Laila! & Queen Naija Take The Reins On Our New “R&B Season” Playlist Update: Stream

Welcome to autumn, where the influx of new R&B-related tracks isn’t slowing down. Moreover, we’ve got our latest R&B Season playlist update here to round up the best of the best around the genre that came out this week. This time around, we wanted to first shout out the new Laila! album, Gap Year! It’s a 17-track of some really funky and lush bedroom pop mixed with R&B-style vocal melodies, infectious basslines, airy deliveries, and a lot of fun-loving charisma. As one of the rising stars within the game this year, she’s displaying her versatile talents even more here thanks to excellent cuts such as “Want 2.”

On a more classic R&B tip, we have the new Queen Naija single “Good Girls Finish Last.” It’s another example of acoustic guitar balladry, but the earthy percussion pattern does a lot to separate it from the more sad and down-trodden style associated with that archetype. Some harmonious backing vocals and a tight lovelorn narrative also help to center this track into more of its own identity. If you’re looking for some tender jams this week to soothe you, then this should be right up your alley.

Another project we wanted to highlight on this R&B Season update is RINI’s new seven-tracker, Lucky 7. Its sonic character is mostly built around dreamy guitar tones, softly buzzing bass, crips drums, and an overall atmospheric approach to indie and R&B fusions. One particular standout is “Far Away,” whose chime embellishments and measured vocal approach closes the project out quite well. But don’t let that fool you: the rest is just as worth it.

Finally, we’d be remiss not to mention the genre-fusing full-length from Fred again.., ten days. While not all of it takes influence from R&B, as it’s mostly an electronic experience, “fear less” with Sampha is among its most interesting and well-developed experiments. Let us know what your favorite R&B Season inclusion was this week, as well as what else we missed, down in the comments section below. As always, stick around on HNHH for the latest music drops around the clock.