R&B ballad
Smooth romantic crooning
An R&B ballad is a slow, emotionally intense song in the rhythm and blues tradition, typically about love, heartbreak, or longing.
The genre emphasizes vocal power and ornamentation over a sparse, groove-based arrangement: She closed the set with an R&B ballad that brought the audience to tears.
The form dominated Black popular music from the 1950s through the 1990s and remains a staple of contemporary R&B.
- slow jamRomantic, downtempo soul track
- slow danceGentle paired swaying
- soulInnermost animating essence
- quiet stormUnderstated yet powerful mood
- heartbreakCrushing emotional pain
crooner · Motown · velvet · sultry · Whitney · serenade · lovesong · falsetto · smooth · tender · longing · heartache · groove · intimate · swaying · late night · melisma · devotion
genre and style
R&B balladthrash metal
Rapid aggressive rock subgenre
hardcore punk · death metal · speed metal · industrial music · noise rock