R&B Genre Quotes

I don't really listen to contemporary R&B with an ear for hearing my influence. Music is a spirit unto itself, and all of us musicians influence each other all along the chain.

Am I R&B because I'm black? Am I pop because I have a song called 'Milkshake'? Or can I just be who the hell I am? Good Lord, people make it seem like we're doing heart transplants here, but we're just making music!

I was frustrated in the past, like, 'Wow, why do they have to throw me in the R&B urban adult contemporary lane?' 'Woman' was a no. 1 hit at Urban AC, so there's no disrespect to that lane. But did it get a fair shot at urban radio? No, I don't think so.

A song like 'Loyal To Me,' for example, I originally wrote that for a girl band in mind, that's why it has so many harmonies and it's got that sort of '90s/R&B feel to it.

When I was little, I used to listen to Lauryn Hill, so that's that hip-hop and R&B influence in me.

When I was 13, listening to Choice FM, I would listen to a lot of R&B from America, and whenever a British person tried to do it, it didn't really work, they just sounded like they were trying to copy that whole style. Now the music sounds British, something real rather than an imitation.

If it came down to it, I wish people heard different records from me that I know give you a soul R&B sound of music that I know is really my gift, gift. But the ones that usually go are the records that radio, the fans and the clubs really love the most.

'When Doves Cry' came out - it sounded like nothing that was on the radio. 'Let's Go Crazy' was number one on R&B stations, and there's nothing that's been like that on radio since.

The great thing was that both K-Ci and JoJo told me to not make an R&B track that was reminiscent of radio hit records. 'Make a Gang Starr track and we'll write our lyrics to that,' they told me. They couldn't stress it enough.

I've been working a lot with this girl Kelly Kiara. She's amazing. She's going to be super important for R&B coming out of the U.K.

The whole thing about 'progressive R&B' blows my mind. Black music has always been progressive.

There wasn't a lot of R&B cats doing songs at 120 beats per minute before 'Closer,' which I take full credit and responsibility for. That's all good, but it was an experiment. You experiment with something, if it goes good, cool, but you never forget where you come from and R&B is where I come from.

I think the Mary J. Blige persona wouldn't lend itself to the big kid persona, but that's exactly who she is. She has such a serious life and childhood and then such a dramatic one, a successful R&B singer. But she's just stayed this kid for life and stuff.

As of right this second my main focus is my new album, it'll be out probably towards the summertime, predominately R&B this time. I had a little stint with the dance music and all of that, which I had a good time with- and I love the audience, I love them for accepting me doing it -but I had to go home on this one. Had to take it back to my roots, and not to say that there won't be one, maybe two songs on there that the dance crowd can get into, but the majority, the girth of the album, will be R&B.

Hip-hop I never really got really into mainly just because I'm not a big fan of rap. I do like R&B artists like Beyonce. I'm a big fan of her mainly because of her vocals. They're just so awesome. I love her and Christina Aguilera, and that whole urban kind of feel is really great, especially with my voice.

I had a band called the Sound Of Love, and that was R&B songs about girls in my high school. I played in some other indie bands who were trying to make it big; those sucked. Then I started Makeout Videotape, and that was that.

From the music I make, to the things I do in my life, I'm true to my R&B core.

We have a lot of indie artists coming from Sweden, not so much soul. The closest thing we had was Robyn when she came out, but it's a different kind of R&B.

I love artists like Jon B, but I don't wanna be compared to anybody. I'm just doing my interpretation of rnb and how someone like me should be doing it.

I want to do more urban R&B with a little bit of pop, but not much. I want to have that soulful kind of side of me come out.

I just remember falling in love with the old Chris Brown music, where it was, like, that real R&B, and I love the radio smashes he's put out since then, but I go back to his older music for that R&B.

Sometimes you have to listen to a CD over and over before you really get it, but as soon as I heard the first note of R&B artist Chrisette Michele's debut CD, I was blown away. Her voice is playful but pretty, light but strong - the woman's got soul.

In a small town, it's either sports or a band with your buddies. I was always athletic. But in college, I was exposed to all this new music, and I was drawn to hip-hop and R&B.