Imagine a voice that could easily sing Christmas classics with soulful warmth, but somehow makes you feel naughty as you find your knees getting weak. Such a voice belongs to the artist Big State, who is the most magnetic sound to hit airwaves in years. And in an era dominated by auto-tune and digitally altered vocals, it’s refreshing to hear a voice unadulterated by postproduction refinement.
An introduction to old school Rhythm and Blues for millennials, Big State is Isaac Hayes reincarnated. If you spend a few minutes listening to his playlist, you’ll soon realize that Big State might be the face of a new wave of young R&B artists steering the genre back towards ballads of love rather than tawdry jingles full of sexual innuendos. He is preserving the essence of R&B music by reminding us that love songs can still have depth.
As a hopeless romantic trapped in the body of a football player, the New Jersey native serenades the microphone, while tackling themes of love and emotional turmoil. These motifs are displayed in songs such as “Searching” where he talks about looking for love while asking rhetorically, “why do people always fight when there is so much love here?”
His soulful rendition of the Willy Wonka classic, “Pure Imagination,” gives off a nostalgic feel despite the contemporary musical accompaniment. Big State is unmistakably an old soul. He navigates new-age R&B with patience and maturity. Though his baritone voice resonates more with a bass than a tenor, his range in songs like “Where You’ll Stay” showcase a fearless attitude towards reaching the higher octaves of music, even if he doesn’t always hit the note.
As the embodiment of the phrase “less is more,” Big State uses simple melodies against the backdrop of modest arrangements. He isn’t going to “wow” you with complex harmonies nor will he blow you away with an assortment of vocal acrobatics. Rather, his greatest strength is in his simplicity. He knows how to find his pocket and stay there. And in that pocket is where you’ll lose yourself to his mesmerizing voice.
When he ventures into genres peripheral to R&B, such as rap music in his song “Jenni,” it doesn’t matter that his lyrical flow leaves much to be desired. His catalog, which currently spans 15 songs on iTunes, contains a collection of powerful music that validates his talent and versatility. One moment, he’s giving you feel-good 90s R&B vibes in his recent upbeat cover of the Prince song, “I Would Die 4 You.” In the next moment, he reveals his introspective side with an ode to the late actor Chadwick Boseman in a piece entitled “Flowers,” where soundbites of the Black Panther star are interwoven between verses.
Currently, all of his music can be found on Spotify (where I discovered him) and iTunes. He plans to have a Christmas project coming out soon and if his earlier music is any indication, we might be in for a holiday treat. At 26 years old, Big State has the potential to create his own path into mainstream R&B. Hopefully he maintains the rawness that currently sets him apart from his peers in this copycat industry.