The 20 Best R&B Albums of 2022
In Washington, D.C., locals convene at Songbyrd Music House to discuss the merits of Tevin Campbell and Raphael Saadiq during R&B club, a monthly gathering for some of the genre's devotees, taking deep dives into its rich history. The event was created by a few enthusiastic music people to wrangle and rally the supporters for a thing often wrongly presumed barren. "I was really tired of people saying R&B is dead, nonexistent or fading away," Ashley-Dior Thomas, one of the hosts, told the Washington Post in November. "I do not understand where this is coming from." It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that R&B's influence prevails. As Aretha put it, in her 1999 autobiography, "Soul music is cultural, [...] it is a people, a nation and it is the rhythm of our lives and loves and losses and wins, our hopes and dreams and passions on parade," before dropping the mic: "R&B isn't a fad; it's the truth."
As if to reiterate her point, 2022 was a resplendent year for R&B — from the pop sphere to the small stage, for veterans and newcomers, among revivalists and futurists alike. The music took many vibrant forms: hazy psychedelia and translucent, watercolor soul; jazz-inspired and funk-furnished; the sound of life on dating apps or a car ride through purgatory. R&B rediscovered its place in the club, pushed into the outer reaches of space, found and lost love (as always) and relished the beauty of the Black experience. These are the 20 best albums produced this year by the immutable genre. — Sheldon Pearce
Amber Mark, Three Dimensions Deep
Traveling inward and beyond with soundscapes of every flavor imaginable, Amber Mark took us through her struggle on . Her music is superbly and vulnerably written, but the production shines brightest. On the opening track, "One," she asks all the questions: How long will she endure self-doubt, loss and anxiety? The answers come during the chorus: "What you seek, you will find when you look inside!" The rest of the breathtaking journey
