Welcome back to our R&B Season playlist, whose latest update rounds up the best of the best genre-adjacent releases of the week. Leading the way is the new album BELOVED from GIVĒON, which is a bit of a retro 70s effort from the Long Beach singer and songwriter.
As the title suggests, this LP focuses a lot around a complex, passionate, but nonetheless powerful relationship, and that romance shows up vividly on tracks like "I CAN TELL." Heavenly guitar flanges, crisp percussion, and soaring spotlit vocals and harmonies are quick to entrance. The whole tracklist is full of gems like this, but there's something buttery about "I CAN TELL" that hooked us right away.
Also on R&B Season, we have the new album from GIVĒON's "Peaches" collaborator. Justin Bieber surprised the world this week with his new album SWAG, and collabs like "DEVOTION" with Dijon include a lot of soulful inspirations on this record.
It feels like a solid stab at Dijon's already popular sound, but the Canadian superstar fits very well over that sonic pallet. Also, with other guests including Gunna and Sexyy Red, there is plenty of variety on the new album if this isn't up your alley.
HNHH R&B Season Playlist
Elsewhere, R&B Season welcomed the return of a beloved singer, producer, engineer... You name it. Syd of The Internet and Odd Future fame dropped her first song in about three years, "Die For This." And despite the dramatic title and the contrast of a peppier instrumental, this feels like an all-encompassing return for her.
The whole track feels quite minimal, but it's still able to hook you with its melodies and maintain a very interesting tone on the musical elements. The constantly skipping background synth sometimes goes fully in front of the mix, and other times, it compliments softer guitar strums.
Finally on R&B Season, FLO and KAYTRANADA close us out in a funkier space on their new collaboration "The Mood." Cascading and icy synthesizers around the chorus are particularly addictive, and there's a great sheen to the production overall. Melodically, FLO give you plenty of reasons to come back again and again.
