How to Find New Alt-R&B Artists Without Getting Stuck in the Algorithm

Streaming algorithms optimize for engagement, which means they surface music similar to what you've already played most. For a narrower aesthetic lane like Brent-adjacent minimalist R&B, this produces a feedback loop: you hear Brent, then Khalid, then a mainstream version of Khalid, and the algorithm has walked you away from the specific sound you wanted. Here are the methods that break that loop.

Method 1: Follow Producer Credits

When you love a track, find its producer. Their full discography becomes a map of artists with connected sensibilities — far more accurate than genre tags.

How to find credits: Spotify — tap three dots → "Show credits" (mobile and desktop). Tidal — song info view (most complete credits of any major platform). Genius / BRAT — search any song, scroll to "Produced by" (crowd-verified, best for SoundCloud-era releases). AllMusic — best for older material where streaming databases are incomplete.

Where to start: Dpat's credits beyond Brent and Sonder include GoldLink's At What Cost (2017) and Kaytranada sessions. Nineteen85 runs through all of OVO Sound's alt-R&B catalog: PARTYNEXTDOOR, dvsn, Roy Woods, Majid Jordan, AUGUST 08. D'Mile connects Lucky Daye to H.E.R., Joyce Wrice, and the Silk Sonic project. Monte Booker connects Smino, Saba, and Noname.

Method 2: Label Rosters Worth Following

Method 3: Live Session Platforms That Actually Curate This Lane

COLORS Berlin (YouTube): Their booking process is selective enough that being invited is itself a quality signal. Their R&B sessions have featured dvsn, Masego, UMI, Snoh Aalegra, and PARTYNEXTDOOR — and regularly include artists before mainstream breakthrough. Search "COLORS R&B" on YouTube and sort by upload date to find recent artists in this lane.

Soulection Radio (YouTube / podcast): Soulection has been curating the Brent-adjacent aesthetic longer than any streaming playlist. Their weekly radio shows consistently feature the most interesting artists in the lane before they appear on editorial playlists. Treat a 2-hour Soulection show as a dedicated discovery session.

NPR Tiny Desk: Reaches a different demographic but the booking overlaps with this lane. Artists who've done Tiny Desk sessions here include Lucky Daye, Smino, Daniel Caesar, and H.E.R. The comment sections on these sessions frequently contain useful recommendations.

Method 4: Editorial Playlists That Hit This Lane

• Spotify: "bedroom r&b" — editorially maintained, ~1.5 million followers, updated weekly. The single best algorithmic surface for exactly this lane.
• Spotify: "Late Night R&B" — broader but consistently includes Brent-adjacent artists at various career stages.
• Apple Music: "R&B Now" — Apple's team tends to surface less obvious choices than Spotify's equivalent playlists.
• Tidal: Artist Radio from a niche artist — Tidal's artist radio goes deeper than Spotify's for niche artists because the listener base is smaller and curation more specialized. Try starting Brent Faiyaz Radio or Roy Woods Radio on Tidal rather than Spotify for a more accurate adjacent artist surface.

Method 5: Follow Songwriters, Not Just Producers

Songwriting credits reveal thematic and emotional connections that production credits don't. Writers who consistently contribute to this lane: Candice Pillay (SZA, Jhené Aiko), James Fauntleroy (Frank Ocean collaborator with extensive R&B credits), Happy Perez (Miguel, Summer Walker). A songwriter you respond to often reflects a sensibility — emotional honesty, ambiguity in resolution, restraint — that shows up consistently across their collaborations regardless of producer. Search any songwriter name on Genius/BRAT to see their full credit history.

Building a Discovery Habit: One New Artist Per Session

Rather than trying to find multiple new artists at once, build a simple habit: at the end of each listening session, spend 10 minutes with one new artist. Use one of the methods above to identify the pick (a producer credit, a label roster, a COLORS session), listen to three or four tracks, and make a quick note of whether it connects before moving on.

Over a month of this practice, you'll encounter 20–30 new artists and retain 4–6 that genuinely belong in your rotation. That's a better discovery ratio than any algorithm achieves because you're making the final selection yourself rather than accepting whatever the platform surfaces.

The artist discovery method that works best in this lane follows a specific sequence: start from a producer credit (most accurate), then follow the label roster the producer is associated with, then check if any of those artists have COLORS sessions (quality filter), then look at the editorial playlists those artists appear on (surface other similar artists). Each step narrows the field and each step is more accurate than the previous one. Running this sequence for Dpat — Brent's primary producer — surfaces Sonder, GoldLink, Kaytranada, and their wider networks in roughly 20 minutes of research.

How to Evaluate Whether a New Artist Belongs in Your Rotation

When you encounter a potential new artist through any of the methods above, three quick evaluations determine whether they belong in the rotation or not:

• Drum treatment: Are the drums minimal and space-forward, or busy and high in the mix? Busy drums are a reliable signal that the artist is working in a different lane regardless of vocal style or chord choices.
• Vocal positioning: Is the voice the clear focal point of the mix, or does it compete with production elements for prominence? Brent-adjacent production almost always prioritizes the vocal above everything else in the frequency balance.
• Tempo and feel: Does the track feel unhurried? A track can be at 80 BPM and feel urgent if the drums land precisely on the grid and the production is dense. A track at 80 BPM with drums slightly behind the grid and sparse arrangement will feel slow and patient. The feel matters more than the BPM number alone.

If all three align — minimal drums, forward vocal, unhurried feel — the artist has a strong probability of sitting in this lane regardless of their primary genre label.