While British R&B's quest for equality with other genres in the mainstream is far from over, there have been signs of progress over the past 12 months.
After being criticized for snubbing UK R&B artists in 2022, the Brit Awards in 2023 lazily combined R&B into one genre category and then only nominated non-R&B artists. However, for 2020 2024, they have officially righted their wrongs by introducing the Best R&B Act category, which feels like a big step toward providing a more accurate representation and recognition of the best R&B talent this country has to offer.
The talent pool of nominees is certainly not in doubt, as UK artists continue to produce some of the best R&B music in the world, as has been the case for many years. This year's five nominees (Cleo Soul, Jorja Smith, Malia, Ray and Salt) have thriving careers and have achieved success on an international level. Given the amount of good acts that have hit the UK scene in recent years, momentum waning at some point would be understandable.
But either way, the British R&B/soul talent is getting stronger by the day, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Here are 11 R&B/soul acts to watch in 2024.
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