Kiana Fitzgerald

Courtnie Henson wants us to vibrate higher. The 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Harlem (by way of Los Angeles, Chicago and St. Louis) is quietly making her stage entrance via an unassuming style of astral jazz-tinged rhythm & blues. Her debut EP, Nebula, places her beside fresh-faced experimentalists such as the ...

The video for Kadhja Bonet's "Honeycomb" feels a tad familiar — then again, it doesn't. Technically, the scenes of backlit silhouettes that flash throughout are nothing we haven't seen before. But when you add those visuals to Bonet's breathy vocals and the song's string-laden arrangement, "Honeycomb" becomes something all its ...

The French-Brazilian producer, singer and songwriter Yndi Ferreira, best known as Dream Koala, has been getting noticed for a minute now. The 21-year-old musician released his best-known song, a one-off track called "We Can't Be Friends," in 2012; and it struck a chord in the R&B and hip-hop universes, ...

"You're only human, a human like me. You're not so special after all."

It's a hell of a message; one known widely to be true, but not exactly quick to be expressed out loud. Yet on A-Trak's "We All Fall Down," the British blue-eyed soul-adjacent vocalist and producer ...

If you backtrack through the few songs Mizan has on her SoundCloud page or YouTube profile, you get the sense that she's not in this to become famous, or a pop star, or an idol. She doesn't sing about money or lust. She doesn't ...

What you're about to hear is a testament to faith and perseverance. "Angel in the Dark," from soul singer-songwriter Judith Hill's solo debut, Back In Time, represents the struggle of aspiring to heights unknown, with nothing to break your fall but a steadfast trust in a higher power.

"Rewind," the latest track from new-wave R&B fave Kelela, hasn't become any less addictive since it debuted a week ago. The most recent offering from the D.C.-bred, LA-based singer, and the lead track from her newest EP Hallucinogen, would fit seamlessly on 1996's So So Def Bass All-Stars, an ...

The most exciting voice currently coming out of the Windy City might belong to BJ The Chicago Kid, one of R&B's most faithful contemporary singers. With "Church," the latest single from his forthcoming major label debut, In My Mind, BJ illustrates two sides of his faith: a devotion to ...

If you want to understand how the hip-hop/R&B production duo Christian Rich operates, listen to the first two tracks of its debut album, FW14. The intro, "Yellow Moon," is 40 seconds of the most hip elevator music you've ever heard, mixing brief flashes of heart-palpitating drums with a jazz-inspired ...

The company you keep says a lot. On his upcoming full-length debut, Seven Sundays, Inglewood singer-songwriter SiR (born "Sir" Darryl Farris) is making a hell of a statement through his collaborative choices. It's chock-full of contributions from some of the most promising singers, producers and songwriters working the ...

We've been fans of Abhi//Dijon for a minute now. You might remember the low-key singer-producer duo from its song "Distant Love," which made our list of the most slept-on R&B songs of 2014. (They also made an appearance on this year's best songs of 2015 so ...

Depending on your mood, the thought of love can either make you feel weightless or like you're drowning. Singer-songwriter Alina Baraz and Danish producer Galimatias have decided they want you to experience both — and it's a damn good feeling. "Unfold," the final track of their ...

Ta-ku is that dude on SoundCloud. Over the past few years, the Australian producer has established himself as one of the frontrunners in the musical playground of remix kings and percussive trap. Days after dropping a Flume re-remix that fits neatly into that universe, he flips the script ...

You might remember British soul artist Ben Khan from his song "Youth," which made our list of the best songs of 2014 back in December. On his new single "1000," the 22 year old leaves no room for hesitation. The title track to his upcoming EP comes in thumping ...

Exactly one year after releasing the densely produced and stunningly astute Beautiful Pimp 2, Atlanta rapper Rome Fortune lets loose the visuals for his project's standalone track, "OneDay." The lyrics that run throughout the song read like your average rap manifesto: "It's me alone, standing here / Unfulfilled, I don't ...

R&B singer-songwriter Elle Varner flew out of the gate in 2011 with a feel-good, boom-bap-heavy tune about a man who had managed to snag her attention away from a particularly nice pair of shoes. But three years already feels like an eternity ago, and on her newer material ...

Singer-songwriter SZA consistently tagged the music she released on SoundCloud in 2012 and 2013 as one thing: "Alternative." That tag is something of an anti-classification ether, the place artists go to hide out when music journalists not unlike myself go hunting for victims to categorize. On ...

For a few years now, BJ The Chicago Kid has been the answer when rappers known for taking their pound of flesh need a little help baring their souls — from Freddie "Gangsta" Gibbs to Top Dawg Entertainment's reluctant industry darlings, Kendrick Lamar and

The day after playing a set at the Superdome during the Essence Music Festival this summer, eclectic R&B singer Jesse Boykins III wandered into Mardi Gras World — an expansive, airy warehouse packed wall to wall with floats used in New Orleans' infamous parades. The floats are built from the ...

On a particularly muggy day this past week, Mali Music arrived at NPR's D.C. headquarters armed with only his enthusiasm (and a teensy entourage). Though the humid haze and some midday I-need-a-coffee-stat office funk hung all around him, he soldiered his way through.

Throughout his new album, Mali Is..., the ...