r&b
(11)
Kehlani
Kehlani Ashley Parrish is an Oakland-born R&B and neo-soul singer-songwriter who turned a childhood of hardship into one of the most compelling careers in contemporary music. After finishing fourth on America's Got Talent as a teen, surviving homelessness, and years of near-misses with mainstream recognition, she finally broke through with 'Folded' - a Grammy-winning hit that charted in the top 10 for 33 weeks in 2026 and led to her landmark self-titled album. Known for radical emotional honesty, political outspokenness, and a voice that channels Brandy and Erykah Badu simultaneously, Kehlani has become both a commercial force and a genuine cultural touchstone for queer communities and R&B lovers worldwide.
Khamari
Khamari is a Boston-raised, Los Angeles-based R&B and neo-soul singer-songwriter known for his deeply intimate, guitar-driven sound and confessional lyricism. A multi-instrumentalist who started violin at age 4 and briefly attended Berklee College of Music, he drove cross-country alone to chase his vision in LA. After releasing his debut EP 'Eldorado' in 2019 and signing to RCA Records, he dropped his critically acclaimed debut album 'A Brief Nirvana' in 2023 before leaving the major label over creative differences. His sophomore album 'To Dry a Tear' (2025) on independent Encore Recordings marked a major artistic breakthrough - earning him festival slots at Governors Ball 2026 and All Points East 2026, headlining tours across dozens of cities, and comparisons to Frank Ocean, D'Angelo, and Jeff Buckley.
Mk.gee
Mk.gee (Michael Todd Gordon) is a New Jersey-born musician, producer, and multi-instrumentalist whose debut album Two Star & the Dream Police (2024) became a critical phenomenon - ranking #1 album of 2024 by The New York Times, Dazed, and Clash, and earning a Metacritic score of 83. A reclusive guitar savant with an ear for lo-fi distortion and cassette warmth, he has co-produced for Omar Apollo and Dijon, co-written for Bon Iver, and collaborated with Justin Bieber, all while maintaining a fiercely independent artistic identity.
MOIO
MOIO (Moyo Mobolaji) is a Nigerian-Irish singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer from Dublin whose 2023 single 'Moments' went viral in late 2024 - racking up 19M+ Spotify streams and hitting #1 on Spotify's Viral 50 in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Norway, Denmark, and New Zealand. His debut EP 'Earthday' (October 2025) announced him as one of Ireland's most compelling new artists, blending R&B warmth with indie introspection and self-produced bedroom-pop textures. A co-founder of the Chamomile Club collective in Dublin, he now performs internationally and is signed to Republic Records.
Natanya
Natanya Popoola is a British-Caribbean-Nigerian singer, songwriter, and producer from North-West London whose music fuses R&B, alt-pop, neo-soul, jazz, and Caribbean influences into what she calls an 'unboxable' sound. Born September 5, 2002 to an Indo-Trinidadian mother and Nigerian father, she trained at the Julian Joseph Jazz Academy, earned a degree in English Literature at UCL, and released her debut EP 'Sorrow At Sunrise' in 2023. Her 2025 EP 'Feline's Return' (via Human Re-Sources, co-produced with Oscar Scheller) earned co-signs from SZA, Doechii, Tyler, The Creator, and Janet Jackson, a BBC Radio 1 premiere, and features on Billboard's '15 Hip-Hop, Caribbean and R&B Artists to Watch in 2026.' Her alter ego 'Feline' - a catlike seductress with a signature cat-eye - anchors a fiercely self-directed creative vision that has drawn comparisons to early-era SZA while carving out entirely new territory.
SZA
SZA (born Solána Imani Rowe) is the St. Louis-raised, New Jersey-grown R&B and neo-soul artist who rewrote Billboard history with SOS - the longest-charting album of the 2020s and the first to break Michael Jackson's Thriller record on the R&B chart. A former elite gymnast and marine biology student, she became Top Dawg Entertainment's first female signee and has accumulated Grammy Awards across multiple ceremonies, culminating in Record of the Year at the 68th Grammys for 'luther' with Kendrick Lamar. Her SOS album spent 100 weeks at No. 1 on the Top R&B Albums chart, and she co-headlined the 2025 Grand National Tour (grossing $358.7M) and the Super Bowl LIX halftime show.
Teddy Swims
Teddy Swims (born Jaten Collin Dimsdale) is a Georgia-raised soul-pop singer whose tattooed exterior and raw emotional delivery mask a voice that sounds like it was forged in a Pentecostal church and tempered by decades of Marvin Gaye records. After years in Atlanta metalcore bands and a viral YouTube cover career, he signed with Warner Records in 2019 and spent the next few years quietly building toward an explosion - 'Lose Control' (2023) became the #1 song in America for 2024, spent 112 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, earned Diamond certification in four countries, and accumulated 1.7 billion streams. His debut album project 'I've Tried Everything but Therapy' (Parts 1 & 2) earned Grammy nominations and festival headlining slots worldwide, cementing him as one of the defining voices of mid-2020s soul-pop.
Tems
Tems (Temilade Openiyi) is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and producer from Lagos who built a two-Grammy career on a contralto voice she once tried to hide. Self-taught on production via YouTube, she went from quitting a digital marketing job in 2018 to becoming the first African female artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first Nigerian female Grammy winner, and a co-owner of an MLS soccer team — all while redefining what Afro-fusion sounds like on a global stage.
The Weeknd
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, known as The Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor who transformed R&B from the shadows of a Scarborough upbringing into a global phenomenon. With 75+ million records sold, a billion-dollar touring empire, and the most-streamed song in Spotify history, he is redefining what a career exit looks like — retiring the Weeknd persona after his 2025 album and film 'Hurry Up Tomorrow', the closing chapter of a dark pop trilogy, to begin again as Abel Tesfaye.
Tyla
Tyla (born Tyla Laura Seethal, January 30, 2002) is a South African singer-songwriter who made history when her debut single 'Water' became the first-ever Grammy Award-winning Best African Music Performance in 2024. Blending amapiano, pop, and R&B into a genre she calls 'Popiano,' Tyla broke onto the global stage at 21, charting higher on the US Billboard Hot 100 than any African female soloist in history. By 24, she had two Grammy wins, a platinum-certified self-titled debut album, and a highly anticipated second album A*POP on the horizon — cementing her as the defining voice of Africa's pop moment.
Yel
Yel (채옐) is a Korean-Singaporean singer-songwriter and bedroom-pop artist based between California and Seoul. Growing up in Singapore before moving to the University of California, Irvine, she began releasing lo-fi R&B sketches on SoundCloud in 2020 and has since built a devoted following through a string of intimate, memory-soaked EPs. Her 2025 breakthrough project Perfect Blue - described by OnesToWatch as 'sticky, sultry' and landing her a spot on their Top 30 Artists to Watch in 2026 - cements her as one of the most exciting emerging voices in love-spell R&B and sultry bedroom-pop.