Smooth Ballad
tagStarted 1981Peak 1985-1999Last big hit still active
Located in 1 route
The grand, polished R&B love ballad: a slow build from sparse piano or keys into swelling strings and a soaring, controlled vocal climax. Tempos are slow, dynamics dramatic but elegant, and the lead singer carries the song with sustained, melismatic phrasing over lush, glossy orchestral-soul arrangements.
History
Refined in the 1980s by master balladeers, the smooth ballad blended quiet-storm tenderness with show-stopping vocal craft. Luther Vandross set the template with sweeping arrangements, while singers like Whitney Houston and Boyz II Men carried it onto the pop charts as the era's definitive slow-dance and wedding standard.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Vandross
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiet_storm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyz_II_Men