Tamar Braxton is the sister of the R&B legend Toni Braxton. She is currently a force to be reckoned with in the R&B music industry. Tamar Braxton is a four-time Grammy-nominated singer and places her heart and soul in the music she makes.

Her song “Circles” has different forms of Africanisms such as polyrhythms (drums & piano), group participation and pitch inflection. In addition, her song “If I don’t have you” talks about her love for her spouse and what she would do to show her love. In this song, there is a lot of pitch inflection as well as polyrhythms. “Circles” song is about a woman not willing to keep going around in the same direction and dealing with the same events in her relationship. 

R&B/Soul music came about from Blues. The purpose of Rhythm and Blues was to have a music genre that everyone would be able to express their emotions and feelings towards issues, whether personal or social. R&B was the genre that replaced “race music”. Personally, the songs circles” and “if I don’t have you” have related to my journey of identifying who I was and overcoming relationship problems. Listening to Tamar made me realize that I should have priorities and respect for myself. In addition, she made me become a better friend to my friends. 

By: Bashir Herbert