Quiet Storm Is Making a Comeback
Everyone tune into KBLX-FM for a night of quiet storm! Quiet Storm was one of the most popular R&B genres from the mid 1970s’ to the late 1990s’ that followed a radio format that fused smooth jazz into the genre. Because of other popular subgenres of R&B started to emerge near the early 2000s like contemporary R&B and the Darkchild electronic R&B style, Quiet Storm started to fade away from existence. However, in today’s R&B sphere, Quiet Storm is making a comeback for several R&B artists like Snoh Aalegra, Daniel Caesar, and Jorja Smith! Check out the brief history of Quiet Storm and listen to these artists’ songs to spot the genre’s characteristics!
What Do You Know About Quiet Storm?
In 1976, Melvin Lindsey, a Howard University student and his classmates started to work as DJs for their school’s radio station called WHUR. Because at the time most of the songs were from previous decades like the 1950s, most of the R&B songs were from Black artists that had smooth jazz undertones. So, Lindsey decided to play the songs during his slot on WHUR and gained positive reviews from audiences for his “easy listening” format. Soon after, the radio format became known as Quiet Storm after Smokey Robinson’s 1975 album, “A Quiet Storm”. Here is a song from Robinson’s album to understand Lindsey’s reasoning behind the genre’s name!
After Lindsey’s passing in 1992, his radio format became a staple on various radio programs, with WHUR still having a quiet storm hour to celebrate Lindsey’s legacy. R&B legends like Luther Vandross, Roberta Flack, Anita Baker, Sade, Maxwell, the Isley Brothers, and more gained a lot radio airplay because of the genre and started to push the boundaries with R&B by exploring sexuality and gender in African-American spaces. (If you don’t know who these R&B legends are, search their names on Spotify!) Now let’s look into today’s artists and how they are incorporating quiet storm in their music.
Snoh Aalegra
Snoh Aalegra is a Swedish born Iranian R&B artist that begun her career in 2017 with her debut album, “Feels” and has continued to dominate the alternative R&B genre. Aalegra was mentored by Prince before his passing in 2016 and coined her music as “cinematic soul”. Aalegra plays a modern twist into the quiet storm genre by her contralto voice riffing with the bass guitars and keyboards. During her Tiny Desk concert, she sings “Whoa”, one of the leading singles from her second studio album, “Ugh, Those Feels Again”.
Notice how the band is playing the chords and the background singers are listening to Snoh Aalegra’s next note. The smooth jazz elements that are at play here are the violins, the subtle snare drums, and the constant rhythm and groove of each song in the set. There are small hints of improvisation but everything is linear to Snoh’s voice. Check out her Tiny Desk concert and one of her latest singles below!
Daniel Caesar
Daniel Caesar is a Canadian singer-songwriter that fuses soul and gospel into his music. Surprisingly, he does incorporate quiet storm elements in both of his songs below by using a simple rhythm and groove pattern from smooth jazz while having a strong back beat to classify itself as an R&B song. For “Get You” featuring Kali Uchis, his voice glides with the instruments like Aalegra but he follows the more traditional format of the genre. Another quiet storm element that he follows is the “easy following” aspect. Lindsey selected music that had that easy listening quality and Caesar executes that here.
For “Best Part” featuring HER (a modern R&B staple), the marriage of harmonies from both artists and with the simple piano and guitar creates the same effect that quiet storm emulates. Check out both songs below!
Jorja Smith
Jorja Smith is a British R&B singer that began singing covers on Youtube in 2012 and released two extended plays (EPs) that led to her start establishing herself in the genre. Smith has an interesting approach when it comes to her style and she uses a few quiet storm elements in the beginning of her career. For her single, “The One” from her first studio album, “Lost & Found”, she takes on an eerie, sensual, and dark undertone. Quiet storm is usually characterized as “romantic” but there are a few songs that have the same eerie tone that falls under this category as well.
For example, Aaliyah, “I Refuse” from her self-titled album in 2001 has quiet storm elements with the same eerie undertone. Another example of the same dark twist on the genre is “I Get Lonely” by Janet Jackson from her “Velvet Rope” album in 1997. Jackson does have a few jazz elements and dramatic drops on the track. However, when she sings the verses, it doesn’t follow the “romantic” format of quiet storm, it is more of a loneliness tone.
Either way, in Smith’s single, “The One”, the track uses more of the bass clef scale to drive the darkness of the piano. For “Something in My Way”, Smith has the same elements from “The One” but it follows more of the traditional jazz style. Check out the two songs below!
Featured Image by Kobe Subramaniam on Unsplash