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The Xavier Omar Collection

Twenty-nine tracks from a San Antonio singer and his longtime producer — one of the most fruitful one-to-one partnerships in modern R&B.

Xavier Omär

Xavier Omär recorded for several years as SPZRKT before adopting his own name, and the through-line across both eras is his work with the producer Sango.

That partnership is the real subject of this playlist. Sango — an American producer whose signature sound is built on Brazilian baile funk rhythms, chopped vocals and enormous, soft low end — gives Omär a setting no other R&B singer has. Omär in turn sings with a lightness and an optimism that is genuinely rare in the genre: these are records about devotion and pleasure rather than about damage.

He is also openly a Christian artist working in secular R&B without making that the subject, which produces an unusual emotional register — sensual but never cynical.

What to listen for

"Blind Man" is the signature and the best place to start — a Sango production built on a rhythm that never quite settles, with a vocal that floats above it.

"Sweet Holy Honey" is the most beautiful thing they have made together, and "Winter Toes" is the fan favourite.

"Peppermint Tea" with Alex Isley is the pairing that makes the most sense on paper and delivers on it — two singers who both prefer understatement.

"SURF" with Masego is the loosest and funniest track here, and "Just Get Here" with Wale and VanJess is the biggest.

"Deep End", "Veins" and "Cry & Lie" are the SPZRKT-era Sango collaborations and the most rhythmically interesting things on the list.

"Like I Feel" with Mereba is the deep cut, and "So Much More" and "Honest" are where the writing is most direct.

Go deeper

Moments Spent Loving You (2020) is the album to start with. The SPZRKT and Sango collaborative EPs, particularly Hiding Place, are where the partnership was established.

Sango's own Da Rocinha series is essential listening and explains the Brazilian half of the sound. For singers in the same register, follow Alex Isley, VanJess and Tiana Major9.

Listening note: follow the low end through these tracks. Sango builds his bass to be felt rather than heard, sitting so far below the vocal that on small speakers the records sound almost empty and on a proper system they turn out to have a floor under everything. It is why the same songs give two completely different impressions depending on where you play them.

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