Awesome R&b

To celebrate the release of his new album Everything I Thought It Was, Justin Timberlake and 14 musicians from The Tennessee Kids crammed into the NPR Music offices and turned in this fantastic short concert. The seven-song R&B set includes Señorita, Rock Your Body, Pusher Love Girl, Until The End of Time, Selfish, What Goes Around, and SexyBack.

What goes up, must come down, even in Russia. Musician Leonid Vorobyev and his bandmates crank out a fantastic cover version of the Blood, Sweat & Tears R&B classic Spinning Wheel, complete with the big, vibrant horn section that makes the original so damned good.

Sean Tillman ditches his raunchy man-child shtick for his latest album, with the help of Julian Casablancas as producer and Shawn Everett on the board. Best Summer Ever is an old school pre-party/after -party spinner, deftly mixing styles from several decades.

Beyoncé’s surprise album features Jack White, The Weeknd, James Blake and Kendrick Lamar. It’s accompanied by a series of eclectic short films, and many of the songs address her troubled relationship with Jay-Z. It’s exclusive to Tidal, but we’ve got previews of each track.

(PG-13: Language) Neo-Soul queen Erykah Badu has the best take on Drake’s hit single by a large margin. Drizzy was definitely salty when he wrote Hotline Bling, but Erykah channels a cool, calm and collected lady waiting for a lover to come to his senses.

Usher lays off the auto-tuned club bangers and returns to his sad-but-still-suave crooning ways with the help of a straight up dope beat from producer Diplo. We hope the two collab again.