Can I just take this opportunity to suggest that R&B is making a comeback? You know, the sort that was popular circa 1992-2002 and provoked England’s midriff bearing teens to get an ill-advised tramp stamp and septic belly button ring – sexy, non? Anyway, I for one, am joyous at this news. Call me tasteless, indecent and fucking brainless – I am all of these things – but there’s some part of my being that relishes in this aural equivalent to rose petals on a heart shaped bed, a bottle of Reef and a resulting one night stand. Smooth, slick and gross.
This week I was at a bar, let me reiterate that – a NORMAL bar and not a Lynx infused chav den – which proceeded to play, in a totally non-ironic way the following songs:
Sean Paul – Gimme The Light
Shola Ama – You Might Need Somebody
Nelly – Country Grammar
Ashanti feat. Ja Rule – Always On Time
Next – Too Close
Destiny’s Child – Jumpin’ Jumpin’
I truly have not got more sweatily enthused while in the company of grown adults, regressing to my 14 year old self, sloppily grinding against thin air and singing along like some lush on a hen weekend. Yeah OK, I left my best side at home but it did prove to have the same affect on everyone around me. And since this Canadian guy The Weeknd (that ain’t a typo) started blowing up all over the internets, it has left me to deduce that this brand of smooth, ‘whip ‘er knickers off’ choon* is making a comeback. After getting in a little bit of detective work (read: Google, obvs), I discovered not only do I love this guy, but Drake’s a fan, Pitchfork’s all over it and even bloody Refinery 29’s got a big ol’ yen for him. So if you’re into R&B with honey-smooth vocal stylings and loadsa unnecessary swears, download The Weeknd’s House of Balloons’ mixtape here. Yo’ welcome lay-deez.
*I’m not one to whip me knickers off on a whim, but am pointing out this is the desired effect of the genre – and if You Tube comments are anything to go by, I hear, sometimes it works!
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