The 4 Best R&B Albums Of 2020
2020 was an incredible year for the genre of R&B which made narrowing this list down even tougher, but these were the four albums that left the biggest mark on me.
It Was Good Until It Wasn’t
Back in March, amid quarantine, Kehlani dropped a surprise single titled “Toxic” accompanied by a racy visual she’d shot with her laptop’s camera. The single was candid and blunt, and with background vocals provided by Ty Dolla $ign, the track had earned over 50 plays from me in just March alone. What followed was her highly-anticipated, and long-awaited album, “It Was Good Until It Wasn’t”. Despite coming in at just under 40 minutes, the album fails to create a sense of incompletion or insufficiency. Each track is well placed and is careful not to overstay its welcome. With features from Jhene Aiko, Lucky Daye, James Blake, Tory Lanez, and Masego, the album is an exceptional representation of the state of R&B today.
The album opens with “Toxic” before leading into the provocative, Tory Lanez assisted track, “Can I”, another highlight on the album. After “Can I”, Kehlani gets ultra-personal and intimate on “Bad News”, a perfect way to slow the album down a bit and provide the listener with a glimpse into her past life. Kehlani follows up with the tantalizing track “Water” next. Later in the album, Kehlani exchanges a lot of the provocativeness in the album for a more sensual ending with tracks such as Everybody Business, Serial Lover, and Can You Blame Me (feat. Lucky Daye).
When it comes to ranking “It Was Good Until It Wasn’t” in Kehlani’s discography, it says a lot that an album this diverse and congenial only comes in at number two. Kehlani’s 2019 EP, “While We Wait”, is a shorter, more concise, and better-executed adaptation of Kehlani’s best work to me. Nonetheless, “It Was Good Until It Wasn’t” was tremendous enough to make the list this year for me.
PARTYMOBILE
When an artist creates an album series as influential as Lil Wayne’s “The Carter” series, Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint” series, or in the R&B world, PARTYNEXTDOOR’s “PARTYNEXTDOOR” series, fans can become attached to the sound; often to the point that when the artist attempts to venture out and develop their sound, the listener subconsciously refuses the new sound because they’re so stuck on the feeling the original sound gave them. PARTYMOBILE was a prime example of this phenomenon.
PARTYNEXTDOOR first introduced the world to his moody, atmospheric R&B sound in 2013 with the release of his self-titled debut project. While people often credit artists such as Bryson Tiller, and Tory Lanez with the creation of this atmospheric R&B sound, it’s truly PND that acted as the original pioneer. After his first self-titled project in 2013, he followed up with “PARTYNEXTDOOR 2” and “PARTYNEXTDOOR 3” in 2014 and 2016, respectively.
Fast forward to February 2020 and “PARTYMOBILE” is finally released after a three-year wait. The album opens up with a hazy intro in “NOTHING LESS” before heading into the first highlight of the album, “TURN UP”. With assertive lyrics like “Yeah, I done flew you out the city, girl, I know that you look pretty, but I want it all off”, it’s clear to see that Party is back and better and his confidence hasn’t worn off a bit. Following “TURN UP”, comes “THE NEWS”, where Party croons his way into the listener’s heart with the same sound that made them fall in love on his first three projects. Party doesn’t slow up as he immediately transitions into the temperamental “SPLIT DECISION” next. It’s after this track that Party transitions into his four-track long afrobeat segment of the album. Among that section, I most enjoyed the Drake-assisted “Loyal”. On track 10, “BELIEVE IT”, Rihanna delivers her only feature of the year on the upbeat and melodic track’s chorus.
On track 12, “PGT”, Party comes back with his assertiveness and delivers lines such as “PGT, you’re way more sexy out in person, girl, I know I get you nervous” and “Got a mansion in Hollywood, but I never went Hollywood” with flair and ease. On track 13, Party fans can rejoice as he finally releases the infamous leak “ANOTHER DAY” as an official track. Party then closes out the album with the six and half minute long outro, “SAVAGE ANTHEM”. If there was an award for “Most Disrespectful Song of the Year”, this track would surely win it. Party manages to deliver falsettos while saying things like “I put the dirt into dirtbag” and “Don’t trust me to capture the moment, forgive me it just was a moment”, but those two examples are light compared to other lines in the song.
PARTYMOBILE is a prime example of developing one’s sound and it working. For some artists, it takes two or three projects to mature their sound, much to a listener’s disarray, while Party executes it in one album quite effortlessly.
F**k the World
It’s rare that I’d include an album under thirty minutes on my year-end list. That’s on the verge of being an EP, in my opinion. But it’s equally as rare that an album as flawless as Brent Faiyaz’s “F**k the World” is released. “F**k the World” feels expensive. It radiates a young, player, luxurious energy throughout its entire twenty-six-minute runtime. I haven’t seen an album execute that energy this well since The Weeknd’s “Trilogy” back in 2012.
The album opens up with the airy “Skyline”, a track that showcases Brent’s angelic voice and harmonies. Despite being only two minutes long, it’s a perfect opener that foreshadows what’s to come. “Clouded” seamlessly follows and is the first track to give the listener a peek into Brent’s world. The track is stripped and slightly atmospheric, which allows Brent’s melodic talk-rap-sing mixture to shine alongside his confident, and slightly arrogant lyrics as well. What follows is my favorite track, “Been Away”. The beat reminds me of an old-school DJ Screw ‘chopped n screwed’ type track with its looped pitched down vocals vying in the background. In the foreground, Brent seasons the track with affectionate lyrics like “This penthouse view, ain’t as beautiful as you, don’t ever have time, but I can make time for you, know I used to tell lies, but I would never lie to you, shopping sprees on my dime, looking all kinds of new, do you know what I like, what would you like to do, tell me, tell me attend to you”, but “Been Away” isn’t the only standout track. Immediately after, the album’s title track follows. The track reeks of toxicity, but Brent makes it sound good, great even. His voice is so fortuitously persuasive that he unintentionally forces the listener to subconsciously reject the toxicity of what he’s saying. He’ll have you saying things like “Don’t open your mouth if you ain’t speaking good to me, I ain’t built like him, you fucking with a G, just cause I fuck you that don’t mean I trust you” and you won’t realize the severity of his words until its too late. Brent taps into his own insecurities on track 5, “Let Me Know”, with his alluring harmonies driving the chorus. “Soon Az I Get Home” opens up with a short, but effective acapella that showcases Brent’s vocal ability yet again. Track 7, “Rehab (Winter in Paris)”, taps into Brent’s arrogant assertiveness yet again by opening up with the line “I’ve got too many hoes, but they ain’t you” that instantly reels the listener in. His cadence compels the listener to anticipate each and every line. The album closes with “Make It Out”. A soulful piano-led thirty-second closer that places Brent’s psychedelic harmonies in the forefront again.
Brent’s not much of a newcomer to the game, but he’s just now receiving much of the well-deserved notoriety that’s been long overdue. “F**k the World” is an amazing album. Short, yes. But, amazing nonetheless.
A Muse In Her Feelings
Toronto R&B has been on a steady rise since the debut of Drake’s OVO label which has outputted artists like, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and dvsn. The R&B duo, dvsn, released “A Muse In Her Feelings” mid-quarantine in April. Coming off of their 2017 release, “Morning After”, expectations were high. They surely didn’t disappoint. Nineteen85 kills his production per usual and Daniel Daley provides his smooth and silky vocals on top.
The album opens up with “No Good”, an emotional, self-reflective track that presents the level of vulnerability the album will provide. The album then leads into the PARTYNEXTDOOR-assisted, “Friends”, the first track of many that feels like a modernized version of a 90s R&B song. Party comes in on the second verse and glides across the track before handing it back to Daniel to take over. It’s only two tracks later that we reach the Jessie Reyez-assisted track “Courtside”. Nineteen85 supplies a heavy 808 and sub-bass to back Daniel and Jessie’s back and forth vocal play. Track 6, “No Cryin (feat. Future)” is a melodic head bumper with an infectious chorus that occupies the listener’s mind for hours after. As demonstrated earlier on “PARTYMOBILE”, Toronto R&B isn’t quite complete without a touch of afrobeat. On tracks 7 and 8, dvsn calls in afrobeat stars Buju Banton and Popcaan for assistance. On track 13, Summer Walker provides a verse on the guitar-led “Flawless Do It Well Pt. 3”. What follows is the flawless track, “Greedy”. Nineteen85 supplies an 808-led stripped back beat that allows Daniel to showcase his heavenly falsettos while telling his girl that “It’s okay to be greedy”. Immediately after, “Greedy” transitions into the Snoh Aalegra-assisted “Between Us”, a track that places a spotlight on Snoh Aalegra’s ability to captivate a listener with only a thirty-second verse alongside a few background harmonies. When comparing all of the collaborations on this album (there’s a total of nine), this is truly the standout. The next track is “A Muse”. It carries a popular sample choice as it samples the 1983 track “A Garden of Peace” (also sampled in Jay-Z’s Dead Presidents and Meek Mill’s Respect the Game). Track 15 is “For Us”, another track that conveys a 90s R&B vibe to it. Whilst listening to the track, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Tony! Toni! Tone!’s 1990 track, “Whatever You Want”, when it came to song structure and overall vibe. It’s a sound that dvsn executes so, so well. Throughout the entire album, dvsn never loses stray of the original sound that made us fall in love back on 2016’s “SEPT. 5TH”. They only continue to advance their sound to new levels with each and every project, and that’s a quality to be admired in today’s music scene.
