Apple Music proudly announces the launch of R&B Now, the new home for the vanguard of R&B music, formerly known as The A-List: R&B. The signature playlist cover artwork for R&B Now will feature a different artist each week and that artist’s latest release will receive the highly coveted #1 spot on the playlist. R&B Now premieres today with rising-star Atlanta singer Summer Walker and features her brand new track “Come Thru”-a sexy duet with Usher about late-night urges off her official debut album Over It. This sultry song bridges two generations of Atlanta royalty and represents the present and future of the genre. The song even samples Usher’s 1997 hit “You Make Me Wanna…”
About the track, Summer gushes to Apple Music, “How many people actually get the artist they sampled on the song with them? To have Usher on this with me is so amazing and such a big deal for me and R&B in general. I hope everyone loves our spin on his classic record.”
Apple Music Global Editorial Head of Hip-Hop and R&B Ebro Darden says: “R&B Now will make sure the world understands that this genre is the backbone you and the essential glue of all popular music genres in the world..We are so excited to set this off!!”
Add Summer Walker’s “Come Thru” to your library now and subscribe to R&B Now to stay up on the latest and greatest that the genre has to offer.
Additionally, to celebrate her position on the R&B Now playlist, Summer Walker sits down with friend and fellow artist Ari Lennox to talk about dating, the state of R&B music, and every thing that they are OVER! for a new Beats 1 show aptly titled “Over It”. The full episode will air on Beats 1 on Wednesday, October 9 but you can catch a sneak peek here: https://youtu.be/ MKEEoq0Eitw
More fun facts:
- Since the launch of “CPR” in April 2018 Apple Music’s editorial team has been dutifully elevating and exposing her music to our incredibly rabid and passionate audience of R&B fans worldwide and her fanbase has grown exponentially with every new track.
- Just a month after release Summer’s “CPR” became so popular on Apple Music that it was added to the biggest R&B playlist in the service (R&B Now, formerly A:List R&B), despite the fact that summer was still a new and relatively unknown artist.
- By the time Last Day Of Summer came out in October 2018, our listeners were primed and ready for more music from this new artist.
- During the albums first week the Artists’ overall streamed increased more than 200% worldwide and her song “Girls Need Love” became so popular that it transcended the R&B genre and was added to Apple Music’s biggest global playlist, Today’s Hits. Drake even hopped on the track for a remix.
- In January 2019, we named Summer Walker our first Up Next artist of the year to coincide with the release of her EP Clear. During the month long Up Next campaign, streams of Summer’s catalog increased 53% worldwide.
- 2019 was the summer of Summer….(June -September 2019)
- Summer was the #2 female R&B artists Apple Music beating out both H.E.R and Kehlani
- She also had the the #1 and #3 songs by a female R&B artist with Girls Need Love (#1) and Playing Games (#3)
- In September 2019 Summer Walker was the most streamed Female R&B Artist on Apple Music.
- Her album Over It is now the most pre-added album by a female R&B artist on Apple Music
- Since her debuted on Apple Music in April 2018, listeners have spent nearly 18M hours streaming her music.