rolling r&b 2026

2025 was a pretty strong year r&b-wise, and 2026 is looking to be great as well with projects to look forward to from:

Brent Faiyaz, Tinashe, Masego, Kehlani, Steve Lacy, 6LACK, Tyla, Ari Lennox, Victoria Monet, ELIZA, Thundercat, GENA, Erykah Badu, Frank Ocean, Beyoncé, Jordan Ward, Sasha Keable, Elmiene, Dawuna, Joyce Wrice, and Jill Scott, to name a few. also, the posthumous D'Angelo album.

Lfg 2026

some wishful thinking on there but yeah, excited to see where the genre goes this year

new Jill Scott single, "Beautiful People," produced by Om'Mas Keith of Sa-Ra:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Cq_ZqXbd8

serious Leon Ware circa-Musical Massagevibes on this. Album To Whom This May Concern is out on Feb. 13.

also feeling the new Tanerélle EP The Burnout:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D88jGluYuL0

pumped for new jill stein

amazing typo there haha

jill scott

loool

jill scott's new song is even better imo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBowZg7eOgY

like that new Jill

also feeling the new ELIZA single "Cheddar," seems to be continuing in a similar downtempo neo-soul style as her last album A Sky Without Stars, which I've returned to a lot since it's release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OsR8qsFXSc

and the haunted New Jack Swing vibe of Choker's new single "Proof":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqJyC1uQVS4

agreed, eliza's been so quietly great ever since sky without stars that i'm anticipating this new record pretty heavy. the previews have been satisfying so far.

Tanerélle's "Better Days" was on my top 50 for its year, and ELIZA has been a fave for the last half-decade, great to see them get some positivity here!

new Joyce Wrice single "Break Me In"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arcWYicGNSs

probably my favourite album released so far this year (not that there've been too many notable ones thus far, afaik) is Girlfriend's Honey Water which is a really enjoyable collection of classic, SZA-influenced R&B.

The singles include "Sticky Situation" and "Deep", but my faves are probably "Sideways":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmBCGCr7P0I

and "Blank Space":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr-HGgoOU5w

also, I'm really enjoying the D'Leesa song "Higher" that Tim mentioned at the end of the 2025 thread, though the mix / production is pretty rough (part of the point though, probably). I would say it sorta sounds like a dev hynes classic heard from another room but that's more likely to turn people away from it than onto it

I assume you mean "Highway" but otherwise :-)

ohh "higher" is the one i've latched on to but i see you didn't actually single that one out lol. anyway the whole record has a nice hazy summer gloaming vibe

enjoying the new ep by jaymin, especially this cut ("wamu")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A88eC0ztmOw

i have been meaning to post about this myself. really enjoyable project, hits some popular reference points (post-blonde ocean vocal manipulation, timbaland stutter drums) but in a way that still feels somewhat inspired to me & w/ enough good songwriting. "wamu" is great -- "smoke and mirrors" is a good example of what i'm talking about where you're getting pretty obvious "one in a million" references but the song unfolds in a way that transcends the touchpoints

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAFQf-Z7MVQ

Just catching up with this thread and I really like that Choker single!

https://stereogum.com/2492183/jack-harlow-explains-new-rb-era-i-got-blacker/news

Jack Harlow says he’s getting Blacker . Getting lots of grief for his phrasing now of that

i guess i am not too dissimilar from the general public in that i tolerate mr. harlow for a lil quick single here n there but uhhh shouldn't someone on his evidently savvy pr team (that hooked him up w/ nyt promo for the album launch) have informed him that 'neo soul' artists are generally expected to be able to... sing? reasonably well? that clip of him karaoke-crooning "can't help falling in love" immediately following the failed launch of one of his more recent doa singles was not sufficient to set this up

i listened to the single and it's really funny because he's trying really hard to work around having absolutely no vocal range

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8NEgqpsVgE

Brooklyn-based, DC alt-r& b singer rum.gold has a nice falsetto. Soft ballads w/ a bit of Moses Sumney & maybe even quieter Miguel songs

some of the rum.gold songs are a bit samey composition-wise

i've been enjoying justine skye's new EP CANDY this week, kaytranada / machinedrum assisted dance&b (sort of like a less icy Through The Wall)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vaiFDMHyLY

the Chxrry album is really good, I think "boring" is probably my favorite at the moment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOT9bqIQ55E

GENA - The Pleasure Is Yours

Kept coming back to this album, and now I'm giving in. It's dense like a night night party's density held together by a sultry groove.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEN8DCF0soY

absolutely love the gena album

rough pitchfork review for steve lacy, but i kinda liked this one more than any of his other solo albums. he can’t sing to save his life but “the feeling,” the song with sza, the 9-minute long one, are all top notch imo

i haven't listened to it yet but he's sort of the perfect pitchfork target -- a symbol of cool taste for normies who makes pretty simple music. however, based on my feeds, he does seem to be pretty meaningful to young people who are into R&B, and i was having a discussion irl w/ someone older who i trust who was telling me he's really into the album, so i was somewhat surprised to see that hard of a pan too

yeah I really like the Lacy album, more than anything he's released so far-- "the feeling" is one of my favorite singles this year, the track with Badu, "show you me," "lovesexdrugbomb," "nice shoes,"... very psychedelic.

alphonse pierre’s interview def seemed to come from a perspective of a disappointed fan

*review not interview

new odeal project is amazing

yeah this is fucking heat. def has grown beyond the afro-uk brent faiyaz label. immaculate production.

i think i'm gonna make a thread about it bcuz it's easily one of the best things (thing bcuz idk how you classify a 7 song 22 min body of work) i've heard all year