New Music: B2K Returns with New Single & Visual "Mileage"

Multi-Platinum selling R&B group B2K comprising of Omarion, Raz B, J Boog & Lil' Fizz officially made their return to music with the single and accompanying visual "Mileage".

The track serves as their first new release in over two decades and marks the lead single from their upcoming comeback album Eclipse.

Produced by Ethos, "Mileage" blends the group's classic smooth harmonies with a mature R&B sound. Celebrating emotional growth, moving forward and new beginnings.

"Mileage" is available on all streaming and digital music platforms via BPC Music Group.

Melvin Riley of Ready for the World: New Album "No AI", His Legacy & More... (Exclusive Interview)

 

Melvin Riley is the lead vocalist, co-founder, and principal songwriter behind the legendary multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated, and American Music Award-winning group Ready for the World. From timeless hits like “Oh Sheila” and “Love You Down” to a catalog that helped shape the sound of modern R&B, Riley’s influence continues to resonate throughout the industry.

His signature blend of melody, emotion, and innovation has been cited in the work of artists including Usher, Chris Brown, Troop, Keith Sweat, Jodeci, Mint Condition, Alicia Keys, Twista, and Trey Songz. Ready For the World remains one of the few groups in music history to simultaneously score four No. 1 hits across four different Billboard charts.

Riley’s contributions have earned him numerous honors, including having his iconic “Oh Sheila” video jacket added to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s memorabilia collection in Cleveland and receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Soul Academy in Atlanta.

The journey began in Flint, Michigan, where Ready for The World emerged from local high school talent shows before signing with MCA Records at just 19 years old. Their rapid rise led to chart success, international touring with Luther Vandross, and decades of sold-out performances that connected with audiences around the world.

Today, Melvin Riley continues to write, record, and perform, carrying forward a legacy that remains woven into the fabric of R&B.

TERRANCE: First, congratulations on the release of your new album, No AI. How are you feeling about it right now? Any particular favorites?

MELVIN RILEY: Yes, yes! When you push play on this album, you can just let it play. That's really how I feel about the album. I remember back in the day when you can just put an album on and let it ride. Of course, you have your favorites but for my listeners I'd say push play from the beginning and you good to go.

TERRANCE: Talk about what inspired it.

MELVIN RILEY: Well, I think right now we got a lot of music out on the social medias, that is AI, which is great. I love some of the AI stuff, but for my particular album though, I wanted to make it known that it's no AI. Just so the listeners know the original Ready for the World sound is always gonna be here. I wrote the majority of the Ready for the World catalog, so I wanted the new audience as well as the old audience to know that Melvin Riley is back and it's no AI.

TERRANCE: How would you say the music industry has evolved since your introduction into it?

MELVIN RILEY: I think that everything has become a home-based studio. When you got that kind of music and people don't get a chance to break with the majors, I think that technology has allowed their music to be heard through social media. Even though, back in the 80's, 90's and even early 2000's, you pretty much had to be with a major record company in order to be heard. But now, people are working their way through, man, and I think that it's great that people can let their music be heard whether the world hears it or not, at least they are giving themselves a chance to be heard through the new wave of technology whether through AI, the internet, the whole nine.

TERRANCE: Talk about the story behind "Oh Sheila" & "Love You Down", which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

MELVIN RILEY: Well, I was seventeen when I wrote "Oh Sheila" in the basement and it was one of those chords that came to my keyboard that I was just playing around with and I just hit these chords that seemed to work and it just hit me the right way and here we are 40 years later. *Laughs. Well, the song was released 40 years later, but I wrote it when I was seventeen. It's remarkable what "Oh Sheila" has done through the years as well as "Love You Down". They stayed on the radio and fans loved them, so that's a great deal for me.

TERRANCE: What are your thoughts on your music being sampled and covered by artists such as Usher, Pharrell, Twista & Trey Songz to INOJ?

MELVIN RILEY: That is so huge to me, man, because other artists appreciate what you put out there and it's an honor when other artists redo "Oh Sheila", "Love You Down" or "Tonight", whichever. It's an honor when someone says, 'hey yo' let's flip this song', which lets you know you did something right, man. So, it's definitely an honor.

TERRANCE: When you're not on the Entertainment side of things, what do you enjoy the most?

MELVIN RILEY: I'm a laidback homebody. I like to do my recording and I like to chill, man. That's my thing. Traveling the world has been something I've done since I was nineteen years old and I love it, but now I enjoy the peace and joy of just sitting back enjoying life. When I go out on the road and do our shows, I just come back to the house. The audience is always a priority and getting out in front of them and performing, but for the most part, I only do select shows at this point in my career. The shows that make sense and are going to really make that impact. But hey, I'm just that introvert. *Laughs

TERRANCE: So, speaking of shows. Are there any upcoming shows or events you could tell us about?

MELVIN RILEY: Well, yeah, there are things coming up. Some things are etched in stone, and some things are pretty much being worked out right now. We're [Ready for the World] supposed to be doing the Soul Train cruise this February and once we get that worked out, we'll be doing that as well. And just spot dates here and there.

TERRANCE: If you could describe your legacy in five words.

MELVIN RILEY: It's All About the Music. Because at the end of the day, those songs resonate and mean so much to everybody. Everybody has a personal take on what they hear, and I just want my legacy to be all about the music and that's what I want it to be, you know? Hear the music, embrace the music and let it do what it does. That's the main part. Absolutely.

TERRANCE: If a Verzuz challenge was presented to you and your group Ready for the World, what group you think would be great to go against?

MELVIN RILEY: Oh man, I don't even know. I appreciate everybody coming together, hanging and doing what they do, but you know what? I never really envisioned a Verzuz against anybody. I guess that's pretty much for the fans pretty much, you know? But I'm pretty cool with all my peers out there, so if we do something like that, it would definitely be a fun thing.

TERRANCE: Overall, what message do you hope listeners take away from the No AI album?

MELVIN RILEY: I want them to just push that play button and relive real music. *Laughs. Push play and ride, take that trip or whatever and inhale the music and everything else will take care of itself.

TERRANCE: Any final words you would like to share with your fans and followers?

MELVIN RILEY:  I just want to tell the fans, over the years it's been a great experience, and I just appreciate them through the years and for supporting and enjoying the music and I'm here and I ain't stopping. So, I appreciate y'all for life.

Follow Melvin Riley:

www.iammelvinriley.com

IG, TikTok, FB, X @iammelvinriley

New Music: Carvin Winans teams with Kevon Edmonds for "Shining Star" (Remix)

 

Grammy Award-winning Gospel artist Carvin Winans and R&B singer Kevon Edmonds have teamed up for a soulful collaboration of "Shining Star" (Remix).

Blending Winans Gospel roots with Edmonds smooth R&B vocals, Winans has publicly praised Edmonds for his vocal range, noting how the collaboration adds an emotional and powerful new layer to the track.

"Shining Star" (Remix) follows Carvin Winans' 2025 Cool Gospel album is available on all streaming and digital music platforms via Blackground Records 2.0

Will Preston's "Erratic Heartbeats" Album Track-by-Track (Exclusive)

Three-time SoulTracks Readers’ Choice Award nominee and internationally recognized R&B/Pop artist Will Preston returns with Erratic Heartbeats, his most emotionally transparent and artistically evolved project to date.

Blending soulful vulnerability, polished contemporary production, and emotionally layered storytelling, Erratic Heartbeats explores the unpredictable rhythms of modern love from every angle… passion, confusion, longing, temptation, emotional distance, self-protection, and the quiet moments where relationships begin to unravel.

Rather than romanticizing love through a single lens, Preston embraces its contradictions. Across the album’s twelve tracks, he examines the emotional highs and emotional fallout that often exist side by side, creating a body of work that feels deeply human, relatable, and unfiltered.

Sonically, the project expands Preston’s signature sound while remaining rooted in the smooth vocal delivery and melodic richness that have defined his career. The album showcases noticeable artistic expansion both vocally and lyrically, with Preston pushing further into emotional nuance, layered harmonies, and expressive falsetto performances that reveal new dimensions of his artistry.

That evolution is especially present on standout records like “I Just Can’t Understand,” where Preston leans heavily into a soaring falsetto-driven performance, and “Stuck In The Middle,” a soulful exploration of blurred boundaries and emotional entanglement. Fan favorite “Don’t Like Falling In Love” captures the tension between desire and self-preservation, while “Between Us” confronts the cyclical pull of a relationship that neither side can seem to escape.

Produced by an impressive collective of established and emerging talent including Space Jace (Trey Songz, Durand Bernarr, Mila J), Robin Wesley, Nate Rhoads, Lil ZenD, and Al Fraser, Erratic Heartbeats balances timeless R&B sensibilities with modern textures and forward-thinking production.

Over the course of his independent career, Preston has amassed more than 7 million streams and downloads worldwide while building a loyal international audience through acclaimed releases including It’s My Will, Caught In The Act, #reacquainted, and Where Do I Begin?. His music has earned him three SoulTracks Readers’ Choice Award nominations for Male Vocalist of the Year, solidifying his place among the respected voices in independent R&B.

With Erratic Heartbeats, Will Preston delivers an album that does not shy away from emotional complexity. Instead, it leans directly into it… capturing the beauty, instability, vulnerability, and honesty that come with truly feeling everything.

IG: @thewillpreston | TikTok: @yepthewillpreston | X: @thewillpreston | YouTube: thewillpreston | Facebook: willprestonmusic

Official Website: https://willpreston.com/

RIAA: Lizzo Earns Her First Diamond Certification for "Truth Hurts"

This week 4-time Grammy Award winning superstar Lizzo earned her first Diamond certification (10 million units sold) for her single "Truth Hurts" by the Recording Industry Association of America.

written by Lizzo, Jesse Saint John and produced by Steven "Tele" Cheung and Ricky Reed, "Truth Hurts" was originally released in 2017 and re-released in 2019 as a radio single and ultimately topped various Billboard charts including the Hot 100's, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Pop Airplay.

The song was included on the deluxe edition of her third studio album Cuz I Love You (2019) and won the Grammy Award in the category Best Pop Solo Performance in 2020.