Janelle Monáe, “Tightrope (featuring Big Boi)” (2010)
find it on the “Tightrope” single

It was one of those weeks where two songs were fighting it out for my Best Song This Week love. The runner up was appropriate for the rainy day that DC’s having: a grey song that explodes into a shoutout middle with some excellent guitar.

But it was too appropriate, so it’s “Tightrope”, which has been a constant earworm for the last month or so. The titular tightrope could as well refer to the sound line between a classic soul sound a perfectly modern R&B that’s being expertly balanced here. There’s a scorching smoothness that’s all too rare.