King A three-year sonic drought ended this October for fans of North Preston R&B luminary Keonté Beals as he dropped his long-awaited LP,
King. Over nine tracks that evoke Elijah Blake, Ledisi and peak 2000s Usher, Beals delivered songs fit for everything from baby-making to breaking up to party starting to reckoning with personal identity. The self-produced effort sees Beals playing with shades of reggae (the rip-roaring opener “Let Go”) and returning to familiar slow-jam territory (the silk-sheet “Know Better”), all while finding his true voice and exploring aspects of his life as a Black man: “That’s with mental health, that’s with love, that’s with triumph, lust,” he explained to The Coast this fall. “Listening to
Posted: Dec 10, 2020 6:00 AM ET | Last Updated: December 10, 2020
Albums from Carly Rae Jepsen, Lido Pimienta, Backxwash, Tobi, the Weeknd, Tenille Townes and others stood out in 2020.(Supplied by the artists; design by Myles Chiu/CBC Music)
It s no secret that this year challenged the music industry in many ways. The COVID-19 pandemic forced musicians to hit pause on world tours; ongoing discussions around racism and underrepresentation made record labels and award shows rethink their use of language and categorization (to varying levels of success); and social media apps like TikTok continued to break down and rebuild the ways in which the industry operates.