Rebecca Anderson’s new single, "In the Beginning," lands with the quiet insistence of finding an unexpected patch of vibrant green moss flourishing on a stark city sidewalk – something natural and enduring where you didn't anticipate it. This is Soulful R&B from the LA-based, classically trained artist, but it carries an unusual stillness, a contemplative core. Anderson isn't aiming for chart-storming bombast; instead, the...

Amara-Fe has definitively shifted from the messy business of becoming into the absolute certainty of claiming with her new album, "A Queen’s Ambition". The rising solo artist, tethered to deep musical roots extending through Mission and Dallas, Texas, arrives fully formed here. There is a palpable weight to her cinematic R&B and electropop arrangements. You can almost feel her surveying her territory, setting borders,...