Dawn Richard
“Blow”
Blackheart (out 01.15.15 on Our Dawn)
Let’s rewind to January of 2013. Things were really looking up for ex-Danity Kane vocalist Dawn Richard. Thanks two a pair of excellent, well-received projects — 2012’s Armor On EP and 2013’s fan-fucking-tastic Goldenheart — the 31 year-old looked to have uncovered the most elusive gift in pop music: a second chance. No longer a footnote in Bad Boy’s checkered post-Biggie history, Richard was part of an exhilarating new generation of R&B futurists, ready to drag the once conservative genre into the 21st century.
In the face of all the forward momentum, Richard took the surprising decision to look back, reuniting with her former Danity Kane bandmates (save, the oft-divisive D. Woods) and crafting their third LP. No matter how fire “Show Stopper” still is (believe me, it is), the world doesn’t seem to be too into the return of Aubrey O’Day, and the album dropped to minimal fanfare yesterday, a couple months after DK 2.0 called it quits.
Ever the survivor, today Richard announced a proper follow-up to Goldenheart and a new single, the deliciously slinky “Blow.” It’s hard to imagine the New Orleans native not questioning the decision to have spent the better part of last year looking back, especially considering how artists like Tinashe and FKA Twigs blew up this year. Whether or not she actually cleared space for either much younger artist, her sound certainly shares many of their aqueous, slow-burning hallmarks. Hopefully for her, Blackheart will also share their mainstream appeal.
