Musical Genres And Styles Codexery

Contemporary R&B

Genre blending R&B with pop, hip-hop, and electronic elements.

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Since the 2010s, the incorporation of disco and electronic textures has brought forth a style called electro-R&B.[1] African-American musicians in the 1970s created a popular music genre that fuses rhythm and blues with pop, disco, funk, soul, jazz, blues, electronic, and hip-hop, known as contemporary R&B.[1]

Making and release

The progressive soul movement of the early 1970s, led by Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder, expanded R&B's musical and lyrical boundaries.[2] Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones added electronic elements to late-1970s disco, creating a smoother dancefloor-friendly style first seen on Off the Wall (1979).[3] Richard J. Ripani wrote that Janet Jackson's Control (1986) was important to R&B's development, fusing funk, disco, synthesizers, percussion, sound effects, and rap music sensibility.[4] Teddy Riley began producing R&B recordings with hip hop influences in 1986, a combination termed "new jack swing" applied to artists like Keith Sweat and Bobby Brown.[4][5]

The Grammy Award for Best R&B Album was first awarded in 1995 to Boyz II Men for II.[6] Alicia Keys' debut single "Fallin'" (2001) peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and won three Grammy Awards in 2002, including Song of the Year.[7] Usher's Confessions (2004) sold 1.1 million copies in its first week and has been certified Diamond by the RIAA.[8] At Motown, Norman Whitfield's productions were pioneering for placing soul vocals and simple hooks against strong backbeats, vocal harmonies, and orchestral sounds, which thickened the music's texture.[2]

The soundtrack for The Bodyguard (1992), performed by Whitney Houston, has sold over 45 million copies globally, making it the highest-selling soundtrack ever.[9]

What the cited sources add

Leopold noted that Beyoncé's five awards tied the record for most Grammys won by a female artist, set by Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, and Lauryn Hill.[10]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Contemporary R&B" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The 20 Best Pop and R&B Albums of 2016", Pitchfork, 2016-12-06 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Contemporary R&B" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Himes, "Curtis Mayfield", The Washington Post, August 29, 1989 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Contemporary R&B" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ward, "R&B and Influence: The Producer as Ephebe", Circulation Mag, November 2011; Erlewine, "Michael Jackson – Off the Wall", AllMusic (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Contemporary R&B" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ripani, "The New Blue Music: Changes in Rhythm & Blues, 1950–1999", University Press of Mississippi, 2006, p. 130–155, 186–188; Ripani, "The New Blue Music: Changes in Rhythm & Blues, 1950–1999", University Press of Mississippi, 2006, p. 130–155, 186–188 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Contemporary R&B" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Heller, "New jack swing", The A.V. Club, 30 September 2010; Carter, "5 Things You Can Learn About ... New jack swing", Chicago Tribune, 10 August 2008 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Contemporary R&B" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mayfield, "Totally '90s: Diary of a decade", December 25, 1999 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Contemporary R&B" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ""Fallin'" Wins Song of the Year", Grammy.com, December 2, 2009; Caulfield, "Beyoncé's 'Dangerously in Love' Album Surpasses 5 Million Sold in U.S.", December 30, 2015; Leopold, "Beyonce tops with five Grammys", February 9, 2004 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Contemporary R&B" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Susman, "Usher sells a record-breaking 1.1 million", March 31, 2004 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Contemporary R&B" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gipson, "Adele's "21" Closing in on Billboard Charts Record", BET, January 26, 2012; Terrell, "Jimmy Jam on Janet Jackson's 2018 Billboard Icon Award: It's "Overdue"", May 18, 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Leopold, "Beyonce tops with five Grammys", February 9, 2004. facts only, no text reused. edition.cnn.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Contemporary R&B (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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