There is no special theme for Snobette Sounds top 25 singles by women this month, but I wanted to use this space to comment on r&b as a genre. Since the demise of neo-soul, it’s often said by music lovers that r&b is dead. I beg to differ. Yes, r&b was hard to find on mainstream music charts for a period, but the recent emergence of trap soul and alternative r&b as emergent genres has upended the narrative. Currently there are a ton of up-and-coming great r&b singers, enough to inspire me to create an “R&B Ain’t Dead” playlist.
Still, while the sound is on the come back, there have been few females faces representing the genre. Yes, acts like SZA, Jhené Aiko and H.E.R. have been embraced though for the most part by a female fan base. It takes a special kind of woman and song to inspire straight men to openly sing a love song at the top of their lungs. London-born Ella Mai is that artist. It took a while (the single was part of her February 2017 EP “Ready”), but her infectious “Boo’d Up” single is currently sitting at No. 1 on Billboard’s hot r&b songs chart.
“Boo’d Up” is the most successful r&b single sans rap features by a female artist in ten years. Obviously I hope Mai’s success opens a door for more r&b music by women.
On a closing note, BET’s best female rapper award nominations have been released and for the first time in along time, there is no clear-cut winner. BET’s nominations this year are Cardi B, Dej Loaf, Nicki Minaj, .Rapsody and Remy Ma. Who are you hoping will take it home?
As always if you are every looking for new music by female artists in-between this monthly column, check out my “Bad Bitch Anthems” playlist and keep up with me on Twitter at @ebtheceleb.
Below check out the top 25 drops by women in the month of May.
