R&B: The Evolution

Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye to Rihanna, Beyonce, Usher and Chris Brown. They’re all R&B artists. And they’re really good R&B artists.

R&B (Rhythm & Blues) dates all the way back to the 1940s when the likes of Cab Calloway, The Harlem Hamfats, Count Basie and Louis Jordan came to prominence. Eight years later in 1948, music journalist and record producer Jerry Wexler derived the term R&B for this genre of music. R&B was originally used by record companies to refer predominantly to African-Americans at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular.

The commercial R&B music typical of bands from the 50s through to the 70s, usually consisted of piano, one or two guitars, saxophone, bass, drums, and sometimes even background vocalists. The 50s was largely dominated by artists Ray Charles and Ruth Brown, as well as vocal groups like The Drifters and The Coasters, it was only then when the genre began to metamorphose into soul.

Famous tracks from these artists in the 50s include "Bad Blood” by The Coasters which carries the theme of a guys night out and has an energetic, boisterous and freewheeling mood to it, comprising of a pop but also rock and roll feel. “Come Back (Baby)” by music phenomenon Ray Charles was also an extremely popular track, encapsulating elements of blues and soul to mix up the R&B tendencies.

Later Doo Wop, funk, dance, disco, blues and other forms of R&B music began to develop in the industry. R&B has been forever changing and encompassing new elements to evolve the genre, including components of soul, jazz, hip hop and rock. The 21st century particularly has introduced a new type of R&B featuring lighter lyrical subjects and faster beats.

Gradually, more and more artists are experimenting with the genre, developing it and revolutionising it to bring a new sound and feel. Up-tempo beats with a faster pace are common with experimental features ranging across a range of genres.

Artists to date are also experimenting with the R&B genre for each of their individual tracks produced. It’s not uncommon to discover that a song by an artist in the 21st century is R&B combined with another genre, including hip hop or pop. It is rare that a group or artist is solely an R&B producer, as they are renowned for mixing up their musical tendencies and vibes to produce fresh and different concoctions. Controversial singer-songwriter Justin Bieber evolved his music brand and overall artist outlook for himself by transitioning from elements of teen pop and R&B from tracks including “Favourite Girl” and “Baby” to more of an EDM vibe seen in “Where Are U Now” and “What Do You Mean?” inspired by electronic music producers Skrillex and Diplo.

To listen to R&B in years gone by would be extremely different to the type of evolved genre material that more recent artists are producing. In the 40s and 50s it was common to see groups singing about the meaning of love. However, recently song meanings have become less serious and much more light-hearted. The 1953 track "I Want You To Be My Baby" by Louis Jordan, despite the jazz-like and upbeat tempo connotes romantic feelings and meanings in comparison to the 2006 track by Rihanna titled “Unfaithful” which is a complete contrast, suggesting infidelity and cheating, a notion that would have likely rarely been featured in earlier R&B tracks.

Previous to the kind of lyrics we hear in R&B tracks today, which include prominent themes about the triumphs and failures of relationships, economics, aspirations, freedom, and sex; it was more regular for artists of the 40s to the 70s also to sing about and express the African-American experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy.

In the 21st century the term R&B still, in many contexts, categorises music made my black musicians and suggests a distinct genre style in comparison to music produced by other musicians.

R&B music does demonstrate a marxist development from when and how it first originated. Despite the lyrical contexts of most tracks from this genre referring to African-American pain and fight for freedom, it is clear to see that R&B, while still being largely dominated by African-Americans, has made an obvious step forward socially and historically. 21st century African-Americans now typically refer to money, expensive jewellery, fame, sex and women, with a few exceptions including the likes of Nico and Vinz who have produced tracks focusing on African-American advancement.

It is clear to see that the genre has made social, historical and musical advances over time. But one thing that has remained the same is the quality of music and the quality of the artists.

The Weeknd: Beauty Behind The Madness

Music is a getaway for many people and for these many people that getaway can be diverse in the industry of melodic tunes, lyrical decisions and instrumental combinations. Chart music is an obvious choice for music discoveries as it’s simply what is popular in the mainstream and is also easily accessible. However many genres of music remain neglected because of the standard UK Top 40 and most people believe that if an artist or band isn’t in the charts then they aren’t popular or not worth a listen. That’s where the audience of this generation are wrong.

Venturing out from your musical preferences can be difficult - maybe you don’t know what else there is, what you’ll like or how to find something new. The mundane output of pop, dance and house music the charts are feeding us does become tiring, however movie soundtracks can be a great journey to an exploration of many newfound and distinct genres.

“Beauty Behind The Madness” - The Weeknd’s seventh studio album, which made a feature in the long-anticipated and controversial 2014 movie 50 Shades of Grey, centres itself around the musical genre PR&B. The genre is a stylistic alternative to R&B that has also recently been popularised by the likes of singers and songwriters Frank Ocean and Miguel. The main difference to R&B is that this genre includes some elements of rock, EDM and hip-hop and the lyrics often carry mysterious and dark meanings and connotations.

One track from the album “Earned It” made its debut in the movie 50 Shades of Grey and because of this gained instant popularity and focus on the album and its other tracks. Shortly afterwards tracks including “Can’t Feel My Face” and “The Hills” and their music videos were released and achieved success by hitting the charts and becoming a favourite amongst a range of listeners. The track “Often” which was the first to be released from the album a year ago also proceeded to thrive and too gained recognition following the fame of the movie’s popular number.

Despite The Weeknd’s disparate genre the popular tracks are not unheard of to make an appearance in bars and nightclubs accompanied by a remixed touch to convert the sounds to a more stereotypical dance-style feel; distancing from the mysterious deeper noises that are associated with PR&B.

When the artist, properly known as Abel Tesfaye, commented in an article with TIME on his relationship with the controversial “alternative R&B” he is usually associated with, he said: “Alternative R&B is in my soul. It’s not going anywhere. When I put out songs from House of Balloons in 2010 people said I made R&B cool again. I’m assuming that’s when the label was created.

“I feel honored that a good part of today’s music is inspired by it, consciously or subconsciously. The only way I could have done that was to be ambitious and grand. That’s what I want to do with Beauty Behind The Madness. I want to make pop cool again, and the only way I can do that is by being ambitious and grand.”

Artists known for their pop genre’s including Ed Sheeran and Lana Del Rey both make their appearance in the collection of tracks and add their own music styles to the mix to enhance the sounds and form a twist on the artist’s PR&B song structure. Labrinth is also featured on the track "Losers", bringing a hip-hop element to the album as well.

Musical sounds explored in this album range from high-pitch soft harmonising to heavy drum sets. The genre of the album definitely doesn’t fail to make use of a diverse range of instrumental and digital audio concoctions to form a genre that ensures it stands out completely from the regurgitated tracks that make it popular to date.

The album features prominently themes ranging from drugs, sex and women to the feeling of entrapment in a range of social contexts. The selection of lyrics displayed in most of the tracks carry mostly negative and dazed connotations, implying a sense of feeling lost or dissatisfied.

The first released track from the album “Often” is an overtly sexual musical piece that talks about women and sex using a provocative approach, leaving virtually nothing to the imagine. During the narrative of this track the artist makes himself out to be almost an expert in the field and boasts about his way with women.

Several more of his popular tracks on the album including “Dark Times” and “Tell Your Friends” make reference to drugs and lighten the theme in a casual and non-serious way. Other tracks on the album explore a narrative suggesting that the use of drugs can lead to a feeling of being socially and mentally ambushed, especially seen in the context of “The Hills”.

Postmodernism is largely demonstrated within the album as the contents strive to and ultimately do achieve a movement in the musical art of generic R&B. A skeptical interpretation of an original art genre is worked upon by the artist to produce a postmodern concept that works and accomplishes a new evolution of music.

So, all in all The Weeknd smashes it again; providing us with an array of fantastic tracks for some unique and enjoyable listening.