What a year! Algorithms. TikTok shorts. Artificial intelligence. Mash-ups. Line dances. Steppers. But more than anything, 2025 marked a seismic shift in the balance of power between the new, young, viral artists pouring into southern soul and the reigning veterans of the genre up to and including the great King George. It wasn't even close. A near complete musical domination by the youngsters. Stars like Tucka, King George, West Love, Pokey Bear and Jeter Jones did good work, but the newbies (and producers backing them) were nothing short of phenomenal, uncovering a vast new audience. 803Fresh topped the Billboard charts (Adult R&B Airplay). Michelle Obama danced to his "Boots On The Ground". Mike Clark Jr. signed with Atlantic Records, Tonio Armani with Snoop Dog's Death Row---national labels previously considered far beyond the wildest dreams of the little genre that couldn't but suddenly, inexplicably could.
The first quarter of '25 brought some departures from the country and trailride-dominated southern soul of 24's singles charts. Hip-hop re-emerged with King George's "Unbelievable" featuring Snoop Dogg. And a wave of up-tempo dance jams led by 803Fresh's viral line-dancing smash "Boots On The Ground" gave the new year a jolt of high energy.
Then, refreshed and repackaged, came the latest front-runner for streams in this unprecedented harvest of line-dancing highlights gone viral: a beautiful, haunting and comparatively slow-tempo-ed bomb from two years ago---Daddy B. Nice's #1 Single from August 2023---"Cowgirl Trailride," by S. Dott and Tonio Armani. The Sparta, Georgia-native Armani already had a highly-popular line-dancing favorite, "Country Girl," on social media. Now "Cowgirl Trailride" with its own slow but sexy, hip-swaying line-dance, was suddenly everywhere. Drenched in the mystery of its unforgettable, Armani-sung "Horses in the stable/I love the way you ride" chorus, wildly successful on its second run, the song encouraged other overlooked and previously-released tunes such as Meechie's "Trailride Sailing," Gasner The Artist's "Love Entanglement" and Nephew Jones's "My Type Of Carrying On" to follow suit. And midway through 2025, southern soul music already had a banner year for top-streaming records.
Myia B, one of the most popular and productive new female artists of the year, had an interesting aside (with a clear ring of truth) when she commented about her hit single, "5 More Minutes". "I wrote this song," she said, "to capture how partying has felt to me throughout my life and especially where it is now with the marriage of Southern Soul & line-dancing." In a sign of passing eras, King George performed live in Detroit in July with Morris Day---like Snoop Dog a new adherent of southern soul---and George was the headliner over the former superstar of The Time. And in another surprising development, The Jay Morris Group, southern soul's pre-eminent group (and one of the few), fell short of officially disbanding but splintered, with siblings Jay and Kay Morris pursuing solo careers.
The Louisiana Blues Brothas (Pokey Bear, Adrian Bagher and Tyree Neal), whose one and only album Love On The Bayou had kick-started another era of southern soul a decade ago with the classic single "My Sidepiece," reunited for a performance in Gulfport, Mississippi in August. In September the late, great Wendell B's Legacy: The Tribute Album appeared. In October "The Man With The Singing Ding-a-Ling," Frank Lucas, passed away. And by the time leaves were turning, artificial intelligence was invading southern soul, sparking heated debates in Daddy B. Nice's Mailbag amongst deejays and influencers.
In a year boasting the emergence of no less than three major southern soul stars---803Fresh, Mike Clark Jr. and Tonio Armani---you'd have thought not much more could be contained in 2025's bag of musical largesse. But that was before "Gas Station Love," a single recorded by a young unknown from Memphis named E.J. Jones, received more than a million YouTube streams in its first two weeks. It also generated an unprecedented number of accolades (5,000-plus!) in its YouTube page comments, and from the very day it was posted spawned never-before-seen, accompanying YouTube videos: a first. The opinions in these "reaction" videos were split between sheer disbelief (A-I? A young man singing an older man's vocal?) and undiluted praise, citing the song's fusion of vintage sounds (think early-seventies Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Street") with today's emphasis on danceable tracks. "Most performers would commit a felony to front this rhythm section," your Daddy B. Nice wrote in November's #1 Single bullet commentary, "but the distinctive elements of 'Gas Station Love' are its lead guitar riffs chiming like church bells amidst the gorgeous spaces between."
Even then, the year wasn't quite tapped out. The southern soul musicians' favorite, Fred Palmer Jr.---better known as F.P.J.---dropped his first album. And in a year featuring a bumper crop of long-play discs by a football arena's contingent of southern soul notables (including Ms. Jody, T.K. Soul, Volton Wright, Jeter Jones, David Brinston, Sir Charles Jones, Tucka, Bigg Robb, Fat Daddy, Rodnae, Tiffany Rachal, Ronnie Bell, Memphis Jackson, Joe Nice, Tyree Neal, Willie Clayton, Sheba Potts-Wright, Myia B, Calvin Richardson, Avail Hollywood, Jay Swag, Kang803, J. Red The Nephew, Mike Clark Jr., 803Fresh, Ricky White, Magic One, Lady Songbird Jinda, Arthur Young, Jay Morris, J'Cenae, Big Mel, Ghost Ghoston, King Relle, Derek "The Change Man" Smith, Mr. Willie, Carlin Taylor, P2K DaDiddy, L.J. Echols, Jeff Floyd, Karen Wolfe and Unkle Phunk),... FPJ's "The Introduction" was arguably the most eagerly anticipated. The title song ranked #2 in November (DBN's Top 10) and #1 in December, with your Daddy B. Nice writing in the latter: "Intro's to albums are usually after-thoughts, composed after the main tracks are completed. I doubt even FPJ realized what a perfect vehicle for his talent "Intro" would become. "The blood running through my veins" indeed... I no longer think of this song as the introduction to an album (which by the way is excellent and is reviewed with five stars in Daddy B. Nice's Reviews) but a southern soul classic to be enjoyed and admired completely on its own."
All in all, I think I could have been forgiven for gloating, in a mid-year column titled "These Are The Good Old Days":---"How does it feel, Southern Soul Nation, to have the hottest-trending music in America? Another day, another reel of TikTok "shorts" and YouTube videos to get your feet tapping. Anyone tiring of "Boots On The Ground?" Hell Naw! By the way, Bishop Bullwinkle's "Hell Naw To The Naw Naw!" went viral ten years ago. And 803Fresh has been in TikTok's top ten streams for months now, often #1. This is the "Cupid Shuffle" (17 years ago, 99 million views) all over again."
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