© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Renee Graham On The New, Blue-Eyed R&B

Here & Now pop culture critic Renee Graham has noted a trend recently: for the most part, the biggest acts in mainstream R&B music are white men.

Robin Thicke has his huge hit of the summer, “ Blurred Lines.” Justin Timberlake has his album “ The 20/20 Experience.” There’s also Mayer Hawthorne and Renee’s personal favorite, Allen Stone.

In the past, “blue eyed soul” might have been viewed with derision.

But Graham says nowadays “people just want to hear good R&B — they don’t really don’t care who’s making it, so long as the music’s there.”

Guest

  • Renee Graham, pop culture critic for Here & Now. She tweets @reneeygraham.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

KCUR prides ourselves on bringing local journalism to the public without a paywall — ever.

Our reporting will always be free for you to read. But it's not free to produce.

As a nonprofit, we rely on your donations to keep operating and trying new things. If you value our work, consider becoming a member.