutes, the visual follows twigs as she powerfully yet nimbly engages in sword combat with a dancer named Teake. Their duel begins in a restaurant before eventually spilling out into the dark and empty streets of London. At one point, the R&B singer is caught off guard and wounded, but then things take a dramatic sci-fi turn that we wouldn’t dare spoil. Watch below. The “Sad Day” video comes from director Hiro Murai, marking his first such project since Childish Gambino’s acclaimed “This is America”. He also worked with Donald Glover on the FX hit series A...
India Shawn and Anderson .Paak Are “Movin’ On” with New Single and Video: Stream
One of the smoothest voices in Los Angeles has linked up with one of the smokiest: India Shawn has shared her new song “Movin’ On” featuring Anderson .Paak. It comes with a wacky music video that marks .Paak’s directorial debut. A former member of the Full Circle songwriting team, Shawn is a veteran ghostwriter with cuts for Akon (“Take It Down Low”), Monica (“Without You”), Diddy & Dirty Money (“Your Love”), Chris Brown (“Trumpet Lights”), Keri Hilson (“Way You Love Me”), and more. Now, she’s focusing on her solo career. “Movin’ On’” features production from D’Mile and a beat made up of staccato bursts of horns. Lyrically, the song is a self pep talk. “I’m in my bag, sometimes it’s like that,” Shawn begins, “Get yourself out of the blues.” For his part, .Paak contributes jazzy r...
Disclosure Recruit Kehlani and Syd for New “Birthday” Single: Stream
Syd (photo by Alex Crick), Disclosure (photo by Hollie Fernando), and Kehlani (photo by David Brendan Hall) Later this week, Disclosure will finally unveil their first album in five years, ENERGY. But today, the UK electronic duo are offering fans one more preview in “Birthday”, an icy collaboration with Kehlani and Syd of The Internet. In some ways, the song feels like a spiritual cousin to Ariana Grande’s iconic ex-partner appreciation anthem, “thank u, next”. It’s all about toying with the idea of calling up an ex on their birthday to check in and see how they’re doing. Kehlani lays it out nicely during her verse: “I think it’s been good for us to stay up out of the way/ But it can’t hurt to check up on an ex, not to flex/ But to put the hurt to rest, put maturity to the test.” There’s ...
