The Return of
Banned
or is it just me?
For the past few years, R&B was pretty much dominated by Trey Songz, Ne-Yo, and Usher. Their output has been pretty average to just bad as well. Trey Songz just comes off as too much as a low budget R. Kelly to me. Ne-Yo can make great singles without a doubt, but his last two albums I thought had pretty bad singles and his albums weren't good either. Not to mention Ne-Yo has the nerve to accuse other R&B singers for selling out to Europop when his singles does the exact same thing. Then, there's Usher who just makes forgettable stuff in the past few years as well, but of course he still sells.
R&B just felt like it was stagnant, like there was no one shaking up the game really and forcing other singers to step it up. There's definitely The Dream who makes really really great albums, but for whatever reason his albums don't really catch everyone's attention.
Now all of a sudden this year it seems like people have really started to try harder with their music. I think this is the best year R&B has had in a long time and who do I believe I need to thank for it? Frank Ocean and The Weeknd.
Both artist dropped free albums last year that caught a lot of singers' attention and the production of their material was pretty different. Frank Ocean didn't have the most original production, but in comparison to what R&B was sounding like for the past few years, it made his stuff sound really fresh. Not to mention dude is a great songwriting and has some great lyrics. You can say the exact same thing with The Weeknd but I'd say his production was way much more original and out of the box. While The Weeknd's songwriting wasn't all that great during House of Balloons, I believe he improved quickly by the time Echoes of Silence came out. It showed that he might has what it takes to be a great(Although I absolutely love EoS).
Now maybe I am jumping the gun a bit with that and feel free to disagree with me, but I do believe they played a big part in making others' step up their game.
So here we are in 2013 the R&B albums/mixtapes that I've enjoyed.
Jeremih - Late Nights With Jeremih
This was quite a surprise from me. He kind of channels chocolate factory era R. Kelly so expect this to have a bit of a party vibe to it though not as smooth or catchy
Sample Track
This is a free mixtape/album so feel free just to get it here and post what you think
Arima Ederra – Earth To Arima
Really if you are into Erykah Badu and Lauren Hill then you should definitely check this out. Has a really chill vibe to it.
Sample Track
This is also a free mixtape/album so again feel free to just get it here and post what you think.
Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
Probably surprise of the year for me. I always thought Miguel made catchy music, but I often found him to be a bit too cheesy for me. I think he found a great balance on this album though.
Sample Track
Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE
Great album. It definitely seems to be a love/hate type of thing. It's a very mellow album and the production doesn't stand out as much which wouldn't be a bad thing if Frank Ocean actually put his all into singing like he does on songs like Bad Religion, but regardless it's an album I think any R&B fan should check it.
Sample Track
Elle Varner - Perfectly Imperfect
Don't let Refill fool you into believing this chick can't sing. She truly has a beautiful voice and the point of Refill is for her voice to sound like she is pain.
Sample Track
Usher - Looking 4 Myself
This is without a doubt Usher's strongest album in who knows how the fuck long. Some pretty interesting electronic production too. Works really a lot better than I expected.
Sample Track
There are definitely even more stuff this year that makes me feel this way, but I feel it'd be cool if others posted R&B albums they've really enjoyed this year or I'd just make separate posts with other albums.
2013 is sounding like it could be a great year as well. D'angelo is said to drop an album sometime soon and while I still cannot get into VooDoo, I can't help but get excited. I figure The Weeknd will drop an album that year too since he didn't drop anything this year but a re-release.
There's also this singer I found called Kat Dhalia that is signed to Epic Records that might drop an album in 2013. She has an incredible voice too, check out her single. I love it a lot.
Feel free to disagree!
For the past few years, R&B was pretty much dominated by Trey Songz, Ne-Yo, and Usher. Their output has been pretty average to just bad as well. Trey Songz just comes off as too much as a low budget R. Kelly to me. Ne-Yo can make great singles without a doubt, but his last two albums I thought had pretty bad singles and his albums weren't good either. Not to mention Ne-Yo has the nerve to accuse other R&B singers for selling out to Europop when his singles does the exact same thing. Then, there's Usher who just makes forgettable stuff in the past few years as well, but of course he still sells.
R&B just felt like it was stagnant, like there was no one shaking up the game really and forcing other singers to step it up. There's definitely The Dream who makes really really great albums, but for whatever reason his albums don't really catch everyone's attention.
Now all of a sudden this year it seems like people have really started to try harder with their music. I think this is the best year R&B has had in a long time and who do I believe I need to thank for it? Frank Ocean and The Weeknd.
Both artist dropped free albums last year that caught a lot of singers' attention and the production of their material was pretty different. Frank Ocean didn't have the most original production, but in comparison to what R&B was sounding like for the past few years, it made his stuff sound really fresh. Not to mention dude is a great songwriting and has some great lyrics. You can say the exact same thing with The Weeknd but I'd say his production was way much more original and out of the box. While The Weeknd's songwriting wasn't all that great during House of Balloons, I believe he improved quickly by the time Echoes of Silence came out. It showed that he might has what it takes to be a great(Although I absolutely love EoS).
Now maybe I am jumping the gun a bit with that and feel free to disagree with me, but I do believe they played a big part in making others' step up their game.
So here we are in 2013 the R&B albums/mixtapes that I've enjoyed.
Jeremih - Late Nights With Jeremih
This was quite a surprise from me. He kind of channels chocolate factory era R. Kelly so expect this to have a bit of a party vibe to it though not as smooth or catchy
Sample Track
This is a free mixtape/album so feel free just to get it here and post what you think
Arima Ederra – Earth To Arima
Really if you are into Erykah Badu and Lauren Hill then you should definitely check this out. Has a really chill vibe to it.
Sample Track
This is also a free mixtape/album so again feel free to just get it here and post what you think.
Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
Probably surprise of the year for me. I always thought Miguel made catchy music, but I often found him to be a bit too cheesy for me. I think he found a great balance on this album though.
Sample Track
Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE
Great album. It definitely seems to be a love/hate type of thing. It's a very mellow album and the production doesn't stand out as much which wouldn't be a bad thing if Frank Ocean actually put his all into singing like he does on songs like Bad Religion, but regardless it's an album I think any R&B fan should check it.
Sample Track
Elle Varner - Perfectly Imperfect
Don't let Refill fool you into believing this chick can't sing. She truly has a beautiful voice and the point of Refill is for her voice to sound like she is pain.
Sample Track
Usher - Looking 4 Myself
This is without a doubt Usher's strongest album in who knows how the fuck long. Some pretty interesting electronic production too. Works really a lot better than I expected.
Sample Track
There are definitely even more stuff this year that makes me feel this way, but I feel it'd be cool if others posted R&B albums they've really enjoyed this year or I'd just make separate posts with other albums.
2013 is sounding like it could be a great year as well. D'angelo is said to drop an album sometime soon and while I still cannot get into VooDoo, I can't help but get excited. I figure The Weeknd will drop an album that year too since he didn't drop anything this year but a re-release.
There's also this singer I found called Kat Dhalia that is signed to Epic Records that might drop an album in 2013. She has an incredible voice too, check out her single. I love it a lot.
Feel free to disagree!
