I've loved Aaliyah from the moment I first heard the declarative "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number" in the Spring of 1994. I loved her even more when she embodied a martial-arts Juliet with "Try Again," from the 2000 film "Romeo Must Die." Her spare, icy style of R&B was somehow both sultry and impossibly smooth. She was like Grace Jones plus Sade with a little bit of Control-era Janet. And then in 2001, she was killed in a plane crash at age 22 after filming the video for "Rock the Boat" in the Bahamas.

And now suddenly it's like she's back - or at least her voice is - in the form of four new R&B artists channeling the oft-bespectacled, R. Kelly betrothed songstress who gave the verbal acrobatics of Mariah, Celine, Christina and Destiny's Child (love you Bey) a compelling counterargument. Her successors have arrived - and they give me those same Aaliyah chills.

FKA Twigs

If I had to pick one artist to cover the classic Aaliyah babymakers, this Londoner would be the top choice. Not only did FKA Twigs - nee Tahliah Debrett Barnett - release one of the most critically lauded albums of the year in LP1, she nails the cool-girl sexiness like few others. Compare "Rock the Boat" with "Two Weeks."

Tinashe

One of the best things about Aaliyah's understated vocals are how good they sound playing off hip-hop beats and rhymes. Zimbabwean-American Tinashe Jørgensen Kachingwe gives the classic "Are You That Somebody" (featuring a cooing Timbaland) a real run for its money with the A$AP Rocky duet "Pretend."

Kelela

So tecccccchhhhnically D.C.-born Kelela's debut mixtape came out last year, but lounge staple "Bank Head" really belonged to 2014. Compare it to the minimal futurism of "One in a Million" and it more than holds up.  

AlunaGeorge

We have to credit this British duo for really sparking the low-fi R&B renaissance - and singer Aluna Francis for picking up the mantle of lady empowerment. This year saw the release of their follow-up album Supernatural, a worthy successor to Aaliyah's classic ode to female multitasking, "More than a Woman."