2017 may very well have been the greatest year ever for fans of R&B. What the year lacked in projects from modern staples like The Weeknd and Frank Ocean, it more than made up for with an absolute bombardment of innovative releases from the next generation of rhythm and blues artists – a generation hell-bent on expanding the genre with experimentation and style blending that are sure to bring it to never before seen heights.

 

Though we could list all of the projects we loved in 2017 (and rest assured we’ve already done so too many times), one that was particularly intriguing came from Top Dawg signee and California dreamboat, SiR. His EP, Her Too came nearly a year ago as his first release underneath the TDE banner and caught the attention of the entire music world. His soft, soulful voice and unparalleled talent at successfully experimenting with changes of cadence provide him a sound difficult to define, but easy to listen to. Living in the perennial grey area between hip-hop and R&B, he has easily found a large audience, who yesterday, he blessed with his first full-length album since 2015, and the debut to his Top Dawg era.

 

November is not to be taken lightly. It’s the kind of creative display we expected from SiR and does nothing but surpass all expectations, exhibiting the buttery vocals that make him a star in the R&B game and the unique delivery that make him something else entirely. A listener would be hard-pressed to find an artist with a more enlightened combination of vocal and lyrical skill, and thanks to his youth and the talent surrounding him at TDE, you can be sure that it’s only the beginning. When Her Too came out, we were sure that SiR was to going be one of the leaders of a new, supremely talented R&B movement, and now that we have heard November, we have all the proof we need.