Browsing Tag

RnB Pop

bhxlu serenades novocaine in his melodically memorable hit, Wild

Posted on 7 April 2023

Indie RnB crooner bhxlu laid the laidback soul on thick in his latest single, Wild, which hit the airwaves on April 7th. The East London-hailing artist carries a fair amount of the dead innovative weight dropped by the rest of the contemporary RnB artists in the game with his fluidly smooth hit that pulls alt-pop, drill and trap tendencies into the colourfully sultry grooves.

With his tendency to mix dark themes with light instruments, you will always tune into a raw and real sonic rendezvous when immersing yourself in bhxlu’s innovation. Taking inspiration from Bryson Tiller, Chris Brown and The Weeknd could have resulted in an assimilated sound, but few artists hit the autonomous mark as distinctively as bhxlu, who never shies away from narrating toxic dynamics that are disturbingly rife in contemporary culture.

Stream Wild on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

ANGELCONCEPCION is emboldeningly iconic in her RnB Soul instant classic, Like I Was

Posted on 9 March 2023

Here to take to the sting out of retrospective romantic regret is the emboldening RnB icon, ANGELCONCEPCION, with her latest single, Like I Was.

The lyrics may not explicitly verse that deceit and someone degrading you to drag you down to their lowly levels happens to the best of us, but given the elegance and grace of every inch of this elevated instant classic, it’s heavily implied through ANGELCONCEPCION’s heavenly vocal beguile.

Fusing a modernist tonal palette while pulling at the roots of RnB and soul allowed the Philadelphia-residing Filipino artist to reach the crux of the contemporary curve before transcending it through her effortlessly flawless energy. The bluesy guitars shimmering behind the lush reverb is a lesson in aural intoxication. Grab a glass and get your fill.

Like I Was dropped on March 1st; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Two To Many epitomised decadent devotion in their modernist take on RnB, Fasho (Fall in Love)

Posted on 26 February 2023

Two To Many turned up the heat with their simmering amalgam of RnB, Hip-Hop and Pop, Fasho (Fall in Love). Capturing the unparalleled sensation of falling so deeply you see stars, Fasho isn’t a track you listen to; it is one you feel.

The single by the duo featuring the silky-smooth vocal timbre of Markus Shields leaves no room to wonder about the sincerity of the devotion projected through the ardently melodious grooves and the lyrics that flirt with salaciousness while rising above the lascivious fray.

The modernist spin on RnB may pay tribute to the roots of the genre, but the contemporary production styling allowed the duo to establish itself as one to watch while it brings in the future of the genre. The LA-based songwriter, dancer, choreographer and producer, Markus Shields is a soulful force to be reckoned with.

Fasho (Fall in Love) is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ninali reached the pinnacle of ‘Smooth’ in her latest feat of jazzy soul pop nostalgia

Posted on 17 February 2023
Ninali

There was no forgetting Ninali after hearing her affectionately wanderlust track, Tokyo, which hit the airwaves at the end of 2022. To start 2023 with a sultry bang, she’s amalgamated a sentimentally demure cocktail of pop, jazz and RnB.

The mid-tempo piece, Smooth, was co-produced by the legendary producer M. Shanks, who also applied their deft touch to the tantalising timbres in Tokyo, which marked the first release for Ninali in over a decade.

With Smooth, sensuously 80s-nostalgia-soaked instrumentals swell and tropically groove around the aphoristically harmonised vocal lines, which simultaneously put you in the mood while facilitating the purer purpose of reminding you how sweet it is to meet someone that defines serendipity. It is worth falling in love just to fully appreciate this delicious track.

Smooth will officially release on February 17th. Hear it on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Luchi shows us the weight of empty promises in his pop track, He Said

Posted on 14 January 2023
https://soundcloud.com/luchi_music/sets/me-tears-aint-strangers-ep/s-N5Bx3saLWtN?utm_source=mobi&utm_campaign=social_sharing&utm_terms=prohackedsounds.uploads_in_line&si=ef7e5578e2524059a7574798ac085d79

The Me + Tears Ain’t Strangers EP from the Glasgow-based Italian up-and-coming pop artist, Luchi is a meditation in mindful melancholy. The opening single, He Said, is the perfect introduction to the artist’s introspective candour that inspires empathy and reactive vulnerability in equal measure.

There’s nothing rawer than relaying all the empty promises when a relationship reaches an ennui-laden end, especially after we walked into the dynamic with hesitancy over vulnerability. When those red flags start to wave away every shallow word, we’re the ones left with the shame when it was never ours to carry. He Said stands as the ultimate affirmation of the disparity within romantic accountability.

Bringing new contemporary flair to the pop ballad, Luchi utilises climactic piano crescendos and tensile vocal progressions to stick to the roots before implanting modernist twists through the RnB nuances and utilisation of atmospheric reverb around the gently muted guitar strings that flow in synergy with the soft synths.

The Me + Tears Ain’t Strangers EP is due for official release on January 13th. Hear it on SoundCloud. Follow Luchi on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ozzie Aguilera channelled their natural sultry beguile into the dream pop fantasy of a resilience-advocating single, You Can’t Give Up

Posted on 18 December 2022

The autonomy advocator Ozzie Aguilera is a sonic vision in their latest jazzy RnB dream-pop single, You Can’t Give Up. The single testifies to the strength that everyone who goes against the heteronormative mould has to muster to stand a chance in a world that claims to celebrate individuality before beating down anyone that shines a little brighter than the rest.

The powerfully demure single extends the ‘haters gonna hate’ conversation to serve as a reminder that there will always be times when you feel like giving in, but relenting to that entropy will never be your only option.

The Mexican American singer-songwriter, makeup artist and entrepreneur may claim to strive for emotional expression over perfection; in my view, they’re a faultless pioneer who always leaves us arrested by their ethereal grace and natural sultry beguile.

You Can’t Give Up was officially released on December 9th. Hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ride the new wave of UK RnB with L’Rockett’s ‘Ain’t My Love Story

Posted on 12 December 2022

Cambridge, UK-hailing singer-songwriter and producer L’Rockett has pushed the envelope of RnB by writing his antithesis of a love letter, Ain’t My Love Story.

Fully owning up to the recklessly dumb assumptions that spring to mind every time someone causes our hearts to skip a beat, the RnB pioneer ripped up all of the fantastical tropes and refused to sell even more unrealistic romantic expectations to his listeners. In his track which melds elements of synth wave, alt-pop and neo-soul into the instrumentals that cradle his vulnerably inviting vocals, L’Rockett stands by his word of taking you to places you’ve never been before.

After making his debut, the exceptionally promising artist has been on heavy rotation on BBC Introducing, with his music being selected for ‘Track of the Day’. Perceptibly, the best is yet to come for the up-and-coming artist as he continues to say the unspoken and breaks boundaries with his sultry electro-pop RnB flavour.

Ain’t My Love Story is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ninali took us to Tokyo in her synaesthesia-inducing hyper-pop comeback 

Posted on 23 November 2022
Feel the neon glow of Tokyo in Ninali’s synaesthesia-inducing slice of hyper pop, which lit up the airwaves on November 11th. After squeezing inspiration from her trips across the world, Ninali has made a comeback after her wanderlust hiatus. Now residing in Spain to focus on her music career and to study music production, she’s projecting her sultry vocal timbre into her jazzy feats of RnB pop to share the exotic flavours she sampled.
Ninali made her first venture into the music industry aged 18 when she took Belgium by storm with her single, Lovedrunk, which scored her an indie record deal, national airplay and a spot on a compilation album curated by one of the biggest Belgian radio stations. With her sophomore single, she reached number 34 in the Belgian Ultratip charts and secured plenty of live dates. We’re stoked to have her demure soul and uplifting sound vivifying the UK music industry for the first time. She’s certainly not one to sleep on, especially if you are partial to serotonin spilling across your synapses.
Head to Tokyo on Spotify. 
Review by Amelia Vandergast

Magnus Ferrell put us on the same high with the hazy alt indie RnB pop vibes in ‘Love Drunk”

Posted on 21 November 2022

LA singer-songwriter, Magnus Ferrell, shared the intoxication with his latest single, Love Drunk. As it dropped, a new niche in alt indie-RnB-pop was carved. With Daft Punk-style galvanising highs written into the funky organic grooves, the pink, hazy euphoria comes at you in waves.

Part of Ferrell’s salaciously scintillating authenticity is owed to his jazz piano background. Partly due to his uninhibited boldness when harmonising his uplifting pop harmonies and his determination to make a serious impression on the industry. Given that he’s opening for The Psychedelic Furs in San Diego despite the drastic genre difference, it’s safe to say that he’s well on his way. We couldn’t be more stoked for him.

With the consistently infatuated themes of his singles in his short and sweet discography, you can’t help but get invested in what drops next, like it’s your brand-new binge-worthy Netflix series that you’d happily lose sleep for.

Love Drunk is now available to stream on Spotify. Stay tuned for fresh serenades by following Ferrell on Instagram & TikTok.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lia J sips bitter memories in her ground-breaking indie-RnB-pop single, Chardonnay

Posted on 19 November 2022

Indie RnB pop sensation, Lia J, oozed sophistication in the jazz-tinged melodies of her latest single, Chardonnay, which melancholically reflects on how a shift in dynamic can sour the sweetest of memories.

The soft bluesy instrumental layers cushion the blow of the bruisingly honest accounts of her new-found loneliness in the wake of heartbreak. We’ve all been there, bravely attempting to figure out how to find new meaning in our surrounds when all we can feel is the ghost of our former selves.

There’s a beautiful idea that we don’t really miss people; we miss the person we were with that person. Chardonnay reflects that sentiment with overwhelming soul. But even if Lia J was singing her shopping list, the effortless class in her semi-vibrato vocals would awaken your senses with the invigorating stir of her vocal timbre.

Chardonnay is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast