ALA.NI: Cherry Blossom

Once offering backing vocals for Mary J. Blige, Damon Albarn and even opera singer Andrea Bocelli, London-based ALA.NI is making her own soulful debut. After releasing her beautifully simple song “Suddenly” in December, ALA.NI offers a worthy follow-up this week with “Cherry Blossom.” Featuring the barely-there strokes of guitar, steel pan and guitaret, the quiet song stirs up feelings of nostalgia and mourning—all the while …

Angel Haze: Candlxs

Angel Haze is known for staying true to herself and her brutal honesty—whether it’s rapping about being sexually abused in her rendition of Eminem’s “Cleaning Out My Closet” to openly expressing her frustration with her record label. (She ended up leaking her album Dirty Gold in response). Haze’s newest song, “Candlxs,” is a “incredibly personal” ballad (supposedly inspired by her relationship with Ireland Baldwin) and …

D’Angelo: Live on SNL

Not only sounding every bit the soulful, thoughtful artist that he is, D’Angelo offered an important visual message to his performance on SNL this past weekend. While he performed the stunningly gentle “Really Love” dressed in high-fashion, the singer/songwriter/instrumentalist stood atop a chalk outline and donned a hoodie, and his band wore “Black Lives Matter” and “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts for “The Charade”—one of the …