R&B Wants To Make Pop Music Fun Again
Welcome to****Listening Habits,_ a column where I share the music I’ve been fixated on recently._
R&B in the 21st century has been in a constant state of flux, tugged between safe traditionalism and blurry attempts at progression. For the last decade-plus, that "progression" has seen R&B music become more indebted to trap records and the moody atmospherics of alternative bands like Radiohead, Coldplay, or My Bloody Valentine. These attempts at innovation and relevance have made for interesting music, but they have also created a lot of stale stuff that has no real point of view beyond the tastes of a particular artist/ producer. Even worse, much of it has been channeled into what has been termed "Toxic R&B," a sub-genre that mostly involves men crooning delicately about their inability to be good partners. In a time when rap has become the center of pop music, it seems to be the easiest way by which men (usually men) who sing can still affect the machismo of rap, despite not actually rapping.
Discussion in the ATmosphere