Hooksexup’s Modern Soul Revivalists Scorecard

Because charting soulfulness is a highly scientific process.

by Alex Heigl

Seal recently released a new album of classic soul covers, cleverly titled Soul II. While his choice of material is solid, he’s not exactly the first name that comes to mind when one thinks of soul music. But it got us to thinking: with all this “modern soul” floating around, how do you quantify soulfulness? Obviously, the way you quantify anything so as to arrive at an inarguable, objective result: hard science and corn liquor.

We're looking at the three Most Important Factors in any artists soulfulness: their tragic, against-the-odds upbringing, the degree of yearning and existential angst conveyed by their vocals, and their overall projected level of street-level realness, or "grit." Those scores are then combined into the Total Soulfulness score, which is measured from one to ten scale: one being Rick Astley, the absolute least soulful you can be while still releasing a song called “Never Gonna Give You Up;” and ten being Aretha Franklin — any more soul would cause you to explode and possibly rend the universe asunder. 

1. Seal

Though somewhat more successful in Britain than the U.S., Seal is still mostly known as the “Kiss From a Rose” guy Stateside, and his two albums of soul covers haven’t done much to dispel that notion. It’s not that he can’t sing well, or that the albums constitute “bad music,” but he’s acting more as a vessel than an interpreter — aside from adding some modern production touches, Soul and Soul II do very little to update or innovate on the songs that he’s chosen. 

Hardscrabble Background: 6
Ache in Vocals: 4
Perceived Grit: 5
Total Aggregated Soulfulness: 5

Listen: “Lean on Me”

 

2. John Legend

John Legend has long been a go-to guy behind the scenes: he played piano on Lauryn Hill’s “Everything is Everything” and popped up as the golden voice on a number of other people’s singles, including Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, and Kanye. His own music, though superficially soulful, is awfully refined and poppy, and his dancier side (unveiled with “Green Light”) is about as far from Muscle Shoals as Tokyo. However, Wake Up!, a collection of classic soul covers performed with The Roots, was widely hailed as a triumph, even if it's difficult to believe that baby face has ever seen any really "hard times."

Hardscrabble Background: 4
Ache in Vocals: 6
Perceived Grit: 4
Total Aggregated Soulfulness: 4

Listen: “Hard Times”

 

3. Adele

Look, I love Adele. Everyone loves Adele. 21 is the masterpiece that everyone said it was, but is it soulful? Yes and no. Adele’s voice is clearly indebted to classic soul singers like Aretha, but her music owes more to singer-songwriters, projecting more Joni Mitchell vulnerability than Etta James brassiness. Even her more barnstorming tracks like “Set Fire to the Rain” and “Rolling in the Deep” aren’t particularly gritty — they’re a little too cleanly produced and rely heavily on synths and syrupy string arrangements.

Hardscrabble Background: 5
Ache in Vocals: 6
Perceived Grit: 4
Total Aggregated Soulfulness: 5

Listen: “Set Fire to the Rain”

 

4. Robin Thicke

He’s got a good enough voice and he sure is cute and all that, but listen to a song like “Love After War” and try not to imagine an elevator. With his curious affinity for ‘60s bossa-nova-style cheese (“Love After War”) and Tom Jones-style braggadocio like “I’m An Animal,” Robin goes for broke — an admirably soulful quality in any artist — but his music consistently fails to evoke anything grittier than a dentist's office.

Hardscrabble Background: 2
Ache in Vocals: 3
Perceived Grit: 1 
Total Aggregated Soulfulness: 2

Listen:  “Lost Without U”

 

5. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Members of the Dap-Kings played on Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, and they’ve swapped members with another NYC-based collective, funky instrumentalists the Budos Band. Additionally, erstwhile Hooksexup editor Jack Murnighan was present at Jones’ first New York show, and was pulled up onstage for what he calls “full-on impregnation-through-the-pants-style grinding.” All that, coupled with the fact that Jones worked as a corrections officer at Rikers Island and as an armored car guard for Wells Fargo prior to “making it” should tell you all you need to know about the authenticity of Jones and Co.

Hardscrabble Background: 8
Ache in Vocals: 9
Perceived Grit: 9
Total Aggregated Soulfulness: 9

Listen:  “Longer and Stronger”