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New RnB Music Blog

Gbogboade Sculpted a Soulful Monument to the Frequency of Love’s Fragility with ‘Where Do We Go?’

Posted on 28 April 2025

With the organic percussive textures tapping against the iridescent synth lines, in all of its questioning, Where Do We Go? is an instrumental study in contrasts as Gbogboade exhibits how his passion and adoration remain unflinching in the face of uncertainty. With expressions of jazz and spoken word recordings which run just as smooth as his harmonies, the track is a complete exposition of what it means to love in the presence of doubt, not letting it slip through fear of loss, but instead, allowing your soul to remain steadfast in the presence of limitless possibilities.

Drawing on his Nigerian roots and his London experiences, Gbogboade pours his dual heritage into his sonic signature. Known for his seamless infusion of soul, jazz, hip-hop, and Afro-rooted rhythms, he creates sonic worlds that pulse with lived reality. Influenced by D’Angelo, Solange, Kendrick Lamar, and Burna Boy, his music refuses to shy away from vulnerability, strength, and the tension that pulls between the two.

Where Do We Go? serves as the centrepiece of his forthcoming EP, a three-track reflection tracing love, uncertainty, and transformation. By anchoring the composition with 85 BPM rhythms and layering in analog warmth, Gbogboade offers a rich, emotionally charged soundscape that honours both his Lagos upbringing and his diasporic evolution.

Where Do We Go? is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Soundcloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Susan G became the epitome of Seattle soul with ‘Don’t Look Like You’

Posted on 25 April 2025
Susan G

With her old soul and fresh presence stretching far beyond Seattle, Susan G has the kind of vocal firepower and lyrical acuity that instantly turns passive listening into emotional reckoning. Her latest 60s soul-esque single, Don’t Look Like You, is the perfect primer for her deep-cutting emotive style. The smoky, smooth, and fever-swaddled staccato rhythms refuse to let comfort slip into the mix. Your rhythmic pulses will stand to full attention as the raw honesty of her lyricism sinks in.

The reprise of “I don’t know what love is if it looks like you” sears the psyche. It’s a line built to hit anyone who’s ever clawed their way out of a relationship that made them question not only their worth but the very definition of love. Instead of falling into the performative pitfalls of empowerment anthems, Susan G offers something more vital—an exorcism of confusion and coldness, giving a voice to anyone who’s been left picking up the pieces of their gaslit mind.

Susan George—performing under her moniker Susan G—may run a cutting-edge marketing agency by day, but in the studio, she’s a soul-revivalist with a modern R&B twist, weaving poetic truth through every note. Her sound reverberates for the truth-seekers and deep feelers who need something heavier than radio-ready gloss.

Don’t Look Like You is now available to stream on all major platforms. Find your preferred way to listen on the artist’s website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Riding the Whip of Want: Emdee Puts Lust on a Leash in ‘Tame’

Posted on 23 April 2025

With a teasing prelude that feels more like foreplay than an intro, Tame defies its title as Emdee fuses fetish with soul, sonic seduction with salaciously sharp aphrodisiacal elements. With pop and contemporary RnB serving as his playroom, Emdee is in his element in Tame, which utilises playful teasing staccato rhythms until the momentum of the single starts to flow around guitar lines amplified to leave the listener hot under the collar.

With his mix of light and dark, it’s clear that Emdee knows how to bring the rough with the smooth while never being vanilla; his butter wouldn’t melt vocal lines and the tension built in the guitars is enough to leave the airwaves on its knees in submission.

After carving out his name in rap and drill, the Birmingham-born, Coventry-based artist strips it all back to lean fully into melody and desire. There’s nothing tentative about this transition—it’s a controlled burn into sultry new territory, driven by his taste for the provocative and his instinct for sonic balance. Influenced by the likes of The Weeknd and Ginuwine, he’s taken the slow jam blueprint and scratched his initials into it with slick rhythmic restraint and a vocal delivery steeped in self-possession.

Now or Never is set to push this evolution further, but Tame already signals the leash has snapped—and Emdee’s instincts are on full display.

Tame is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Jack Fargo Hits a Natural High with Alt-Pop Anthem ‘Drugs on the Weekend’

Posted on 20 April 2025
Jack Fargo

Jack Fargo’s latest release, Drugs on the Weekend, is less Class A and more A-List radio-ready material—delivered as a wavy lo-fi mash-up of RnB, Hip-Hop, and pop. The track is an exposition on how the oxytocin rush from someone who scintillates your soul as much as your skin surpasses every synthetic high imaginable.

With funk-infused grooves and a horn section lifting the vibe even higher, Fargo turns this bedroom-pop musing into an indie anthem choked with infectious appeal. Fargo’s zealously electrifying vocal lines prove he did more than perform when stepping up to the mic; his verses pour straight from a soul bright enough to illuminate any room or arena. The harmonies and rap-infused verses warm the dreamy, lush layers of saturation, making the track an effortlessly magnetic listen.

Fargo, born Jack Fargotstein, is a Memphis-raised musician who sharpened his artistry through hip-hop mixtapes as Bigmac Jack before earning acclaim in LA as half of The Motel Brothers. Post-duo, Fargo returned to his solo roots, pulling influences from Ed Sheeran’s pop-rock effervescence, Mac Miller’s legendary ease, and classic R&B richness, all vividly showcased in this latest sonic concoction.

Drugs on the Weekend perfectly captures Fargo’s lyrical exploration of authentic connections, resonating through melodies that mirror the intimate rush of genuine chemistry. Fargo isn’t chasing superficial buzzes here; he’s illustrating that the purest high flows naturally.

Drugs on the Weekend is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Starfire in the Scar Tissue: Stephan Leroy Folkes Transcends Temporal Turmoil in ‘It’s All Within Time (Travelling Through the Stars)’

Posted on 11 April 2025
Stephan Leroy Folkes

After launching Say It Like You Mean It with an insistent demand for honesty, Stephan Leroy Folkes has returned to eclipse every surface-level sentiment in It’s All Within Time (Travelling Through the Stars). Where the debut came with sharp confrontation, the sophomore single is steeped in cosmic introspection and scorched-soul sonics that unravel through alt-soul-pop with funk-slicked edges and ethereal atmospherics.

Folkes has dialled up the soul, beguile, and eccentric electricity up to 11, welcoming his ever-growing fan following into the epitome of impassioned visceralism. With the cosmic underpinnings to the alt-soul-pop serenade and Folkes’ falsetto vocal timbre surpassing the scintillation of Michael Jackson with the aching vibrato that hits in the chorus, the single is a lesson on what it means to truly go beyond surface level with emotions.

From the first synth-streaked beat to the last breathy note, the track tests the tensile strength of resilience, using star-bound metaphors to map the personal collisions that shake us into shape. The Leytonstone-born artist never plays it safe—nor should he. Born from brushes with death, his sound is living proof that survival can sound transcendent. With nods to Prince, Stevie Wonder, and Billie Eilish woven into his genre-defiant fingerprint, Stephan sidesteps imitation and plants himself firmly in the present moment of music with a sound entirely his own.

It’s All Within Time (Travelling Through the Stars) is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Meher Turns Longing into Lush Catharsis on ‘When Flowers Bloom’

Posted on 9 April 2025

With When Flowers Bloom, the standout single from her debut EP End of Winter, Meher invites you to witness the thaw. The Punjabi RnB artist curates reflective states steeped in atmosphere and intentional vulnerability. Her ambient textures don’t drift aimlessly; they hang in the air with purpose, wrapping around vocals that shimmer with soul and subtlety.

The first thing that grips you about When Flowers Bloom is the soulful, sensuous seraphic timbre, but as the track progresses and picks up steam, it’s the narrative spun throughout the fervently performed yet quiescently projected vocals. It’s a paradoxical sonic spell that no one will be impervious to as you’re invited down the rabbit hole of Meher’s world of reverb and resonance. As the lyrics illustrate a protagonist who dares to fulfil desire and take bold risks in life, the instrumentals prove that she lives just as fearlessly through sound.

Written during a period of transition and healing, End of Winter is a sonic sanctuary stitched together by ambient warmth and lyrical intimacy. Meher doesn’t overstate; she lets restraint speak volumes. Through softness, she tells stories of distance, identity, and the quiet courage of becoming. Her sound creates a climate for connection, one that’s already drawing in thousands of listeners without industry scaffolding.

When Flowers Bloom is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Kunle B – Wasting Time: A London Edge to R&B’s Classic Pulse

Posted on 8 April 2025
Kunle B

Kunle B may have cut his teeth in church pews and school halls, but his latest single Wasting Time proves he’s now fully in command of the late-night airwaves. Dripping with early 00s R&B swagger and wrapped in the kind of sensuous vocal delivery that leaves fingerprints on your soul, the track is a bold return for the Londoner who’s rebuilt his sound from the ground up after a vocal haemorrhage threatened to pull the plug on his rise.

He doesn’t just throw down smooth grooves—he stakes his territory with a voice that oozes intent. The cheeky edge in the voice note interludes grounds the track in the reality of London’s grit, while the sultry rhythm guitar flickers with Latin heat. It’s this juxtaposition—between street-smart bravado and slow jam sensuality—that makes Wasting Time so addictive.

The influence of Brandy, Craig David, and Michael Jackson is felt in the meticulous vocal layering and slick phrasing, but Kunle B brings something fresh with his aphrodisiacal tone and instinct for emotional weight. Every line is shaped with purpose; every harmony lands with a sting.

Having climbed from mashups on socials to writing for others and securing his own development deal, Kunle B isn’t leaning on anyone else’s vision. He’s here to push R&B forward, spotlight Black male artistry, and show the UK doesn’t need to look across the Atlantic for this calibre of soul.

Wasting Time is available to stream on all major platforms, including Soundcloud, now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

XXLTARIK dragged RnB into the shadows of pop funk with his ahead of the curve hit, RUNAWAY

Posted on 4 April 2025

Moroccan-American artist XXLTARIK is storming through Jersey’s music scene with his spectral and darkly sultry approach to RnB, creatively spliced with alt-pop sensibilities and contemporary funk grooves. His latest single, ‘RUNAWAY’, sidesteps the usual pitfalls of superficial hooks, pulling listeners instead into a deeper, emotionally raw narrative that feels hauntingly personal despite the slick, polished production.

XXLTARIK’s ability to alchemise genuine emotive candour with melodies flooded with unflinching momentum turns ‘RUNAWAY’ into an infectiously arresting anthem—guaranteed to hype any listener, whatever their backdrop. His vocals refuse pretence, showcasing flawless command as authenticity surges through each note, effortlessly oscillating between gritty vulnerability and smooth sophistication.

The track confronts the human tendency to expose our vulnerabilities to those least worthy of them. Through this emotional transparency, XXLTARIK makes ‘RUNAWAY’ resonate as both confession and cautionary tale, exploring the shadows we willingly inhabit for fleeting connections.

With funk-driven rhythms underpinning his dark wave alt-RnB textures, XXLTARIK ensures ‘RUNAWAY’ is a tour-de-force, defined by its depth and cross-over appeal.

‘RUNAWAY’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hayden Royal explores the pain of knowing no decision is a remedy in his Indietronic RnB release, ‘Side by Side’

Posted on 30 March 2025

Hit play on Hayden Royal’s latest single, ‘Side by Side’, and brace yourself as emotion makes a full-on collision. Like every accomplished songwriter, Royal understands that affecting expression requires moving beyond thinking in black and white; here, he skilfully navigates the grey areas of duality. The lyrical protagonist faces a familiar yet brutal paradox—the pain of leaving someone can often match the agony of staying. Decisions become unbearable when love persists despite toxic dynamics, creating a tension that Royal vividly portrays.

Instrumentally, ‘Side by Side’ is an authentic amalgamation of indietronica, pop, and RnB—delivering something you genuinely haven’t encountered elsewhere. It’s a raw yet harmoniously layered exploration of indecision and grief, anchored by moody melodies, introspective lyricism, and soul-infused harmonies. Royal boldly traverses the chaotic push and pull between vulnerability and bravado, embodying a voice which will resonate with anyone caught between resilience and emotional collapse.

With darkly atmospheric production underscoring introspective verses and haunting hooks, Royal channels both tenderness and emotional exhaustion. There’s no bitterness here—just an honest reflection from a narrator clinging desperately to fleeting moments of warmth, knowing they’re scarcely enough to hold onto. With fearless candour, ‘Side by Side’ captures the universal struggle of letting go when holding on feels equally destructive.

‘Side by Side’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Cali Soul Singer Mark Alan Wilson Helped His Fans ‘Cut Loose’ With His Latest Release

Posted on 29 March 2025

Mark Alan Wilson is the kind of modern artist who makes you suspect he struck a deal with the devil, transforming his own soul into the purest conduit for RnB. His latest single, ‘Cut Loose’, lands effortlessly as a feel-good track fuelled with authentic substance and style.

Wilson is a rare musician who never needs to break convention to sign, seal, and deliver a sound that naturally stands apart. Distinction resonates powerfully through the rapture of his honeyed-smoke harmonies, drifting timelessly into that sanctuary only the sound of soul can provide. The track offers a gentle but necessary reminder that, although patience is essential for life’s bigger pleasures, small delights are scattered everywhere. It grants the listener full permission to cast aside life’s darker moments and simply cut loose, if only for one night.

The swanky jazz-infused interludes and blues guitar riffs sweep away the heaviness from any weary mind, allowing Wilson to effortlessly mainline serotonin into your day. Wilson’s commitment to authentic soul music is evident, resonating as he continues to build momentum through live performances, setting the stage for an array of promising releases throughout 2025.

‘Cut Loose’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast