Music
Here's a playlist for all your future pop and R'n'B needs
The Syllabus playlist rounds up only the most forward-thinking future pop and R'n'B sounds around.
Pop and R’n’B has long been a fertile breeding ground for creativity and experimentation, and recent years have seen artists push these to new heights. The boundaries between styles and sounds continue to be torn down as new generations of artists are putting their own unique stamp on the mainstream.
The Syllabus is your guide to all the musicians, producers, singers and rappers pushing future-facing sounds to the foreground. From sugary future-pop and club-dwelling electronica from rising stars to high-profile collaborations – if it has a killer beat and vocals hooky enough to bring down buildings, then you’ll find it here.
Dive into the playlist in the player below, then scroll down to catch up on the latest additions that include heartbreaker pop, chilled-out beats and prizewinning soul.
Check out our Syllabus playlist below:
The Aces – Kelly
The Aces are back!
© Red Bull Records
US four-piece The Aces have been on fire this year – and they’re about to turn up the heat with the release of their second album, Under My Influence, out on Red Bull Records. To satisfy fans’ appetites until the LP drops, the Utah-hailing gang have been releasing a string of delicious pop anthems from it and Kelly is the latest teaser – a sugar-sweet rallying cry against a masterful heartbreak figure. “Kelly, what you doing?” asks singer and guitarist Cristal. “Stop playing with my heart before you tear it right apart.”
RIYL: HAIM, Fickle Friends
Wafia – I’m Good
Wafia
© Drew Gurian / Red Bull Sound Select / Red Bull Content Pool
Wafia, on the other hand, is out the other side of heartbreak. Rewinding to 2018, the Australian singer-songwriter had a spring in her step with the sprightly self-love bop, I’m Good. While the funky bassline will have you looping this one on repeat, it’s Wafia’s gorgeous vocals that really shine here. Two years later and she’s still on top form.
RIYL: Amber Mark, King Princess
Desta Dawn & Ramii – Make You Mine
Desta Dawn and Rami Beatz
© Maria Jose Govea/Red Bull Content Pool
Throughout Red Bull’s original songwriting competition, The Cut: US, singer Desta Dawn and producer Ramii proved time and time again they were on to a winning partnership. Make You Mine, their final track, clinched the deal. Tender vocals, featherlight keys and silky smooth beats – this gloriously modern love song packs a velvet-clad punch.
RIYL: Raveena, Queen Naija
Superorganism – Everybody Wants To Be Famous
Superorganism
© Jordan Hughes
Blazing their own trail of kooky-cool art-pop for the internet age, eight-strong collective Superorganism have truly lived up to their name. Though the project kicked off in 2017 with Something For Your M.I.N.D., things snowballed with the charming, hyper-saturated follow-up, Everybody Wants to Be Famous.
RIYL: Tune-Yards, The Avalanches
NEIL FRANCES – Teardrops
Womack & Womack’s Teardrops has seen a fair few covers since it hit the airwaves in the late ’80s, but LA duo NEIL FRANCES’ lo-fi take is among the best. Slowed down and stripped back, they bring a hazy, ‘70s warmth to the disco classic.
RIYL: TOPS, Whitney
Tom Misch & Loyle Carner – Water Baby
Loyle Carner
© Steve Stills/Red Bull Content Pool
Tom Misch and Loyle Carner have a long collaborative history. Both are also key players in a genre-defying London music scene that connects the dots between jazz, electronica, hip-hop and soul. Water Baby, taken from Misch’s debut studio album Geography, is one of the pair’s brightest tracks together. Gentle grooves, horns and laid-back lyricism will have you feel like you’re drifting down a sun-dappled River Thames.
RIYL: Kamaal Williams, Jordan Rakei
