Luh Kel

Luh Kel is the poster child of Gen Z's glossy yet soulful R&B. The crooner’s polished, shimmering ballads feel wrapped up in the genre’s rich tradition yet also somehow entirely new. Raised in St. Louis (and born Turran Coleman in 2002), Kel escaped his underserved environment by discovering and falling in love with an intergenerational cocktail of R&B: Michael Jackson, Usher, Chris Brown and PnB Rock. That wide span of styles is reflected in his 2019 self-released breakout hit, “Wrong”, which drew in listeners—and even spawned a dance challenge—with its slick composition, bluesy piano and Kel’s soaringly dejected vocals. He sounds heartbroken in a way that teenagers often feel but can’t always convey, and that earned him a record deal and a place alongside heartthrob rap-singers like Lil Tjay, YK Osiris and Kaash Paige. His 2020 album, L.O.V.E., is an alchemy of jammy, old-school R&B and its harder contemporary side. Its songs about love, loss, and longing place Luh Kel at the vanguard of a genre that has always pushed forward by looking backward.