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.
― brains, washed (The Brainwasher), Thursday, 1 January 2026 20:25 (one month ago)
Lfg 2026
― ok (D-40), Thursday, 1 January 2026 22:16 (one month ago)
some wishful thinking on there but yeah, excited to see where the genre goes this year
― harper valley paul thomas anderson (voodoo chili), Thursday, 1 January 2026 22:18 (one month ago)
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
― brains, washed (The Brainwasher), Friday, 2 January 2026 22:44 (one month ago)
pumped for new jill stein
― harper valley paul thomas anderson (voodoo chili), Saturday, 3 January 2026 00:18 (one month ago)
amazing typo there haha
jill scott
loool
― dyl, Saturday, 3 January 2026 00:20 (one month ago)
jill scott's new song is even better imohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBowZg7eOgY
― harper valley paul thomas anderson (voodoo chili), Monday, 12 January 2026 18:32 (one month ago)
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
― brains, washed (The Brainwasher), Monday, 12 January 2026 22:28 (one month ago)
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.
― austinato (Austin), Monday, 12 January 2026 23:28 (one month ago)
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!
― Ben Gibbard and the Libbard Wibbard (Prefecture), Tuesday, 13 January 2026 02:56 (one month ago)
new Joyce Wrice single "Break Me In"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arcWYicGNSs
― brains, washed (The Brainwasher), Monday, 26 January 2026 00:33 (two weeks ago)
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
― monotony, Friday, 6 February 2026 01:39 (one week ago)
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
― monotony, Friday, 6 February 2026 04:17 (one week ago)
I assume you mean "Highway" but otherwise :-)
― Tim F, Friday, 6 February 2026 06:35 (one week ago)
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
― monotony, Friday, 6 February 2026 07:19 (one week ago)