When Anthony Hamilton, one of the last mainstream singers working in the Southern soul tradition, releases his eighth studio album in 2021, it will mark the first time that the 49-year-old R&B veteran owns the rights to his music. “We’ve thought about this day since 2005,” says Eli Davis, Hamilton’s …
Read More »The Rebirth of SZA
It’s past midnight at SZA’s home in Los Angeles when she disappears to retrieve her set of sound bowls. There’s a car arriving in just under three hours to take her to the airport, where she’ll be catching a 6 a.m. flight to Hawaii, but she’s not concerned about her …
Read More »Trey Songz's Surprise Album Shows the R&B Singer's Dilemma
At midnight on Tuesday, R&B singer Trey Songz released a new double album to celebrate his 34th birthday. There is a whole lot of music here: 10 slow and sweaty numbers with only Songz (titled 11), followed by 10 more slow and sweaty numbers with collaborators ranging from Swae Lee …
Read More »Song You Need to Know: Luke James, 'These Arms'
Louisiana-born crooner Luke James has appeared on a slew of great singles this year thanks to his star turn in the soapy Empire spinoff Star; he joined the cast in season two as comeback-trail-riding bad boy Noah Brooks, whose trip back to the top of R&B’s heap caused chaos even …
Read More »Song You Need to Know: Esnavi, 'The Way'
Radio’s reluctance to take a chance on unknown, independent acts is almost cliche at this point: The airwaves are dominated by a few major-label records that are played into the ground. But along comes Esnavi, whose independently-released “The Way” is getting played by two brave R&B stations, WBLS in New …
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