Written by: Oliver Heffron
While the emotional core of R&B remains the same, the musical route to which artists get there has become a diverse array of distinct visions, each manifesting their own take on how to best express love through ambitious musical presentations. 2022 featured some of the genre’s titans returning with styles completely brand new, as well as rising stars polishing the sounds that got them there and displaying the talent to stay.
Here’s a list of ten R&B records from this year that present a distinct, immersive vision of the genre.
SZA – SOS
Following the anticipation for the second album, and her tensions with TDE reaching a boiling point, SZA delivers an instant classic with the vast, eclectic sound and stunning performance on SOS. The expansive 23-track album retains its quality from start to finish, displaying SZA’s dynamic abilities as a songwriter and musician, combining a variety of production with lyrical moments of hilarity, love, and pain.
Centrally an R&B album with aspects of hip-hop and pop, SOS also combines elements of surf rock, grunge, and lofi beats into a distinct sound unique to her. Her vocal talents are front and center, with lyrics charismatic in their frankness, offering an unyielding dive into many emotions, from euphoria to heartbreak. With a fanbase begging to hear more of her story since CTRL, SZA triumphantly colors in the details of her musicianship and personhood.
Highlights include: “Kill Bill,” “Low,” “Blind,” and “Ghost in the Machine” (feat. Phoebe Bridgers).
Beyonce – RENAISSANCE
Beyonce pays homage to dance music through an ambitious array of influences on RENAISSANCE, incorporating aspects of house, techno, electro, disco, and afro beats into one flowing project that celebrates self-love. Her seventh album from and the first installment of a new trilogy, RENAISSANCE radiates with the energy of a packed dance floor from multiple eras.
Queen B confidently encourages self-love and self-assurance with a captivating delivery. Combined with euphoric, upbeat grooves, it creates a relieving experience of hedonist indulgence through self-acceptance. The project musically departs from anything Beyonce’s attempted before, successfully uplifting a plethora of unheralded dance music subgenres that built the current state of popular music.
Highlights include: “ALIEN SUPERSTAR,” “CUFF IT,” “BREAK MY SOUL,” and “CHURCH GIRL.”
Brent Faiyaz – WASTELAND
Columbia, MD native R&B singer Brent Faiyaz and producer, paints a beautiful and sinister portrait on WASTELAND, pairing brooding, cinematic production and gorgeous melodies with lyrics that create ugly images of vice and its vast consequences. Faiyaz uses his divine vocal talents to face his past sins, illustrating scenes of abuse, toxicity, and escapism with a sinister aesthetic that leans into a villain persona.
WASTELAND shines through his innate talent for production, composing, and delivering melodies, focalizing the central narrative through interludes and transitions throughout the diverse tracklist. The twisted story of passion reflects the ominous sound Faiyaz builds through production and his voice, displaying dynamic creativity and the ability to express a bold vision while still making popular songs.
Highlights include: “LOOSE CHANGE,” “ALL MINE,” “GHETTO GATSBY” (feat. Alicia Keys,” and “JACKIE BROWN.”
Steve Lacy – Gemini Rights
LA singer/guitarist/producer Steve Lacy releases a blooming collection of summer grooves with Gemini Rights, an album that plays like one flowing R&B/alternative jam that dives into colors of funk, jazz, psych, and hip-hop. Throwing it back to Love Below-era Andre 3000, Lacy leans into eclectic influences and infectious melodies to produce a project that indulgences itself without wasting a beat.
Inspired by a recent breakup, Gemini Rights lyrically defines a tumultuous time with expressions of relief, regret, resentment, longing, and numbness. While his musical talent was already evident, Lacy’s second album marks a polishing of his vision, distilling only the most potent moments into a project with immense replay value.
Highlights include: “Helmet,” “Mercury,” “Bad Habit,” and “Sunshine” (feat. Fousheé).
Ari Lennox – age/sex/location
DC native Ari Lennox pairs a distinct blend of classic R&B influences with a digital aesthetic of virtual romance and liberating loneliness to create a unique second album age/sex/location. Lennox weaves gripping narratives filled with internet-era distinctions but delivers them through production and melodies that reflect the classic r&b of the 60s and 70s.
With a title referencing AOL chatroom flirtiness and production mixing R&B and neo-soul, age/sex/location follows Lennox on an internet Eat/Pray/Love-style journey of self-reflection and exploration. The project document the struggle to stop seeking external validation and find it in yourself. Lennox’s second album marks her departure from more formulaic, contemporary r&b in favor of a self-assured twist on a classic sound.
Highlights include: “Hoodie,” “Waste My Time,” “Boy Bye” (feat. Lucky Daye), and “Queen Space” (with Summer Walker).
Ravyn Lenae – HYPNOS
Chicago native Ravyn Lenae investigates her neo-soul, alternative R&B, and Afrobeat influences on her impressive debut album HYPNOS, distorting the genres into silky smooth something of her own with a unique digital touch. Her confident presence and vocal talents guide the listener through lovesick melodies and psychedelic flurries of creative release.
Recorded over four years and featuring production from Steve Lacy, Kaytranada, Monte Booker, and IAMNOBODI, HYPNOS is a carefully crafted debut that displays Ravyn Lenae’s impressive vocal talents and excellent musical taste. The project marks an ascension in her career to the likes of her most acclaimed contemporaries by building dynamic layers atop her sturdy musical core.
Highlights include: “Venom,” “Inside Out,” “MIA,” and “Skin Tight” (feat. Steve Lacy).
The Weeknd – Dawn FM
Following the darkness of After Hours, The Weeknd delivers a creative concept album with Dawn FM presenting purgatory through a morbid radio station, willing a glimmer of light as the walls cave on a groovy, gothic fantasy. Influenced by 80s new wave, funk, and electronic dance sounds like Depeche Mode and Duran Duran, Dawn FM presents upbeat grooves textured with hip-hop, EDM, and disco elements.
Led by Abel’s patented falsetto and a fictional radio host played by Jim Carey, Dawn FM explores a netherworld of existentialism and psychedelia yet emits a more optimistic vision than his previous work. While still lurking in narcotic excess and morbid dread, The Weeknd’s fifth album reveals a light of self-acceptance at the end of the tunnel.
Highlights include: “How Do I Make You Love Me?,” “Take My Breath,” “Out of Time,” and “Less Than Zero.”
Amber Mark – Three Dimensions Deep
Amber Mark presents an interstellar blend of glossy R&B and sleek pop-funk on her debut Three Dimensions Deep. Mark unearths insecurities, struggles to find herself, and eventually lands on a solid sense of self-worth through astrophysical contemplations and cosmic metaphors. The project’s tight songwriting and immersive project make the Sci-Fi concept work, expressing the intensity of searching for love and purpose through cosmic proportions.
While many vulnerable moments on Three Dimensions Deep contemplate consuming emotions like grief and self-doubt, it also features bright grooves and heated confrontations, displaying a dynamic display of emotion over its 17 tracks. Through an ambitious expansion of her sound, Amber Mark finds power in somber rumination on her inventive debut album.
Highlights include: “What It Is,” “Most Men,” “Softly,” and “FOMO.”
BLXST – Before You Go
Former Nuance Cover Artist BLXST proves he’s worthy of the Los Angeles R&B crown with his infectious melodies and smooth flow over classic West Coast vibes on his debut album Before You Go. Following his breakout mixtape No Love Lost, BLXST doubles down on laidback LA hip-hop production and his knack for vivid storytelling.
Combining his vocal talents with conversational delivery and clever wordplay, BLXST compresses the best aspects of the sound he’s been mastering for years. Before You Go extends BLXST’s musical vision and establishes his unique lane of lyrical, laid-back R&B within a celebrated West Coast tradition, including artists like Nate Dogg and Ty Dolla $ign.
Highlights include: “About You,” “Couldn’t Wait for It” (with Rick Ross), “Still Omw,” and “Every Good Girl.”
FKA Twigs – Caprisongs
Acclaimed UK singer FKA Twigs steps away from her experimental roots to produce an ear-pleasing combination of R&B, trap, art-pop, and dancehall on her debut mixtape Caprisongs. While working within a more mainstream lane than before, Twigs doesn’t compromise her avant-garde vision, adding flourishes of sonic experimentation within the light, groovy feeling of a fun night out.
Featuring a diverse palette of production and excellent features, FKA Twigs presents a light, relaxing and upbeat experience on Caprisongs. Known for her falsetto, Twigs experiments with an array of deliveries and inflections, expressing complete creative control as the party rolls on.
Highlights include: “honda (feat. pa salieu),” “tears in the club” (feat. The Weeknd), “lightbeamers,” and “jealous” (feat. rema).