In a year when Black pop was measured by how far it crossed over, Anita Baker’s second album made its case at a lower volume. Rapture belongs to the same moment as Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston, but it was built on a different set of decisions.
The London singer, musician and producer places a quiet, soul-leaning groove under a lyric about wanting more for someone who has stopped wanting it for themselves.
Interscope Records claims the R&B singer still owes two studio albums and an EP, months after she moved to exit a contract she has called unenforceable.
The former public defender returns with a second album on Dead Oceans, written through grief, lost time and the work of taking your own worth seriously.
The American soul singer, whose first four Capitol albums topped Billboard’s R&B chart, has died at 70. No cause of death has been announced.
Popstar is Tinashe’s first proper major-label record since Joyride in 2018, and it treats its own title as a problem rather than a prize.
The R&B singer will play Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles in November and December behind Icon, his Raphael Saadiq-produced third album.
A Seattle-raised pop artist who once built her career on data, distance, and control writes a love song that only works if she stops bracing.
Her fourth album opens with 74,000 equivalent album units, giving Aiko her first chart-topping full-length.
The singer-producer will cross the continent from November into December, with stops at Camp Flog Gnaw and a closing run in Los Angeles.
