Soulflower

Beyonce, Chris Brown, Bruno Mars, Rihanna do not make R&B music LOL They are popular for other reasons NOT because they make R&B music.

Bruno Mars music is very eclectic and while I am a fan he does not make R&B music. His music is very inspired by The Police, David Bowie, Prince etc.

Robin Thicke is an R&B singer that has finally found some popular success. He has made three or four albums prior to his "Blurred Lines" album that were not as popular. The popularity of the single is due to other factors not specifically because of the song i.e. music video, the way the music video was marketed and song etc.

Justin Timberlake is a pop singer and has ALWAYS been a pop singer since he was with N SYNC. He sells because of who he is not because he makes R&B music. Trust and believe if he was black he would NOT be selling records and that is the harsh reality.


Alicia's use to be a really good artist but not sure what has happened to her music. Her music is not as popular as Rihanna or Beyonce so why did you lump her with them?

Rihanna and Beyonce are popular because they are brands. Most of their popularity has nothing to do with music specifically more so for Beyonce anyway. They sell a sexy image which always sells because sex sells.They also make dance/pop music which is a popular genre



I agree with this post but R&B does not sell a whole lot.

How can a genre sell if people do not know about it?

They only sell to their niche audiences. There albums are not debuting at number one or selling millions and millions of copies like you are implying

Soulflower

I agree


What popular music have I mentioned?

Artists like Anthony Hamilton or Tamia are not selling out Arenas or Stadiums and they definitely are not playing on popular stations


There albums are not going to number one and they don't get number one singles so I am not sure why you think R&B is a very popular genre.

Back in the 80's you had Patti LaBelle, Earth Wind and Fire or even Luther playing on popular stations with MJ and Madonna because R&B was still relatively popular. It is not like that today.

Frownland

Whether or not they are selling for reasons other than being R&B...it's still R&B that is popular and being sold.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Soulflower

edit.

Forward To Death

Bahaha, Bruno Mars not R&B is the funniest thing I've ever heard.



LOL then what do you suspect this Michael Jackson, disco-era sounding song is?

Ok.

LOL. He's too white, you're right, he couldn't be R&B, and if he was black OFC he wouldn't be selling any albums.

Maybe because she had a hit song that was everywhere last year. Or maybe it's because she's black. LOL

But they're black and R&B, they shouldn't be so high-grossing, right?

Yeah it does, look at the sales figures for all of the artists I just listed. They're some of the highest in the entire industry. People do know about it, that's why it's so popular, and JFC, I didn't imply anything about albums debuting at #1, I said that there are artists that are widely considered R&B that sell a lot of records, and that's a fact.

You don't get to dictate what is and isn't R&B, pop isn't an actual genre, and R&B is one of the biggest components of modern pop music. Them's the facts.





All R&B inspired songs that were HUGE hits in the last year. Where have you been?

djchameleon

Why don't you take a look and see for yourself. Since you are obviously talking rubbish.

List of best-selling music artists - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Exactly.

Truth!

Traditional R&B is exactly what I was talking about and hasn't been in grained in the same way since it died out in mid-90s.

If they are selling for other reasons besides being R&B it doesn't make the suits confident about putting them money into R&B artists that are on the rise.

Also if a disco-sounding song is disco sounding then it is disco and NOT R&B. Duh!
Not true at all. Of course we get to dictate what is and isn't R&B. People that have traditional put out R&B albums have thrown away that style in favor of a more pop/electro sound. For examples of that look at Rihanna, Usher, Ne-yo.


R&B inspired is not traditional R&B

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Necromancer

Most commonly referred to as Contemporary R&B since the 80's.

Soulflower

Excellent Posts!!

Soulflower

Good Point!

Soulflower

I am a fan of Bruno. I have listened to all his music and have seen him live. He does not make R&B music!!!!!

Treasure is NOT an R&B song! Its not a traditional R&B song and it is not even a contemporary R&B song.

Yes, MJ is one of Bruno's inspirations and Treasure is a disco/dance song. It also has some funk inspired elements as well but disco/dance/funk and R&B are different. They are not the same genres although alot of artists fuse them together in there music.


I think the song is more Chic disco late 70s or even Donna Summer or Bee Gees inspired.

It is clearly not an R&B song


It is not the fact that he is "too white".

It is because he is white that he can make traditional R&B music and still cross over to a wider audience unlike African American R&B artists like Maxwell or D Angelo in today's industry.

If Maxwell wanted to cross over and gain some popularity on the popular stations he would have to make dance/pop music. He couldn't cross over in today's market making traditional R&B music.

Artists like Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke, Adele etc can do that because they are white.

Alicia started out making traditional R&B but she doesn't make traditional R&B anymore. And "Fire We Make" featuring Maxwell was only a hit on R&B stations not on the popular stations.


You keep saying they are black and R&B but that isn't really arguing anything.

Do you associate R&B with black people? Just because an artist is black does not automatically mean they make R&B music.

You think songs like Single Ladies, Umbrella, Rude Boy, Girls Run the World are R&B songs? Those are Dance/Pop songs. Those songs are not playing on R&B stations.






But those artists are not R&B artists.

Most of the biggest selling artists of all time are not R&B, i.e. Michael Jackson, Madonna, Elvis, The Beatles, etc. Yes, they might have sung R&B songs but they are not specifically R&B because they have sung so many different genres.

Isn't that what you are doing as well?

If we as consumers do not have a right to dictate it, who does?

I know POP is not a genre but those artists you listed for the majority do not make traditional R&B music.

It seems to me that you are only listing certain artists as R&B just because they are African American which is not good reasoning because not all African American artists make R&B.


Being R&B inspired is not the same as traditional R&B.

There are many songs inspired by R&B it doesnt necessarily make them traditional R&B songs.