November -Top R&B Albums

Top R&B Albums – November

By Gavin Filippini 

R&B, which stands for Rhythm and Blues, is just music that is rhythmic and has the soulful aching’s of the blues. Some people like it, while others don’t. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, pitch corrected vocals, and a smooth, lush style of vocal arrangement. Throughout the years many artists have released R&B albums but these three are the top ones ranked by many different people. 

The first album is SZA’s R&B “modern classic” CTRL. On June 19, 2017, this album was released into the world. The album revolves around a confessional theme, portraying topics relating to the relationships and personal complexities of modern love, including desire, competition, jealousy, social media and low self-esteem. The most popular tracks from this album are The Weeknd, Drew Berrymore, Love Galore ft. Travis Scott, and Broken Clocks plus many other tracks that charted well. The album has reaches Platinum by the RIAA. Overall, many love the vulnerability and stories that come out of the track list. SZA’s second studio album is expected to be released in December 2021 or early 2022 and highly anticipated. 

The second album is Tyler, the Creator’s album Flower Boy. The album got released on July 21, 2017. Although this album didn’t chart very well when first released it got more and more popular over the years to which some consider it a “modern classic”. Many critics have said it was a very personal album that had amazing production from start to finish, great features throughout the entire album, but what sets Flower Boy apart is that this was the album Tyler had been trying to make since the start of his career.  

The final album is Summer Walker’s newly released Still Over It. On October 4, 2019 Summer, the 25-year-old Atlanta singer’s slow-groove R&B plays out like a telenovela, feeling irresistibly fresh, messy, and human. Throughout the track list songs shift from anger to love to frustration in a heartbeat, like she’s both the angel and the devil on your shoulder. Within the first week she already achieved biggest album debut ever by a female artist, biggest R&B album debut ever, NO. 1 in 40 markets globally, and many other insane accomplishments. 

In an interview with Sophia Filippini with the question, “What is your favorite R&B album and why?” her response was, “My favorite album is CTRL by SZA because I love the insturmentals and SZA’s vocals throughout the project”. In another interview with Lenape student Ashley Kijowski, her response was, “My favorite album is Still Over It because the production is amazing and her vocals are good and I can relate to a few of the songs!”