Five R&B Songs That Won’t Leave Your Head (And Shouldn’t)
Joyce Wrice, Cleo Sol, Leven Kali, Moonchild, and Devin Morrison made the best R&B of the week. Plus, more R&B that sits with you.
Welcome to the weekly Soulpolitan feature, where we highlight a handful of new tracks catching our attention, along with others you should check out. This is the week where we tell you what’s worth hearing. This week it’s Joyce Wrice finally coming back with something short and tight, Cleo Sol stepping outside SAULT to talk to God on her own terms, Leven Kali telling you to breathe while feeling like Michael Jackson after releasing a slept-on EP, Moonchild and PJ Morton meeting fear at the door instead of pretending it's not there, and Devin Morrison doing church with no congregation. Five songs, no filler, all worth the time.
Joyce Wrice, “Break Me In”
Malik Ninety Five and Mike Baretz built her a beat that knocks like Amerie’s debut era (“Why Don’t We Fall in Love” in particular), all breezy strings and drums that pop without crowding. Joyce Wrice waited years to step back out front. She spent them showing up on Jordan Ward tracks, Mahalia tracks, doing the JD Sports and Gap thing, keeping her name moving without leading with it. The Motive EP came out in 2022 with a KAYTRANADA production on “Iced Tea,” and then silence. Now she's back with her first solo lead since then, and she's not asking for anything. She’s telling. “When I touch myself, it’s not the same/I need you to break me in/Don’t make me wait.” She says what she wants and moves on. Wrice keeps her voice airy, floating on top of the production, but there's nothing soft about what she’s saying. She wants something specific from another body, something she can't give herself. The song runs under three minutes and she doesn't hedge or soften the request once. She told Rated R&B back when Overgrown dropped that she uses studio sessions to put her feelings into song form, taking what she writes in her journal and building it into music. “Break Me In” sounds like a page ripped straight out. — Kendra Vale
Cleo Sol, “Nothing Is Impossible With You”
The same month SAULT dropped Chapter 1, here comes Cleo Sol with a solo single. Her husband, Inflo, produced both. At this point the line between what belongs to the collective and what belongs to her keeps getting thinner, and maybe that’s the point. On “Nothing Is Impossible With You,” she strips the arrangement down to piano, live drums, and arrangements that only show up when they earn their spot. The sound shares DNA with SAULT’s meditative streak, but the focus here narrows to one voice asking for help. She names God directly in the lyrics, so there’s no ambiguity about the “you” in question. “I’ve got to get over my own doubt/And control the words out my own mouth/I put my faith in You/Nothing is impossible with You.” Her voice catches on certain syllables like she’s still working through the thought while she sings it. The production refuses to crowd her. This is her first solo material since “Fear When You Fly” in late 2024, and it lands in the same territory—spare, unhurried, pointing upward. Although the snippet sounds better than the actual recording, it’s well-needed for the times we’re in. — Phil
Leven Kali, “BREATHE!”
Scroll through the credits on Beyoncé’s Renaissance and Cowboy Carter and you’ll find Leven Kali’s name. He co-wrote “Bodyguard” on the album that won Album of the Year at the Grammys last year. He’s got four Grammy nominations from working in her orbit. Meanwhile, his own solo catalog went quiet (maybe) after the LK99: The Prelude, not too long ago, a six-track Def Jam project he put out after we thought we were getting a full-length album. He talked about how watching people listen to that Beyoncé album from front to back at parties inspired him to chase the same infectious energy in his own work. “BREATHE!” suggests he finally kept the best hook for himself: “Just breathe/Nothing left to do but go deep/Just breathe/Nothing left to prove, you got me/Let go, make the time move slow.” The funk groove keeps moving, which is reminiscent of Michael Jackson, while the lyrics tell you to stop. He sings about finishing something already started, calling a car, and closing his eyes. Where’s the new album, Kali? — Jamila W.
Moonchild, “Fear (Hey Friend)” feat. PJ Morton
You know the feeling when you’re about to do something that matters and suddenly your chest tightens. Your hands get cold. That thing you thought you’d outgrown shows up uninvited, settles in the room like it never left. Moonchild’s Amber Navran opens this song by greeting that feeling directly. “Hey friend/I was hoping not to see you again/But I'm old enough to know when I do/I’m on the right track.” The trio’s sixth album (Waves) drops in February, and they’re calling it their most personal work yet—grief, healing, resilience, moving with life instead of against it. They recorded it in person with collaborators after years of remote sessions, and you can hear that warmth in the track. PJ Morton slides in alongside their horn-and-synth arrangements without disrupting anything, just another voice in the room agreeing with what's being said. The band cited an old saying as inspiration: “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” The song acknowledges the fear, nods at it, and keeps walking toward wherever it was already going. — Murffey Zavier
Devin Morrison, “Pump the Blood”
Devin Morrison grew up in Orlando, the son of David “Dah-Vi” Morrison, who played alongside his siblings in the ‘70s Chicago gospel outfit the Morrison Echoes. His grandmother made him take piano lessons. By his teens he was making hip-hop beats with his brothers. He studied music composition at Oakwood University in Alabama, sang in the Aeolians choir, and then moved to Tokyo to teach English. He got fired, then sold beats to Fitz Ambro$e and Budamunk to make rent. Eventually he landed in Los Angeles and put out Bussin’ in 2019 on Onra’ s NBN label, a debut album dipped in ‘90s gospel and R&B with features from Grammy-nominated group KING, Daz Dillinger, and Joyce Wrice. His father and his brother Lakks Mable sang on it too. He opened for Moonchild on tour. That’s the winding road that leads to “Pump the Blood,” a track he described simply: “I wrote this amidst the toil of complicated emotions and insufferable logic. Sometimes the heart gets curious and the mind gets annoyed." The song sits in that warm, slightly grainy pocket he’s been claiming since Bussin’, working through what happens when your head and your chest stop agreeing with each other. — Brandon O’Sullivan
R&B Albums Released This Week to Check Out
Ari Lennox: Vacancy
DJ Harrison: ElectroSoul
Camper: Campilation
Skip Waiters: Insecure (EP)
Phabo: Ratchet & Blues
Katie Tupper: Greyhound
Samm Henshaw: It Could Be Worse (Streaming Release)
Titose: Did We Try Hard Enough? (EP)
Dames Brown & Amp Fiddler: Take Me As I Am
Ragz Originale: Keepsake
YIN YIN: Yatta!
Junetober: LOVERSHIP
Nija: What I Didn’t Say
IAMNOBODI: The Aftermath Principle
Tray Millz: Boy Meets World
Robyn Florence & DAVIES: Crush Culture (EP)
Other R&B Songs to Check Out
Justin Garner: The Icing
James Blake: Death of Love
Durand Jones & The Indications: Let’s Take Our Time
Jacob Banks: Love Like This
Madison Ryann Ward & James Poyser: On & On
King Sis: All Mine
Gordon: Sweet
Binta: Make Up
PawPaw Rod: The Get Back
KYANTII: Y Don’t You
NateTaylorr & TheARTI$t: Go Again
October London & Tonio Armani: Touch On Me (Remix)
Misha, BeMyFiasco & cocabona: Back to Myself
GiddyGang: After All (feat. Mac Ayres, Vuyo & Braxton Cook)
Latanya Alberto: Almost There
Cholita: Deja Vu
Ben Esser, Beau Diako & emawk: Footwork
Marques Anthony: Say Yes