Snoh Aalegra: Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies review – inventive R&B with retro charm

(Artium Recordings/Roc Nation Records)
The Swedish singer’s third album snakes through Whitney Houston-esque ballads, early Kanye-style beats and Neptunes-produced smash hits

In a fractured, social media-fuelled music landscape, few things are more valuable to an emerging artist than a co-sign from a superstar. That bodes well for Snoh Aalegra, a Swedish-born, LA-based singer with collaborations and endorsements coming out of her ears. In the two years before his death, she was mentored by Prince; in 2017, Drake sampled one of her songs for his mixtape More Life. She has worked with Vince Staples and Common and, on this record, Tyler, the Creator and the Neptunes. Underpinning these impeccable connections is her longstanding association with the producer No ID, the man who mentored Kanye and is now married to Aalegra’s cousin.

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