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      Muni Long, Victoria Monét and Other Women Reinventing R&B

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      To accompany this article, Adam Bradley created a playlist of the songs that define R&B’s new era.THE R&B SINGER-SONGWRITER Muni Long has a voice that people say could sing the dictionary and they’d still listen. In 2007, as a teen growing up in Gifford, Fla., she put that claim to the test, recording a five-minute YouTube clip in which she sings from Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary (“aardvark, aardwolf, Aaron …”) to the tune of Fergie’s “Glamorous” (2006). That playful stunt, along with a handful of covers, caught the attention of Capitol Records. Under her given name, Priscilla Renea, she recorded her 2009 debut, “Jukebox,” an album of pop originals that earned good reviews but modest sales. By her 22nd birthday, she no longer had a record deal. Reinventing herself as a songwriter, she spent the next decade building a chameleonic career, writing the 2013 global hit “Timber” for Pitbull and Kesha, as well as songs for Miranda Lambert, Rihanna, Madonna, Sabrina Carpenter and dozens of others.H.E.R., Coco Jones, Victoria Monét and Muni Long pay tribute to the women singer-songwriters of the 1990s and early 2000s.Megan LovalloBut Long never gave up on her own voice. In 2018, she released a slept-on country album. Then, a couple of years later, she found her way to R&B. “I think it was the only genre I hadn’t explored,” says the artist, now 36. She devised a new stage name: Muni, from the Sanskrit for “sage,” a seeker of self-knowledge, filtered through a line from the rapper 2 Chainz’s 2012 song “I’m Different” — “hair long, money long.” That juxtaposition of spirituality and the streets animates the two albums that she’s released under her chosen name: “Public Display of Affection: The Album” (2022) and “Revenge” (2024). On songs like 2021’s “Hrs & Hrs,” her breakout hit, and 2023’s “Made for Me,” Long sings about love, sex and heartache with a passion reminiscent of 1990s slow jams. “R&B hasn’t been at the forefront in over 20 years,” she says. Now’s the time to “help mold a new era.”That new R&B era is here, with women artists leading the way. Born between the late 1980s and the early 2000s, this generation of artists came of age when the music’s stars needed no last name: Whitney and Mariah, Brandy and Monica, Aaliyah and Beyoncé, all chart-topping performers with gifted, even generational, voices who steered R&B through a period defined by male-dominated rap. Today’s stars — SZA and Summer Walker, Normani and Arlo Parks, Raye and Tems, to name just a few, along with the women photographed here — are defying industry formats and fans’ expectations. Some are reviving R&B’s gospel roots, while others are claiming new sonic territory by hybridizing with hip-hop, curating global rhythms and securing the genre’s rightful claim to pop.“R&B is pop music,” Long says — a necessary reminder, given that the music industry has co-opted R&B’s most appealing qualities while relegating the genre itself to the margins. “They took the sounds and they took the swag and they made it mainstream,” she adds. As a consequence, some of R&B’s brightest stars deny the label for fear that it might restrict their audience or, worse, suggest capitulation to de facto racial segregation. “Any music I do will easily and quickly be categorized as R&B because I’m a Black woman,” the 26-year-old singer and actress Chlöe Bailey told Nylon last year. Listen to her sophomore album, “Trouble in Paradise” (2024), and you’ll hear shimmering pop production, booming hip-hop bass lines and the syncopated log drums of Afrobeats. Above all, though, you’ll hear her powerful voice, heir to a distinct tradition that she’s hesitant to claim.Coco Jones (left) and Victoria Monét were also photographed in Los Angeles on Dec. 16, 2024. Jones wears a Gucci dress, $6,900, bracelet, $1,300, bracelet, $1,150, and cuff, $920, gucci.com; Christian Louboutin shoes, $995, christianlouboutin.com; LO Collections earrings, $425, and ring, $300, dinosaurdesigns.com; and Dinosaur Designs ring, $235, dinosaurdesigns.com. Monét wears an Off-White dress, price on request, similar styles at off—white.com; Amina Muaddi shoes, $715, aminamuaddi.com; and LO Collections earrings, $280.Photograph by D’Angelo Lovell Williams. Styled by Milton David Dixon IIIWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The War and Treaty Are Writing Their Love Story Into Country Music History

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      There’s a dressing room backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville called “It Takes Two” that’s filled with photos of some of country music’s most famous duos. It’s Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter’s favorite spot to get ready before they perform there as the War and Treaty, which is so often, they’ve lost count. They hope to become members someday. (It’s on Tanya’s vision board.) And they don’t want to just be inducted. They want to be the first Black artists on that wall.“How about right over there, by Marty Stuart and Connie Smith?” Michael, 42, said last month while laying across his wife’s lap in a pair of leather trousers, their bodies forming a plus sign.Tanya, 52, shook her head while patting the top of her husband’s, the pair’s offstage chemistry mirroring their onstage warmth. “I like that big blank wall,” she replied, indicating a bare corner where they could pioneer their own space.This has long been the War and Treaty’s approach in Nashville: working within the genre’s traditions while building something new for people who have rarely seen themselves in country music. Blending blues, gospel, soul, bluegrass and R&B while rooting their sound in passionate harmonies, they’ve managed to straddle both Music Row and Americana. They’ve earned a best new artist nod at the 2024 Grammys, toured alongside Chris Stapleton, Orville Peck and John Legend, and collaborated on a platinum single with Zach Bryan. Their fourth album, “Plus One,” is due Friday.It hasn’t been easy. Together, they’ve fought through canceled record deals, homelessness, post-traumatic stress disorder and countless barriers to bring listeners a heartfelt message: that love, and forgiveness, is a salve for all.The War and Treaty’s relationship has made a mark on their friends and collaborators. “Michael and Tanya’s love, their story, and their music are all so inspiring and moving,” John Legend wrote in an email.Eric Ryan Anderson for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      A Sly Stone Primer: 15 Songs (and More) From a Musical Visionary

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      The Sly & the Family Stone leader is the subject of a new documentary directed by Questlove. Here’s what to know about his brilliant career and crushing addiction.In Sly & the Family Stone’s prime, from 1968 to 1973, the band was one of music’s greatest live acts as well as a fount of remarkable singles including “Everyday People” and “Hot Fun in the Summertime.” There was a shining optimism to its sound, which mixed funk with the ecstasy of gospel, a little rock and a touch of psychedelia — as well as a vision of community and brotherhood that stood out in a period of political separatism.The visionary behind it all was Sly Stone, who wrote, produced and arranged the music, winning acclaim as the author of invigorating anthems and an inventor of new, more complex recording sounds. But by the early 1970s, he was ravaged by drug addiction, kicking off a cycle of spirals and comebacks and sporadic, desultory live appearances. Now Stone, 81, is the subject of “Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius),” a documentary directed by Ahmir Thompson, better known as the Roots drummer Questlove, that debuts on Hulu on Thursday.Stone, who was born Sylvester Stewart and grew up in Vallejo, Calif., had gospel in his blood. His father, K.C., was a deacon in a Pentecostal church, and Sly began performing with his younger brother Freddie and younger sisters Rose and Vet in the Stewart Four, which released a single, “On the Battlefield,” in 1956 on the Church of God in Christ label.In 1967, “Dance to the Music” became the first of Sly & the Family Stone’s five Top 10 singles.Stephen Paley/Sony, via Onyx CollectiveAs he learned to play guitar, bass, keyboards, drums and harmonica, Stone’s ambition swelled. In 1964, he produced and co-wrote Bobby Freeman’s No. 5 hit “C’mon and Swim,” and soon talked himself into an on-air gig at KSOL, the Bay Area’s AM soul music powerhouse, where he read dedications in his nimble baritone and mixed in Bob Dylan and Beatles songs to the format. “I think there shouldn’t be ‘Black radio.’ Just radio,” he later told Rolling Stone. “Everybody be a part of everything.”After having a small local hit in the Viscaynes, one of the few integrated groups in doo wop, he assembled Sly & the Family Stone with a lineup of men and women, Black and white. In 1967, “Dance to the Music” became their first of five Top 10 singles. Two years later, they performed at Woodstock, providing one of the weekend’s high points. The days of playing nightclubs were over. “After Woodstock, everything glowed,” Stone wrote in his 2023 memoir.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Irv Gotti, Famed Hip-Hop Music Executive, Dies at 54

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      A founder of Murder Inc. Records, he helped launch the careers of Ja Rule and Ashanti and was credited as a producer on 28 records that made the Billboard Hot 100.Irv Gotti, who founded Murder Inc. Records with his brother and built a hip-hop empire that produced some of the biggest rap and R&B albums of the early 21st century, has died. He was 54.His death was confirmed late Wednesday in a statement by Def Jam Recordings, which was the parent label for Murder Inc. when it was founded in 1998, and where Mr. Gotti had also worked as an executive. The statement did not say where or when he died or cite a cause.Murder Inc., which Mr. Gotti started with his brother Chris, helped launch the careers of the rapper Ja Rule and the R&B singer Ashanti. Their success propelled the label to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s.“I’m important in America because of hip-hop,” Mr. Gotti said in the 2022 BET documentary series “The Murder Inc Story.” “I love hip-hop with a passion.”Mr. Gotti was born Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr. in Queens on June 26, 1970. He said in the BET documentary that his father was a taxi driver and he was the youngest of eight children. In his early teens, he recalled, he played for hours with turntables and a mixer that his siblings got for him, and he started working as a D.J. for parties when he was 15.He later began working as a music producer and talent scout, and he was credited with helping discover the future hip-hop superstars Jay-Z and DMX. He became an A&R executive at Def Jam.Mr. Gotti was also an executive producer of DMX’s first album, “It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot,” released in 1998, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. He also produced Ja Rule’s first album, “Venni Vetti Vecci” (1999), and worked on several successful releases by Ashanti in the early 2000s, cementing his reputation as a hitmaker.Mr. Gotti was credited as a producer on 28 Hot 100 hits, according to Billboard.With the ascent came scrutiny. In 2003, the F.B.I. and the police raided Murder Inc.’s offices in New York. That was followed by a federal investigation into whether the label had been founded with drug money. Mr. Gotti faced charges of laundering money for Kenneth McGriff, a convicted gang leader. In an attempt to clean up the image of his label, Mr. Gotti dropped “Murder” from its name.“They had everybody who loved me in corporate America, who felt I was a good guy, distance themselves from me,” he said after his acquittal in 2005. “All while I was saying, ‘I didn’t do this, I didn’t do this,’ and they was like, ‘OK, we’ll wait and see.’”Information on survivors was not immediately available.A complete obituary will be published shortly. More

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      Jacob Collier, Megan Moroney and Clay Aiken Issue Holiday Albums

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      Our critics on Christmas records from Jacob Collier, Megan Moroney, two “American Idol” alums and more.A holiday album offers musicians a chance to adopt — or reinvent — a classic format and show fans a different side of themselves. Here’s a sampling of this year’s releases, from singers exploring the standards and artists rethinking the meaning of the holidays.Clay Aiken, ‘Christmas Bells Are Ringing’This is Clay Aiken’s second holiday album; the first arrived two decades ago, the year after he gawkily crooned his way to second place on the second season of “American Idol.” In the intervening time, he’s been on Broadway, he’s run (unsuccessfully) for political office and he’s been on “The Masked Singer.” But he never lost his voice — all these years later, Aiken still sings with a lovely flutter, and with real punch, too. His first holiday collection, “Merry Christmas With Love,” was overflowing with earned pomp — a singer who excelled at targeted bombast given free melodramatic reign. His new one, a covers collection, is a touch more polished, though he does convey true mischief on “Magic Moments” and, on “Do You Hear What I Hear,” accesses the kind of pyrotechnic fifth gear that’s the stuff of “Idol” finales, musical theater blockbusters and Christmas morning celebrations. JON CARAMANICACarpenters, ‘Christmas Once More’The Carpenters’ 1978 holiday release “Christmas Portrait” is not only one of the most enduringly enjoyable Yuletide pop albums of its era, it’s also one of the most ambitious works that Richard Carpenter ever arranged: a grandly orchestrated, elegantly realized suite that weaves together an extended medley of Christmas favorites as though they were a single song. That fluidity is preserved on the new collection, “Christmas Once More,” even though it’s a compilation that features remixed and remastered material culled from both “Christmas Portrait” and its slightly inferior though still lovely 1984 sequel, “An Old-Fashioned Christmas.” These 16 tracks represent most of the highlights from each release, including a festive take on “(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays” and a rerecording of the Carpenters’ own 1970 holiday hit “Merry Christmas, Darling,” featuring accompaniment from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Streamlining the best material from the two previous LPs eliminates some of the compositional pomp that occasionally distracted from the warm, down-to-earth intimacy of Karen Carpenter’s voice, and the finely executed new mix gives it an added gleam. LINDSAY ZOLADZJacob Collier, ‘Three Christmas Songs (An Abbey Road Live-to-Vinyl Cut)’Earlier this year the multitalented polymath Jacob Collier recorded a continuous, 14-minute set of three Christmas classics live at London’s Abbey Road Studios. He uses his piano, guitar and voice all in a similarly searching manner, leaping along scales and octaves with a daredevil’s flair. That approach works best here on piano, particularly during a spellbinding deconstruction of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” enlivened by its twinkling cascade of high notes. Collier’s voice is more of an acquired taste than his piano playing, and despite his impressive range, his showy runs can overly complicate the emotions meant to be translated through these songs. Regardless, though, this recording captures a skillfully executed performance and ends with one of its most enchanting moments, as Collier conducts a choir — its members just happened to be sitting in the audience — in a beautifully understated “Silent Night.” ZOLADZDean & Britta & Sonic Boom, ‘A Peace of Us’“A Peace of Us” brings indie-rock introspection to seasonal sentiments. Dean Wareham, from Galaxie 500 and Luna, and his longtime duo partner and wife, Britta Phillips, collaborated with Sonic Boom, from Spacemen 3, on mostly lesser-known Christmas songs, from John Barry and Hal David, David Berman, Randy Newman, Merle Haggard, Boudleaux Bryant and Willie Nelson, whose “Pretty Paper” is remade as whispery, pulsing electro-pop. The songs play up the mundane aspects of the holiday, and the tone is hushed and hazily retro, with subdued vocals and reverbed guitars alongside the sleigh bells. Even the Lennon-Ono standard, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” drifts away instead of building up. JON PARELESBen Folds, ‘Sleigher’Christmas would seem to present a prime topic for Ben Folds, whose piano virtuosity, keen eye and skeptical but ultimately kindly spirit can turn domestic moments into show tunes waiting for a show. “Sleigher” has one standout: “Christmas Time Rhyme,” a song about the annual family reunion where “We arrive half alive from the last weird trip around the sun.” It’s a jazzy waltz that juggles childhood memories and grown-up insights. The rest of the album — including songs from the Mills Brothers and Mel Tormé — struggles to match it. PARELESWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Miley Cyrus Gives Showgirl Pathos, and 8 More New Songs

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      Hear tracks by Benjamin Booker, Julien Baker and Torres, and more.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here, and sign up for The Amplifier, a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs.Miley Cyrus: ‘Beautiful That Way’At 32, Miley Cyrus is an old soul in the guise of a provocative modern pop star, which means that she can nail a slow, torchy ballad in her sleep. She brings expected, husky-voiced pathos to “Beautiful That Way,” a Golden-Globe-nominated song from the soundtrack of “The Last Showgirl,” Gia Coppola’s moody character study that stars Pamela Anderson. “Just like a rose, she’ll cut you with thorns,” Cyrus croons on the track, co-written with Andrew Wyatt and the Swedish musician Lykke Li. “She’s beautiful that way.” LINDSAY ZOLADZSnoop Dogg featuring 50 Cent and Eminem, ‘Gunz N Smoke’Self-congratulation reigns on “Missionary,” the new Snoop Dogg album that reunites him with the producer Dr. Dre and other 1990s Dre protégés — including, on “Gunz N Smoke,” 50 Cent and Eminem. Flaunting a “Gun smoke, gun smoke” sample from “Dead Wrong” (by the Notorious B.I.G. featuring Eminem), the track has the three rappers revisiting belligerent poses that have become all too familiar: “I come from freestylin’ over gunshots and sirens / Nothing more gangster than my voice over these violins,” Snoop Dogg claims. But Eminem admits, “Now I’m much older, and I may be calmer.” JON PARELESMario, ‘Questions’We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Hear the Best Albums and Songs of 2024

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      A playlist of 103 songs from our three critics’ lists to experience however you wish.Mk.gee, a new type of guitar hero, made some of our critics’ favorite music of the year.Sinna Nasseri for The New York TimesDear listeners,Here at The Amplifier, we like to keep our playlists relatively brief, like bite-sized musical snacks you can nosh on when you have some downtime. But each December, when the critics are publishing our best-of lists, we like to offer up a much heartier feast. Well, I hope your ears are hungry (is that how it works?) because today is the day. It’s time for our annual playlist of the year’s best music — more than six hours and slightly over 100 tracks of it.These songs are culled from our critics’ year-end lists, featuring what Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica and I have chosen as the year’s best albums and songs. There are obvious areas where we all overlap: All three of us, for example, appreciated the bawdy humor of Sabrina Carpenter’s 2024 hits and the towering ambition of Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter.” But what makes this playlist such a fun listening experience is the fact that there are many, many places where our tastes, opinions and preferences diverge.Some cases in point: I just cannot buy Addison Rae as a convincing pop star, while Caramanica put her breathy single “Diet Pepsi” as his No. 4 song of the year. The flip side, though, is that I seem to be the only one on staff who appreciates the former Little Mix star Jade’s frenzied debut solo single “Angel of My Dreams,” or Father John Misty’s epic “Mahashmashana,” both of which made my Top 10. Caramanica’s list reminds me that I need to spend some more time with Mk.gee’s “Two Star & the Dream Police” and Claire Rousay’s “Sentiment,” two albums I enjoyed on first listen but have not returned to much since. Pareles’s list, as always, has some unfamiliar names I’m looking forward to checking out, like the ambient jazz artist Nala Sinephro and British producer Djrum. And both of the Jons’ lists remind me that I have been meaning to check out the debut album from the throwback girl group Flo — whose recently released “Access All Areas” they both recommend.If you’d like to read more about each track, you can follow along with our lists of the year’s best albums and songs, in order. But I personally think the best way to experience this massive playlist is to put it on shuffle and experience the chaotic swirl of all of our different recommendations. May it lead you toward discovering (or rediscovering) some of your own favorite music of this wild, waning year.Listen to the playlist on Spotify.Listen to the playlist on Apple Music.The ceiling fan is so nice,Lindsay More

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      Best Songs of 2024

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      Listen to 68 tracks that made major statements, boosted big beefs, propelled up-and-comers and soundtracked the party this year.Jon Pareles | Jon Caramanica | Lindsay ZoladzJon ParelesA Little Strife, a Lot of RhythmHere’s a dipperful of worthwhile tracks from the ocean of music released this year. The top of my list is big-statement songs, ones that had repercussions beyond how they sound. Below those, it’s not a ranking but a playlist, a more-or-less guided cruise through what 2024 sounded like for one avid listener. I didn’t include any songs from my list of top albums, which are worth hearing from start to finish. But in the multiverse of streaming music, there are plenty of other possibilities.1. Kendrick Lamar, ‘Not Like Us’Belligerent, accusatory and as tribalistic as its title, “Not Like Us” wasn’t an attack ad from the 2024 election. It was the coup de gras of Kendrick Lamar’s beef with Drake, a rapid-fire, sneering assault on multiple fronts. Its spirit dovetailed with a bitterly contentious 2024.2. Beyoncé, ‘Texas Hold ’Em’“Texas Hold ’Em” isn’t just an invocation of Beyoncé’s home state. It’s a toe-tapping taunt at the racial and musical assumptions behind country music as defined by record labels and radio stations. Rhiannon Giddens picks an oh-so-traditional claw-hammer banjo intro and Beyoncé — raised in Texas — promises “a real-life boogie and a real-life hoedown,” singing about drinking and dancing and daring gatekeepers to hold her back.3. Sabrina Carpenter, ‘Please Please Please’Sabrina Carpenter delivers a sharp message on the slick “Please Please Please.”Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesComedy is tricky in a straight-faced song, but Sabrina Carpenter’s eye-roll comes clearly through the shiny pop of “Please Please Please.” The singer tries to placate and possibly tame a boyfriend who sounds more obnoxious in every verse. “I beg you, don’t embarrass me,” she coos; eventually she reaches a breaking point.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More