In October, Ty Dolla $ign released the tune Solid, with Babyface on acoustic guitar and in the video. Today, however, the image of the tender lover has all but vanished in modern R&B. The fact that his new album references the album that laid down the Babyface blueprint feels poignant now people are rediscovering his sound. He refuses to be bound by the rules, so he’s been touting Return of the Tender Lover with the tagline “unapologetic R&B” – truer to the classic style he knows rather than what he thinks he should be sounding like in 2015. “Today in R&B, maybe it’s hip-hop/R&B, there’s always a certain sound you’re supposed to do,” he says, referring to new styles such as trap. “You don’t hear about most people from this period any more – not because they’re not any good, but because you can only stay in the game so long before people move on.”įor his new music, however, the 56-year-old grew tired of being held hostage by trends. “Had I not had the success of the other things then I don’t know as an artist whether I would still be around,” he says of his enviable credits, in a voice that’s so feathery it’s almost a whisper. So how does Babyface himself feel about a bunch of hipsters taking his music in a new direction? “I think it’s great, they’re looking for things that feel good,” he tells me.įrom behind his trademark black Wayfarer shades, Babyface is feeling reflective about his legacy. Music doesn’t sound the same way any more.” It captures a very special moment in time – his music reminds me of being young, discovering CDs and going through my parent’s music. “I was always hearing Babyface songs around the house. “I grew up hearing all his songs on the radio and it’s only now I know that he wrote them all.” For Tinashe, meanwhile, Babyface was a huge part of her childhood. “I think everyone is a Babyface fan, even if they don’t know it,” says 27-year-old electronic-music producer Jam City.
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It’s also gone indie, with artists such as FKA twigs, Tinashe, Blood Orange and How to Dress Well nodding to his production. You only need to look at Frank Ocean, Drake or Miguel to hear Babyface 2.0. Not since the 90s has his influence been so prominent: it’s seeped into house music (Secondcity’s club smash I Wanna Feel samples Braxton’s You’re Making Me High, for example) and has become entwined with hip-hop as rappers take on R&B singing. His music has seeped into the culture of R&B, whether or not the people listening realise, and his style is once again informing the work of today’s producers. And as the 90s R&B revival continues, a new generation of fans has emerged. Now, eight years since his last studio album, Playlist, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds is back with a new record, Return of the Tender Lover. Not everything he did was good, but the art of songwriting, the art of writing a ballad – he’s got it down pat.” “He started a whole genre in America of late-night R&B power ballads. “He’s the quiet-storm king,” says 1Xtra DJ Trevor Nelson, describing the genre that encompasses the tender side of R&B.
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