The last couple of years have seen a great resurgence of R&B in contemporary popular music, starting with more independent albums (Jazmine Sullivan’s ‘Heaux Tales’ is a particularly brilliant example) and making its way back into a popular space dominated by hip-hop. What’s nice about this is that they live together in harmony, both equally daring and often exciting genres that innovate constantly. Songwriter Zillionglare brings back a bit more of a trap feel to the idea on his rather slinky new single ‘Cover’. He succeeds in bringing this across.

This song comes on the heels of his last album ‘Lyrically Sixth’, and the production quality stays high. There is certain laid-back, almost lazy tempo that this sound seems to like living in; he keeps to it faithfully and ends up with a woozy, trap-laden instrumental that is the correct foil for his loosely delivered vocals (which are also completely true to form). While his subject matter is precisely what you’d expect and treads that now well-known path, there is always an element of execution involved here. It is actually deceivingly simple. The line between having an end product that is a vibe and easy to enjoy and being unbearably pretentious is a thin one, but it seems like Zillionglare stays on the right side of things. There’s a quick little verse here with some ‘rapping’ (it is a debate whether Drake running this concept into the ground is a blessing or a curse), but it’s tasteful enough. ‘Cover’ ends up staying in a comfortable place thematically, but you still have to do the job of making the idea stick. Here, it does.