Neo soul
Neo soul | |
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Stylistic origins |
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Cultural origins | 1980s – early 1990s, United States and United Kingdom |
Other topics | |
Neo soul (sometimes called
. It has been noted by music writers for its traditional R&B influences, conscious-driven lyrics, and strong female presence.Neo soul developed during the 1980s and early 1990s, in the United States and United Kingdom, as a soul revival movement. It earned mainstream success during the 1990s, with the commercial and critical breakthroughs of several artists, including D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell. Their music was marketed as an alternative to the producer-driven, digitally approached R&B of the time, although many of them were ambivalent about the term.
Since its initial mainstream popularity and impact on the sound of contemporary R&B, neo soul has been expanded and diversified musically through the works of both American and international artists. Its mainstream presence declined during the 2000s, although newer artists emerged through more independent means of marketing their music. In his book The Essential Neo Soul (2010), music journalist and culture critic Chris Campbell writes that, while the genre has been "woefully misunderstood and its artists mis-marketed", there is "a historical and social relevance that validates its designation as the current face of alternative progressive soul music (in both underground and overground circles), complete with a distinct origin and developmental evolution".[2] According to Mark Anthony Neal, "neo-soul and its various incarnations has helped to redefine the boundaries and contours of black pop."[3]
Etymology
By definition, neo-soul is a paradox. Neo means new. Soul is timeless. All the neo-soul artists, in various ways, perform balancing acts, exploring classic soul idioms while injecting a living, breathing presence into time-tested formulas. They humanize R&B, which has often been reduced to a factory-perfected product. Like sushi, neo-soul is fresh enough to be served raw.
As a term, neo soul was coined by
In a 2010 article for PopMatters, music writer Tyler Lewis said that neo soul has been received with much controversy: "Given the way black music has been named by (usually) outsiders ever since the blues, the reaction to the name by artists who ostensibly fit into the 'neo-soul' category represents a wonderful example of black self-determination in an industry that is still defiantly wedded to narrow definitions and images of black folks."[8] Jason Anderson of CBC News compares the etymology of neo soul to that of "new wave" and comments: "As imperfect as the term may be, neo-soul is still an effective tag to describe the mix of chic modernity and time-honoured tradition that distinguished the genre's best examples. Neo-soul artists tried to look both backward and forward, acting in the belief that a continuum might exist."[9]
Characteristics
Despite some ambivalence from artists, the term received widespread use by music critics and writers who wrote about artists and albums associated with the musical style.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Common-02-mika.jpg/220px-Common-02-mika.jpg)
Noting that most of the genre's artists are singer-songwriters, writers have viewed their lyrical content as more "conscious-driven" and having a broader range than most other R&B artists.
According to music writer Peter Shapiro, the term itself refers to a musical style that obtains its influence from older R&B styles, and bohemian musicians seeking a soul revival, while setting themselves apart from the more contemporary sounds of their mainstream R&B counterparts.
History
1980s–early 1990s: Stylistic origins
Neo soul originated in the 1980s and early 1990s, with the work of musical acts such as
According to Christopher John Farley, Prince had been "carrying a torch for neo soul for decades, refusing to make R&B that played by the rules or fit into comfortable formats. In the mid-'90s, he was suddenly joined by a host of other soul artists who also wanted to break boundaries".
NdegéOcello's 1993 debut album Plantation Lullabies was later credited as the beginning of neo soul;[35] according to Renee Graham of The Boston Globe, it was "arguably the first shot in the so-called 'neo-soul' movement".[36] The success of Tony! Toni! Toné!'s 1993 album Sons of Soul was also viewed as a precursor to the soul music revival in the mid-1990s.[37][38] Cheo Hodari Coker said in 1997 that the album "largely sparked the soul music revival that has opened the door for a new generation of singers who build on the tradition of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder".[37] Allmusic editor Leo Stanley wrote that by the release of Tony! Toni! Toné!'s follow-up album House of Music in 1996, "their influence was beginning to be apparent, as younger soul singer-songwriters like Tony Rich and Maxwell began reaching the R&B charts. Like Tony! Toni! Toné!, Rich and Maxwell relied on traditional soul and R&B values of songwriting and live performances, discarding the synth-heavy productions of the late '80s and early '90s".[38]
A few hip hop groups are cited as well. Malcolm Venable of Vibe highlights the early work of hip hop band The Roots, who used live instrumentation, as a precursor to neo soul's commercial breakthrough in the mid-1990s.[39] Kierna Mayo, former editor-in-chief of Ebony, said that alternative hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest's early 1990s albums The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders "gave birth to neo-everything ... That entire class of D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Maxwell, and Lauryn Hill".[40]
Mid–late 1990s: Mainstream breakthrough
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Maxwell_%28musician%29.jpg/170px-Maxwell_%28musician%29.jpg)
In 1995, former corporate marketer turned artist manager
After a brief marketing downturn, neo soul gained more mainstream popularity in 1999 with commercial successes by Hill, Maxwell,
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the musical collective
Early 2000s: Height of hype
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Erykah_badu-02-mika.jpg/170px-Erykah_badu-02-mika.jpg)
In 2000, D'Angelo released his second album Voodoo, serving as a further alternative to the mainstream of late 1990s R&B and hip hop, as neo soul reached its apex in the new decade.[54] A production of the Soulquarians,[50] it was an exemplary creative milestone of neo soul.[9][55] Ben Ratliff of The New York Times called the album "the succes d'estime that proves the force of this new music: it is a largely unslick, stubbornly idiosyncratic and genuinely great album that has already produced two hit singles".[11] The year also saw Badu's second album Mama's Gun, by which time the singer had been dubbed by writers as "the queen of neo-soul",[45] although she said of the honorific title, "I hated that because what if I don't do that anymore? What if I change? Then that puts me in a penitentiary."[45] Scott's first album Who Is Jill Scott? sold millions worldwide and proved one of the genre's significant releases.[56]
Other successful performers marketed as neo soul at this time included
Mid–late 2000s: Mainstream decline
The 2000s later featured a decline in output by neo soul artists,[8][60] with many of them failing to make a commercial impact after previous successes or not releasing a follow-up album.[47] Badu's commercial viability decreased as each of her releases following her debut Baduizm departed further from that album's music.[9] Hill followed-up her 1998 debut—considered the best-selling neo soul album—with a combative, confessional live album (2002's MTV Unplugged No. 2.0) in which she expresses her misgivings about fame, and her recording career diminished soon after.[9] Melena Ryzik of The New York Times wrote in a retrospective piece on that "era of left-of-center black singer-songwriters", stating "many of them struggled to keep their creative momentum, conflicted about their early mainstream success."[45] Producer and Soulquarians member Questlove elaborated on the artists' regression from the mainstream, saying "I think most of us went through our psychosomatic, quasi-self-saboteur stage. Once we got that first taste of success, I think just the pressure of reacting got to all of us. Some of us released some of the craziest records of our career."[45] Other artists such as D'Angelo and Hill went on indefinite hiatus from the music scene.[9][45] Tyler Lewis from PopMatters attributed the decline to "the downside of [the] rejection of the term ['neo soul']", going on to say:
The industry, which already has a hard time with unapologetic and complicated black artists, had no idea what to do with all these enormously talented individuals who rejected entire marketing campaigns designed to 'break' them to the record-buying public. As such, albums were shelved or delayed or retooled and artists were dropped from major labels and forced to go it alone, making the first decade of the 21st century the least 'soulful'—however you define it—decade for the industry itself in ... well, decades.[8]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Sutton_graffiti.jpg/220px-Sutton_graffiti.jpg)
After D'Angelo and Hill's withdrawal from the mainstream, Bilal appeared to be another artist from "the soul music vanguard" of the late 1990s and early 2000s to succumb to professional setbacks and fade from the public view, after his heavily bootlegged album Love for Sale was shelved in 2006, although it developed an underground following in subsequent years.[62] Smash Gordon, of the Fabric club's blog, later called the leak "one of the biggest mysteries in neo-soul history".[63]
In the latter part of the decade, emerging artists such as
2010s–present: Late period
Since its original popularity, neo soul has been expanded and diversified musically through the works of both American and international artists.
In August 2019,
See also
References
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Further reading
- Laird, Roland (August 25, 2009). "Maxwell and the Soul of Neo Soul". PopMatters.
- McKnight, Mario David (December 22, 2007). "Afrofuturism and post-soul possibility in black popular music". African American Review. St. Louis. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
- Ofori-Atta, Akoto (June 27, 2012). "Is It a Wrap for Neo-Soul?". The Root. Washington, D.C. Archived from the original on July 19, 2012.