© 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 serves the Kansas City region with breaking news and award-winning podcasts.
Your donation helps keep nonprofit journalism free and available for everyone.