Genre
r&b
18 tracks.
Solange
Losing You
Solange and Dev Hynes wrap the end of a relationship in a skittering, eighties-tinted R&B groove: the 2012 lead single of the True EP on Terrible Records, with a Melina Matsoukas video shot in Cape Town's Langa township.
Robin Thicke, T.I., Pharrell Williams
Blurred Lines
A cowbell-clacking, falsetto-laced funk-pop strut from Robin Thicke, Pharrell and T.I. that owned the summer of 2013 and then the courtroom.
Michael Jackson
Billie Jean
One of pop's most recognisable bass lines carries Michael Jackson's paranoid tale of a paternity claim, a tight, shadowy groove that sounds as sharp now as it did on Thriller.
Klyne
Waiting
A slow, stripped-down slice of dark electronic R&B from the Eindhoven duo Klyne, where Nick Klein's soft, close-miked voice drifts over sparse beats and muted synths; the new song on their 2015 Closer EP.
Klyne
Paralyzed
A hushed, slow-burning slice of electronic soul from the Dutch duo Klyne, where a fragile falsetto floats over muted beats and a heart too stunned to move.
Kele
First Impressions
Kele Okereke opens his after-hours record Trick in a whisper: a cool, late-night house groove about the electricity of meeting someone new, sung with Yasmin.
Joss Stone
Less Is More
A teenage Joss Stone leans into a lilting, reggae-kissed soul groove and sings about wanting less with the husky authority of a singer twice her age.
Ivy Levan, CADRÉ
Like A Glove
Ivy Levan's smoky, swaggering vocal slinks over a sleek, bass-heavy pop beat, with a rap verse from Cadre: a track from her 2015 'swamp-hop' debut that fits its title, tight, dark and made to measure.
Corinne Bailey Rae
Put Your Records On
Corinne Bailey Rae's sun-dappled soul-pop single is a gentle invitation to let your hair down, all breezy guitar, soft horns and a warm voice telling you to grow into yourself.
Chet Faker
Gold
Chet Faker's smoky late-night soul over a slow, finger-snapping electronic groove, a minimal track that gets all its heat from his weathered voice and a bassline that barely moves.
Ben Khan
Savage
Two and a half minutes of warped, woozy funk: Ben Khan's cool falsetto slides over wobbling synths, guitar stabs and brass that sounds trapped inside a bubble.
Amy Winehouse
You Know I'm No Good
A slinking, horn-stabbed confession of infidelity from Back to Black, written by Amy Winehouse and produced by Mark Ronson with the Dap-Kings' players: retro soul with a lyric no 1960s girl group would have sung.
Aloe Blacc
I Need a Dollar (Live)
A hard-times plea set to a Brooklyn retro-soul jam: Aloe Blacc's 2010 hit, the theme of HBO's How to Make It in America, heard here live in Berlin in 2011, where a chorus about a job lost and a dollar borrowed is made for a room to sing.
Luca Malina
FCKRZ
'FCKRZ' is a 2021 single by the Viennese singer Luca Malina, R&B-inspired pop about the darker side of relationships, produced by Luca Pivetz with guitar by Lukas Koffler and a self-made video.
Her
Five Minutes
'Five Minutes' is the second single by Her, the French duo of Simon Carpentier and Victor Solf: clean-cut, R&B-tinged pop of finger clicks, rippling guitars and layered vocals, from their debut Tape #1.