The singer’s first posthumous album deserves to be remembered as the bravest of her career.
r&b
Posted inFeature
40 Years Later: Sade, “Promise”
“Promise” isn’t necessarily about love, or even about surrender, but about giving your heart over, repeatedly, and enduring the failures that come with the exchange.
Posted inFeature
30 Years Later: Groove Theory, “Groove Theory”
“Groove Theory” tries to make the work of staying in love feel as easy as possible, even when it isn’t.
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring stories by John Woodrow Cox, Justin Sayles, Aryn Baker, Moran Barkai and Paul Tullis, and Russell Cobb and Sarah Brandvold.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Remembering D’Angelo: The Eternal Spell of ‘Voodoo’
“’Voodoo’ has remained one of the pillars of soul music that’s transcended its era and defined its genre, nearly as much as one video almost came to define D’Angelo.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Lost Ones
“Sometimes you encounter a song that will not fade away, though you never hear it again.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Commentary, Culture, Feature, Story
‘Play Another Slow Jam, This Time Make It Sweet’
The term “slow jam” became widely popular when a song performed by Midnight Star debuted in 1983.
Posted inArts & Culture, Culture
Remembering James Ingram
The R&B singer and songwriter made it look easy, even when it wasn’t.
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Story
When Black Male Singers Were Sex Symbols
Teddy Pendergrass was the R&B singer women wanted and who men wanted to be. And the one whose life-sized cardboard cutout stood in one family’s living room.