As part of our takeover of the Locomotion stage at this year’s Cross the Tracks festival, we asked four of our favourite rising R&B / Soul singers to jump on a soul cypher. James Vickery, Lizzie Berchie, Natanya and Karl Benjamin. We selected the instrumental to D’Angelo’s iconic, Brown Sugar. But we knew this line-up was up for the challenge.
But they managed to blow our expectations out the water. These singers took the soul cypher to places we didn’t envision. The vocals were stunning, the pen game / songwriting unmatched. Every single one of them smashed this out the park. And that’s why they are ones to watch.
Watch the full cypher above.
Read on for more on the line-up. Make sure to give each of them a follow and check their incredible music out.
About the soul cypher line-up
James Vickery
James Vickery is fresh off of a sold out world tour. Drawn to music from a young age, this South London soul singer is one of the artists flying the flag very high for R&B from the UK. A voice that serenades beautifully, he has one of the most popular COLORS sessions, with over 33 million views and counting.
Lizzie Berchie
We dubbed her, “The Neo-Soul sweetheart from Newham”. Since bursting onto the scene last year with her debut single, ‘Pass Time’, there has been no stopping Lizzie Berchie. Finding inspiration in her West African heritage & vocally from artists such as Lauryn Hill, her music tells a story, one that is bold, effortless and unapologetic. Plus she’s got a golden voice.
Natanya
Natanya is only 20 yrs old but is taking the music scene by storm. Fresh off opening on tour for FLO, Natanya is one of R&B’s most exciting voices. Her 2022 single, ‘Foolish’ has over 1.4million streams on Spotify alone. With a sound that melds classical, grunge, Jazz, Pop & R&B, Natanya is definitely one of the most exciting new voices in R&B!
Karl Benjamin
London singer / songwriter, Karl Benjamin is a favourite on the R&B scene with co-signs from the likes of Mahalia and Omar. Karl Benjamin will mesmerise you with his silky tones and lyricism.
