This week, I am flying out to Seoul for a much-needed vacation to revisit one of my favorite cities and countries. While in Korea, I will be attending the Seoul Park Music Festival that will be taking place on June 24 and June 25 where various pop, indie, jazz, R&B, and acoustic acts will be taking to the stages to perform some of their best hits for the crowd to enjoy. So with this, I want to share some B-side tracks from a few of the acts that I am most looking forward to watching. Enjoy!

"RUNNIN' BACK" - LEEBADA

LEEBADA delivers vocal excellence in this sultry, R&B track from her 2019 album THE OCEAN. Her breathy tone combined with her soft yet strong vocal projection immediately captivates the listener, while LEEBADA also showcases her bilingual abilities of being able to sing in both Korean and English. Offering a sensual and calming ambiance, “RUNNIN’ BACK” places itself as one of those songs worthy of having on repeat and is a great song to play as an introduction to the world of LEEBADA’s music. 

"Friend Zone" - Jiselle

With her soft vocal presence contrasting the powerful nature of her music compositions, Jiselle deserves more recognition as being one of the best female artists in the K-R&B world right now. Her single “Friend Zone,” featuring Xydo, is just one of her songs to demonstrate how good her music is. “Friend Zone” carries a modern vibe with slight nostalgic R&B influences in the instrumentation, with the added vocals of fellow K-R&B artist Xydo contributing to the song's warmth and audio comfort. 

“COSMOS” - Band Nah Feat. Hong Joochan

Created as part of a collaboration project on MNET’s band survival competition show, Great Seoul Invasion (GSI), “COSMOS” saw Korean indie-rock-city pop band Band Nah team up with Joochan, a member of K-Pop boy group Golden Child. The song carries a brilliant dance-pop vibe that differs from a lot of Band Nah’s previous releases. With “COSMOS,” Band Nah took on a more idol band approach to the song, revealing Band Nah’s vocalist and guitarist Na Sunghyun’s talents at being surprisingly good at rapping. 

“Lookin 4” - Crush Feat. Joyce Wrice, Devin Morrison

One of the most prominent figures within the K-R&B world, Crush always has a way of delivering stunning pieces of music, and his 2019 collaboration, “Lookin 4,” featuring American R&B artists Joyce Wrice and Devin Morrison is no exception to this. From the staccato beat to the soulful harmonies of, “I know what you’re looking for” in the chorus, “Lookin 4” immediately places itself as an incredible piece of R&B music made between three incredible acts of modern R&B. It’s a song that is quite simple and repetitive, yet simultaneously effective in terms of range and composition that all R&B lovers should give a listen to.

Edited by Asia Moore