Ari Lennox - Smoke

Ari Lennox’s voice can be described as sultry, smoky, and powerful. It harkens back to the golden era of Motown and often seems out of place in today’s current R&B landscape. At times it’s held her back because her voice doesn’t exactly lend itself to the current hip-hop-inflected R&B that has been dominating the R&B scene for the last 25 years. On the other hand, you instantly know it’s her song the moment you hear that glorious voice of hers.

A native of Washington, D.C., Ari Lennox first broke through with her gold-certified single “Whipped Cream” back in 2018. Since then, she has released two successful critically-acclaimed albums. Her first offering of 2024, the fiery “Smoke”, continues her foray into combining her love of old school 1960s soul music and modern day R&B. The instrumental and production harkens back to 1960s Motown while the lyrics are very 2024, for better or worse. While repetitive and quite reductive, the song is saved by the amazing harmonies of the background singers and Lennox’s stunning voice.

For long-time Ari Lennox fans, this song maintains her current sound and gives them more of what they seem to want from her. I love consistency when it comes to artists and it’s clear that this is the sweet spot for Lennox. However, many feel that she is considered grossly underrated by the masses, so it’s possible that these lyrics reflect a desire to appeal to a larger, younger audience. Regardless, the song definitely grows on you after a few listens and it makes me look forward to her follow-up to 2023’s excellent “age/sex/location”.