Welcome to the Soulpolitan weekly feature, where we highlight the R&B singles worth your time. The whole show is R&B and all love songs‚ though not one of them would survive a Valentine’s Day playlist without an explanation․ There’s a duet based on a plane ticket‚ a Grammy winner counting her grievances two weeks after her wedding‚ a British singer trying to convince somebody to love themselves‚ a fake breakup call that turns into a bounce‚ and an Oakland PhD candidate who recorded the simplest four words in the language to tape and made them sound brand new․
Lucky Daye & Leon Thomas, “Fly U Out”
How many R&B duets between two men still bother to make a case for showing up? Not texting‚ not FaceTiming‚ not sending a playlist with a fire emoji attached․ The supposed second single off Lucky’s Warner Records debut is a question from so long ago it could have been pulled from a Jodeci lyric sheet․ Lucky frames it around a plane ticket and runs through an itemized complaint about digital intimacy: “All of these texts ain’t enough/All of these pictures/Just because I ain’t witchu․” Leon Thomas pulls into the second verse with the confidence of an older man playing both sides of the transaction and sweetly commercializing Lucky’s transaction: “Hair and nails done‚ that’s child’s play/Baby‚ we grown/These your investments‚ not handbags/Baby you put ‘em on․” Co-produced by Bizness Boi‚ Blake Straus‚ Derelle Rideout‚ Kofo‚ Kvrim and Mike Hunnid‚ the basic bed is guitar‚ piano and finger snaps; at the one-third mark‚ the track’s heavy rhythm section kicks in․ While there’s a bit of Thomas here and there‚ a few bars don’t make this a summer standby․ —Jamila W.
Coco Jones, “Love Me Through”
Coco Jones has been making the rounds since marrying Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell in a private August ceremony. The wedding clip, of course, went viral across every platform and no doubt spawned many fan edits pairing the vows with her previous discography. In her first single since eloping with her NBA sweetheart, her first single since her recent (forced) “Body So Tea,” Jones, via a Menardini “Bridge” Timothee production, delivers “Love Me Through.” The song plunges us directly into the rather uneventful middle stages of a committed relationship. “Through the shit your aunty said behind my back/Through the exes in our phone we don’t respond to that”—it’s the latter sentiment she saved for the bridge and the segment where her voice truly cuts deepest since Why Not More? Of all the reasons we can fall in love, she opts for no-frills devotion here, never floaty above the material, sticking closer to the words, tallying a list of grievances like you might count those late at night on the couch with someone you’ve already decided to stay with. The “good, bad, and ugly” hook could’ve veered into a mawkish place, but Jones lands it with an all-inclusive, worn-in-but-not-broken tone indicating she loves him completely. —Jhanel
Sinéad Harnett, “Love You”
At this point in her over-a-decade career on the outskirts of mainstream R&B, you probably can’t spell London-born Thai-Irish, now L.A.-based singer Sinéad Harnett’s name (but hey, you know her work with Disclosure, KAYTRANADA, and Snakehips). Her latest, co-produced by Monro and Smile High, opens with an idea as hackneyed as anything a self-help influencer can tweet: ‘Just love yourself,’ she sings, and promptly pivots into the realm of those who actively cannot: “Reframe the things that you tell yourself/I know they just ain’t true.” Then, “Everyone struggles, everyone doubts/It’s in your nature to put yourself down,” sounds very Hallmark-y on the page. But the second verse elevates it, moving Harnett beyond uplift to engagement: “Even if you hate your reflection/Baby, let me be your redemption/You don’t have to put up defenses with me.” Following three albums and a trove of backward-reaching features, she’s still making music for an audience that’s discovered her late and is sticking around. This tune is certainly worth theirs. —Phil
Parisalexa, “HONEYMOON”
Paris Alexa Williams wrote for Ciara and Normani before releasing a single under her name․ She signed to Kobalt Publishing at 20‚ and her Songland demo was called the best song of an entire season by Billboard․ The Seattle-raised singer is now 28‚ and on her second single‚ she opens with a fake phone argument: voices snapping‚ someone calling the other childish‚ a quick “I love you” lobbed in before the dial tone‚ and then a bounce that turns every complaint into foreplay․ The hook (“We fight‚ we fuss‚ but that’s just us/Yeah‚ that’s the way we do”) forms the centerpiece of the album track “HONEYMOON”; she told ESSENCE in a recent interview that the title was inspired by a wish to write against the idea that a honeymoon phase should be permanent‚ because “Relationships and love is something that you have to constantly work at‚ and that’s the beauty in it․” The intro skit‚ which becomes increasingly ridiculous‚ does for the track what a Brandy interlude used to do for an album․ —Jamila W.
Dani Offline, “Reasons”
The Birmingham‚ Alabama singer/producer is pursuing a PhD in Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley‚ and is sold out four nights in a row at SFJAZZ․ She describes herself on her Substack bio as a “songwriter‚ producer‚ human girl”, and writes her songs the same way she writes her essays: super slowly‚ by hand‚ with tape instead of plugins․ Her new single‚ co-produced with her longtime collaborator Will Henley-Dias‚ begins with a confession so plainly stated it could be a diary entry read aloud: “Thinking too much/So I try to tell you/What I’m feeling/And reasons I’m used to․” A warm acoustic and patient low-end groove accompany “I can’t explain it‚ I just love you” sung four times at the end․ Dani grew up in Alabama and Italy․ Before she made beats‚ she studied jazz standards‚ and you can hear the influence of Sarah Vaughan and Betty Carter in the way that she holds a phrase loose enough that it almost slips off the rhythm․ Is there a version of R&B right now that’s this quiet and still has something left to say? —Tori Hammond
R&B, Soul, or Blues Albums to Check Out
Jorja Smith: What Are the Odd
Cleo Sol: Gentlewoman
Eric Bellinger: Eric Bellinger
Ruth B.: Peace to Make
Houston Kendrick: Portrait of a Boy on Fire
Zenesoul: Under the Same Sky
threetwenty: Separate from the Noise (Side B)
Keb’ Mo’: The Breakdown
the della kit: Dreams Speaking in Colour
Manana: it really isn’t what it is
SZN4: I Fear...
Leon Bridges: Happiness Anytime: Part 2 (EP)
Ballad: Soul-Fi, Vol. 2 (EP)
OLA: ME VS ME (EP)
PARTYNEXTDOOR: PARTYNEXTDOOR 3 (P3) [10-YEAR EDITION]
BJRNCK: A Girl Like Me (Deluxe)
Other Songs to Check Out
Mariah Carey & Rochelle Jordan: Didn’t Mean to Turn You On
Miles Caton: Lean On
Jack Freeman: Me & U
Phabo & OMGKENNEDY: Bet It Up
SHERIE: BON BAGAY
Orla Rae: Hindsight
NNAVY: Late Nights
Tmera: No Games
CARI: The Dealer
Ann Marie: Drunkin’ Love
Girlfriend: All of the Above
E. Lundquist & Kendra Morris: Wishing
Maverick Sabre: Moody (Interlude)
Ye Ali: U Still Up
sunandmoon: Circles
Samant & Lou Val: Preacherman
Nani Goins: Repeat
Majid Jordan: Two Roads
2BYG & Tahjaee: WYW (Remix)
Chaka Khan: Curious Subject
Q Parker: Stare
Jalisa Rey: Just Like That
Aaron Page & Hydra: Or What
Liana Banks: Touchy Feely
Sinéad Harnett: Love You
Chikoruss: I Know
Kareen Lomax: WARFARE
Naliyah: Open Cards
KAMAUU: THE DANCE
LAUREN FAITH: Garden of Desire
JayMin: Rollin
Sophia Bromberg: There She Glows Again
lordkez & Kwesta: 4SHO
M’lynn: COLOR
Avehre: Push It
Henry Verus: Girls Like You / The Coda
OVI WOOD: Heartless
Nia Smith: High (Mahogany Sessions)
MAJOR.: May This Moment Never End
Lex Aura: Still
JayDon: Summer Nights
Devin Donnell: WAIT
DCMBR: FINEWOMAN
Oranj Goodman: Wolf
RealestK: Bad
Eric IV: Amnesia