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R&B music is having a much-needed resurgence as a competitive genre in the music industry. As we currently watch SZA break Billboard records for a female R&B artist with her chart-topping new album, SOS, in addition to highly-anticipated music releases from both Beyoncé and Rihanna in 2023, respectively, it goes without saying that soul singers are making a huge comeback in the new year.

The rebirth of R&B — contrary to what you say, Diddy! – also has allowed many singers from the past to pull a second act. From the outstanding past few years that Brandy has experienced since the 2020 release of her seventh album, B7 — she’ll even soon be reprising her groundbreaking role as Cinderella! — to Ashanti’s return to form in every way possible over the past year alone, many of the ladies who once took over for the ’99 & 2000s are back and ready to make music for a new era.

While we’re on the subject of 2000s singers, we’d like to send a special happy birthday week shoutout to “One Thing” songstress Amerie!

RELATED: 20 R&B One Hit Wonders

The angel-voiced Capricorn might be more inclined now to suggest a good read out of her official book club, but she’s definitely on a shortlist of female singers that we’d still love to hear new music from sometime soon. Sure, the All I Have singer and a handful of her contemporaries have recently found success in the form of festival performances that usually only require 20 to 30 minute sets consisting of their biggest hits.

That’s cool, but we’re talking fresh songs, collaborations and creative music marketing that really lets us know their time on top in the entertainment industry wasn’t in vain.

Keep scrolling to check out 8 forgotten songbirds that we wouldn’t mind hearing new music from. Many of them haven’t dropped a project in five years or more, but we think now would be the perfect time to make a comeback: