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08/25/2026

Dolly Parton passed away today at 80. In 1973 she wrote a song as a goodbye to Porter Wagoner, the mentor she was leaving to go solo. She sang it to him in his office and he cried. The song was “I Will Always Love You.” Elvis wanted to record it the next year, but his manager demanded half the publishing, so Dolly said no. She cried all night over that decision and never regretted it. Her version went No.1 on the country chart in 1974, then again in 1982, the first time any artist topped that chart twice with the same song. In 1992, Whitney Houston recorded it for The Bodyguard. It spent 14 weeks at No.1 and became the biggest-selling single by a woman in history. Dolly said she had to pull over the first time she heard it on the radio, and she joked that saying no to Elvis made her enough to buy Graceland. In 2024, she introduced Beyoncé’s “Jolene” rework on Cowboy Carter in her own voice. Rest easy, Dolly 🤍

Rest in peace to Dolly Parton, who passed away peacefully today in Nashville at 80. This is an R&B page, and Dolly belon...
08/25/2026

Rest in peace to Dolly Parton, who passed away peacefully today in Nashville at 80. This is an R&B page, and Dolly belongs here too. She wrote “I Will Always Love You” in 1973 as a goodbye to her mentor Porter Wagoner. Elvis wanted to record it, but his manager demanded half the publishing, and Dolly turned him down. She kept her song. Twenty years later, Whitney Houston turned it into the biggest-selling single by a woman in the history of music, and every dollar of that pen stayed Dolly’s. She said she nearly wrecked her car the first time Whitney’s version came on the radio, and she spent the next thirty years telling anybody who asked that Whitney took her song somewhere she never could have. That’s a songwriter’s heart. Just two years ago she handed “Jolene” to Beyoncé for Cowboy Carter and blessed it on the record herself. Her family asks that donations be made to her Imagination Library in place of flowers. Rest easy, Dolly.

What’s the Aaliyah song that stays with you? 👇🏽25 years ago today we lost Baby Girl, and it still doesn’t feel real. She...
08/25/2026

What’s the Aaliyah song that stays with you? 👇🏽

25 years ago today we lost Baby Girl, and it still doesn’t feel real. She was 15 when she arrived and only 22 when she was taken, and in those seven short years she changed R&B forever. “One in a Million” took two unknowns named Missy Elliott and Timbaland and built a sound the whole genre is still chasing, the cool, the futuristic drums, that whisper-soft voice floating over hard beats. That’s her. You hear Aaliyah in everybody who came after, and you always will. She and eight others never made it home from the “Rock the Boat” shoot in the Bahamas, and 25 years later the music still sounds like tomorrow. Rest in peace, Baby Girl. Drop the song you’re playing for her today.

08/25/2026

How special was this Tems set? 🥹🔥

She co-headlined the opening night of All Points East in London, running through her catalog in front of 45,000 people at Victoria Park. The moment of the night came when she brought out Dave for their UK No. 1 ‘Raindance,’ his hometown, their song, and the whole park singing every word. From the custom crochet look to the vocals, Tems keeps proving she’s one of the most magnetic performers out right now. 💫

Tems, All Points East, Dave, Raindance, Born in the Wild, R&B, live music

What are your first impressions of ‘Roadrunner’? 🇯🇲👇🏽Destin Conrad just did something different. His new album ‘Roadrunn...
08/24/2026

What are your first impressions of ‘Roadrunner’? 🇯🇲👇🏽

Destin Conrad just did something different. His new album ‘Roadrunner’ leans all the way into reggae and dancehall, a tribute to the Jamaican heritage he was raised on, and a real left turn from the alt-R&B and jazz he built his name on. With songs like ‘Favorite Lover’ setting the tone, the project is about life on the road and what it takes to be a touring artist. Fresh off a Grammy nomination and being named an R&B rising star, he’s proving he refuses to be boxed in.

It’s also the No. 1 reggae album on Apple Music right now. Stream ‘Roadrunner’ now.

Destin Conrad, Roadrunner, Favorite Lover, reggae, dancehall, R&B, new music 2026

08/24/2026

Comment ‘PLAYLIST’ and we will send all 140 songs straight to your DMs. What are your favourite songs from 1998 and 1999? 👇🏾

playlist curated by Tomi 🎧

90s r&b, 1998, 1999, r&b classics, 90s music, best year in music

08/23/2026

Who else still has this song in their playlist? 😮‍💨👇🏽

7 years ago today, Summer Walker released ‘Playing Games’ with Bryson Tiller, the ‘Over It’ lead single that went six-times platinum.

08/23/2026

Mariah Carey released “Fantasy” 31 years ago today, and when it hit the chart that September, it became only the second song in history to debut at No.1 on the Hot 100. The first was Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone”, three weeks earlier. The third was Whitney Houston’s “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)”, which ended Fantasy’s eight-week run that November. The first three No.1 debuts in Hot 100 history all happened in the fall of 1995, and all three belonged to Black artists. And the remix did its own damage, Mariah brought in Ol’ Dirty Bastard and later said that version drove half the song’s sales. Every pop and rap collab you’ve heard since started here.

08/23/2026

Have y’all been waiting on this Lucky Daye and Leon Thomas collab like we have? 😭👇🏽

Lucky Daye and Leon Thomas just got on a song together and ‘Fly U Out’ is exactly what you’d hope for. Two of the best voices in R&B right now, one record. Lucky’s fresh off his Warner deal, Leon’s still riding the ‘MUTT’ wave, and together they just make sense. Stream ‘Fly U Out’ now.

Lucky Daye, Leon Thomas, Fly U Out, R&B, new music 2026

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