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Celeb News: Frank, Pharrell & Mariah Top Anticipated R&B Albums List
Member Since: 6/8/2008
Posts: 24,791
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Frank, Pharrell & Mariah Top Anticipated R&B Albums List
This time last January, we were rubbing hands together for what we thought was an imminent Beyoncé album. She topped our 2013 list of the most anticipated R&B projects on the calendar, but nearly 12 months would go by without a release.
We hit "publish" on our year-end lists, made resolutions we were bound to bail on and planned new lists for a New Year. It would've been a great 12 months for the genre anyway: K. Michelle held down the 'hood with sensual street-thumpers like "V.S.O.P.," Robin Thicke channeled Marvin Gaye on the inescapable "Blurred Lines" and Jhené Aiko spoke our language with her Sail Out EP, for real. But Bey was determined to leave her impression on the final 2013 tally. Her midnight surprise breathed new life into the proceedings and, suddenly, nothing was the same.
Here's to more (pleasant) surprises in 2014.
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Chris Brown:
A voice like fine china, but the bad-boy persona is bad news. But Brown must know that: After repeated delays of his X album — meant to commemorate his 10th year in the game — the Virginia native released instead an X Files mixtape in the fourth quarter. An animated CB appeared on the cover dressed in a white straitjacket, arms crossed over his belly.
Still, we haven't counted out Breezy yet. His 2011 Grammy-winning F.A.M.E album was a marvel of pop&B that saw the crooner swinging easily between EDM with infectious cuts like the Benny Benassi-blessed "Beautiful People" and torch songs like the MJ-inflected "She Ain't You." It's emblematic of what Brown can achieve when the musical stars align for him — and he gets out of his own way. "Hopefully in 10 years, I'll be bigger than I've ever been — hopefully," Chris told MTV News when he visited our studio in April. We hope so too.
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Frank Ocean:
Enigmatic Ocean made songs in the key of his life on Channel Orange, but the vibes will come via the Beach Boys and the Beatles, not Stevie Wonder, on this 'go-round. If an R&B album inspired by 1966's Pet Sounds has you scratching your head (*opens new tab, Googles "God Only Knows"*), know that Frank's manager assures there's always a method to the singer/songwriter's vision.
"This is a guy who has the ability to change things, and for him to change things, he has to follow his intuition," Christian Clancy said. "If he doesn't follow his intuition, then it's not real. The goal is to trust the guy who wrote the music to present his art, his way — Frank has incredible intuition. Just f---ing incredible. He very clearly sees things; my job is to say, no matter how far out it may be, I'm going to trust that."
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Mariah Carey:
The title track from her 14th studio LP, The Art of Letting Go, is the reason every girl ever sang into a hairbrush. Just ask Ariana, or listen to how she punctuates the line "Go to Mimi on your Contacts/ Press delete."
Features from Nas, R. Kelly, The-Dream and Q-Tip, along with Rodney Jerkins and Jermaine Dupri behind the boards, ensure more of the same. Still, Carey believes there are no guarantees in this industry.
"Honestly, interacting directly with your fans is the best thing you can do because they are the ones who keep you where you are," Carey told us in October. "Longevity is something that not everybody can have," she said. "Even some of the biggest new stars that have become meteorites over the past couple of years, you see them flailing and you wonder why. And maybe it's because they didn't have that connections with their fans."
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Miguel:
"I'm still creating every day. I don't think I'm necessarily focused on the next album," "the "How Many Drinks?" singer admitted to us last summer at the TIME 100 gala. "I'm still so in love with this album," he added of his acclaimed Kaleidoscope Dream.. "But I'm creating all the time. When we get to that bend, I think we'll be ready."
Is it even possible to follow up an instant-classic like "Adorn"? We're ready to hear Miguel try.
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Pharrell Williams:
After blessing countless hooks in 2013, Skateboard P gets understandably greedy for his bar-free solo effort. "That's the difference between 30 and 40. 'Cause I was 30, now I'm 40 -- and I'm not rapping," he explained to Complex magazine recently. Now Pharrell just has to find time to record this masterwork. From work on projects for Pusha T, Mac Miller and Charlie Wilson to Clipse and Major Lazer to name a few, the ever-youthful super-producer has a loaded schedule. Here's hoping we get lucky and he makes his own record a priority.
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Solange:
Since the release of her True EP for Terrible Records, Solo's moved from Brooklyn to the Bayou, where an infusion of blues could very well color her next album.
The EP followed years of tiresome, if inevitable, comparisons to superstar sister Bey. Eventually, the younger Knowles teamed with Dev Hynes and found the recipe for a sound all her own: a blissful mix of everything from soul, pop, indie and afrobeat. "I walked in and Dev was standing there, playing this beat, and it was like a light bulb went off<' she said of their very first introduction. "I thought, 'That's the sound I've been waiting for.' I said to my boyfriend, 'I've found the person I want to make my album with.' "
Songs like "Lovers in the Parking Lot" are utterly Solange, mining from influences as disparate as Amel Larrieux and Prince. A change of scenery could change the equation altogether in 2014.
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Toni Braxton and Babyface
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http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/172...tm_source=t.co
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Member Since: 9/2/2011
Posts: 14,788
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Great list ! 
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Member Since: 11/9/2010
Posts: 10,446
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This is a great listicle.
Can't wait for Pharrell, Kelis and Frank Ocean. Solange will be pretty major too.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 1,977
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Mimiiiiiii queen of r&b!!! So excited for her album
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Member Since: 8/31/2013
Posts: 13,040
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Yes. Miguel's and Mariah's albums will be the best of 2014. 
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Member Since: 3/14/2012
Posts: 7,958
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Frank, Miguel, Pharrell, and Toni & Babyface
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 3,144
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I can't wait for Mariah, Solange and Frank Ocean.
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Member Since: 4/7/2009
Posts: 34,961
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Solange, SZA, Miguel, Elle Varner >>>>
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/31/2012
Posts: 12,510
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2014 is gonna be a big year.
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Member Since: 6/25/2011
Posts: 28,853
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Really impressive list!
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Member Since: 8/4/2012
Posts: 37,267
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Kelis???
I need a Tasty part 2. Thus far, her best album.
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Member Since: 8/25/2012
Posts: 30,317
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Mariah, Pharrell, Solange, Frank and Kelis
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 15,244
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Slay
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Member Since: 3/21/2012
Posts: 55,134
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Lemme get ready for Solange's slayage ..
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Member Since: 3/14/2013
Posts: 15,822
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Member Since: 5/7/2012
Posts: 8,404
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 191
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Can't wait for Mariah and Frank especially! Should be a great year for R&B
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Member Since: 8/11/2012
Posts: 5,375
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Mariah, Frank and Miguel will slay!!!!!!
And wonder who Mimi is talking about (all though it's obvious)
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Even some of the biggest new stars that have become meteorites over the past couple of years, you see them flailing and you wonder why. And maybe it's because they didn't have that connections with their fans.
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Member Since: 12/22/2007
Posts: 9,193
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Member Since: 8/29/2012
Posts: 2,734
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Cool. I'm ready for another exciting year in RnB music.
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