I’ll admit, this is a pretty significant departure from my typical musical preferences. My go to as of late has been an assortment of Ice Spice, Drake, and a bunch of miscellaneous underground rap from Buffalo, Milwaukee, and Detroit. I’m a huge fan of R&B don’t get that twisted, but love songs aren’t exactly my go to. I know there are countless classic R&B songs I could have included here, but to keep things more “me” I’m going to limit my selections to songs I have gone out of my way to listen to whenever I feel a way about someone. Anyway, without further delay here’s a glimpse into my “softer” side.
Hope you enjoy.
You
Snoh Aalegra
“An album for the lovers and the sad girls” is how Snoh described this album to the crowd at her show in Inglewood, CA. As far as descriptions go, I’d say this is perfectly spot on. The album opens with emotional heavy-hitters in “I Want You Around”, “Situationship”, “Whoa”, and “Find Something Like You” before taking a dramatic tonal shift on the second half. If the first half of the album can be described bright, confident, and comfortable; the second half can be captured with the words hurt, cautious, and emotional.
"You" falls aptly into this description. On the track, Snoh sings about a failed relationship which required an incredible amount of effort to just barely keep above water despite those closest to her urging her to drop it and move on. Despite the outside voices, she describes how absolutely blinded she was by the love she believes she had for this person and how she couldn't even picture a life without them.
My Thoughts
To be entirely honest - I didn't think recognize this was a song about a failing relationship until I did some research on it. To me, it comes across as an ode to the early stages of a relationship where you think you are madly infatuated with a person, but at the same time, are treading carefully with what you do and say in order to keep things rolling smoothly. The opening lines of "I keep it on the low until I know" hit so close to home as often times I've found myself trying to keep my personal life deeply personal out of fear of things crashing and burning. The downtempo instrumental backing captures this feeling of fear and caution while still coming across as soulful, and most of all beautiful.
Listen to "You" on Apple Music and Spotify.
PEACE OF MIND
PARTYNEXTDOOR
It feels like it's not often that PARTYNEXTDOOR writes music that can be considered a love song through and through but "PEACE OF MIND" is definitely an exception in his discography. Serving as the introduction to his 2017 EP "Colours 2", PND gets extremely vulnerable outlining how he feels about this woman. He constantly makes mention of how he wishes he can spend all of his time with her; even going as far as questioning if he should retire entirely in order to further the amount of time they spend together.
My Thoughts
My Toronto R&B fandom on full display once again here and I'm not ashamed of it at all. I'm an absolute sucker for the production style and sound that PND crafted and perfected between his breakout year in 2013 and 2017 when he released the "Colors 2" EP. His instrumentals are typically dark, moody, and ambient and capture the feeling of Toronto nights in the late summer/early fall perfectly - hence why a lot of his releases have been concentrated between the months of June and August. "PEACE OF MIND" is a spectacular showcase of PARTYNEXTDOOR's lyrical and production abilities and results in a deep lyrical homage to his partner which has proven to be a favourite of new and established fans alike.
I feel like this isn't a song I can't do justice by describing any further. Throw it on and think about that person that makes you feel similarly to the way PARTYNEXTDOOR does on this track. I think then it'll all make sense why the song connects with me the way it does.
Listen to "PEACE OF MIND" on Apple Music and Spotify.
I'll Kill You (feat. Jhené Aiko)
Summer Walker
I didn’t research this, but I don’t think there are any other love songs that contain both of the following lines: “I’ll go to hell and jail ‘bout you boy” and “I’ve been waiting so long for a love like this”. Summer Walker and Jhené Aiko manage to weave both of these lyrics together in a song which not only serves as an ode to how they feel about their respective partners, but also as a threat to any women who might be waiting in the wings for their chance to get romantic.
My Thoughts
This isn't your traditional R&B love song, that much is very much clear by the title alone. However, there's something especially captivating about listening to "I'll Kill You" especially Jhené's delicate voice uttering threats and professing love in back to back lines. The London on Da Track produced beat also helps emphasizes this delicate/aggressive contrast by adding or removing instrumental elements to match the lyrical content. For example; during the opening lines with Summer uttering threatening lyrics the beat is reduced to just simple chords while later on, the track opens up to include hi-hats and additional percussion during the "I've been waiting so long for a love like this" chorus.
Now let me make this perfectly clear, I wouldn't want a partner to tell me anything similar to the lyrics described on the track. Well that's kind of a lie. The terms of flattery would be nice to hear. But if my partner were to tell me she would go to jail for me, that might be doing a bit too much. Regardless, the song is a fun listen, especially in the context of the album. It goes against my character to admit this but there is probably more than a few nights out of any given month where I have the biggest urge to listen to Summer Walker and "Over It" has been my consistent go-to for the last several years.
Listen to "I'll Kill You" on Apple Music and Spotify.
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Until next time!
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