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Underlooked/Underplayed/Undercharted

Sixty records that never got the radio play they deserved. The title is a complaint and the playlist is the evidence.

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Underlooked / Underplayed / Undercharted

This is the companion piece to the Unheralded set, and it makes a slightly different argument. Where that one collected artists who were unknown, this one collects records that were available, professionally released, often by artists with real careers — and simply did not get played.

The reason matters. By the late 2010s American R&B radio had narrowed to a very small number of formats, and a great deal of excellent music fell outside all of them. This playlist is what that music sounds like.

What to listen for

Sabrina Claudio appears four times, which makes the point efficiently: a singer with a completely distinctive sound and almost no radio presence.

Cleo Sol's "Why Don't You" is the most important inclusion in hindsight. At the time she was a little-known British singer; she has since become one of the most quietly revered artists in the music, both solo and as the voice of Sault.

Amel Larrieux's "For Real" is the veteran entry — formerly of Groove Theory, and one of the great underused voices in soul.

Snoh Aalegra appears three times, and "Time" is the pick.

Duffy's "Stepping Stone" is the one nobody expects, and it is a reminder that her catalogue goes considerably deeper than the one enormous hit.

Sevana's "Carry You" is the Jamaican inclusion and a genuine discovery, and Lyves' "No Love" is the deepest cut here.

Kevin Ross's "Prototype" is the Outkast cover, and Gallant and Andra Day's "Cruisin'" is the Smokey Robinson one — both are better than covers usually are.

Farnell Newton's "Peace+Love" with Jarrod Lawson is the musicians' pick, and The Foreign Exchange's "Shelter" is the one that has been underplayed for the longest.

Go deeper

Cleo Sol's Mother and Sault's Untitled (Rise) are the essential records to come out of this set's predictions, and they are among the best albums of the decade.

Amel Larrieux's Infinite Possibilities and Groove Theory's self-titled album are the back catalogue worth correcting.

Why the title is earned: almost nothing here was obscure at the time — these were professionally released records by artists with real careers, and they simply did not fit the two or three formats American radio had narrowed to. That is a different failure from being undiscovered, and a more frustrating one.

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