2020 was just five days old when Solange issued this admonishment to music critics via Twitter:

So you can stop acting like it just popped off last year for R&B. Like it just got interesting and experimental.

— solange knowles (@solangeknowles) January 5, 2020

Maybe so — she offered deep Brandy album cuts as evidentiary support — but interesting/experimental R&B began getting more ink in 2012 as artists like Frank Ocean, The Weeknd, and, yes, Solange served up sounds, textures, and lyrical content largely absent from the mainstream scene as dance-pop dominated the past several years. I don’t know whether this shift is best termed a revival, reclamation, or reinvention of R&B, but I’m happy it’s happening at all (even if Frank Ocean doesn’t exactly float my boat).

Add Nigeria-born, East London-based Azekel as one to watch, especially as I’m told that the singer/producer, who’s in his early 20s, is heavily influenced by Prince. Azekel has a double A-side single coming in February, but first he’s gone and covered T. Rex’s 1972 single, “Get It On.” The glam rockers’ #10 hit was later redone in 1985 by The Power Station, whose hard-charging take peaked one notch higher at #9, but Azekel ushers “Get It On” into the bedroom, laying down his vocals atop XXYYXX’s “Alone.”

Azekel’s slow-jam version of “Get It On” is some sexy stuff. Listen for the original T. Rex riff in the last few seconds — the afterglow, as it were:

Free download of Azekel – “Get It On” (T. Rex cover) via the player above.