KEM lands No 1 Billboard R&B album

Love Always Wins is KEM’s third album to top the chart

R&B superstar KEM claims the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart this week with his first full-length release in six years, Love Always Wins. The album – which is his third to top the tally – contains the hits “Lie to Me,” which spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Adult R&B Songs chart, and “Live Out Your Love,” a sultry duet that features GRAMMY Award-winning soul songstress Toni Braxton.

Love Always Wins is a powerful testament to KEM’s hopeful outlook despite current times, a reminder of the power of love and a project he calls his most personal yet. Other standout songs on the album include the lush title track, “Love Always Wins,” featuring GRAMMY-winning gospel music powerhouse Erica Campbell, and the inspiring “Friend Today” – both reminiscent of the music birthed out of social justice movements. The album was co-produced by KEM and Derek “DOA” Allen, and features contributions by musical notables such as Anthony Hamilton, Brian Culbertson, James Poyser and Salaam Remi.

In this recent feature, Rolling Stone notes, “In an era when musicians routinely throw out an album (or more) a year, KEM is meticulous.….an ‘Adult R&B’ mainstay, a slyly expressive singer with a slicing, airy voice and catalog full of tender love songs.” Billboard observes, “Love Always Wins peppers the Grammy-nominated artist’s smooth, grown and sexy signature sound with more up-tempo flavor, prominent guitar accents and franker lyrical insights.” The Detroit Free Press says, “On new KEM album, the romantic heart is still beating – but he’s got free inspiration too.”

The album is the follow-up to KEM’s 2014 album, Promise To Love, which also debuted at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It contained the hit singles “Nobody” and “It’s You,” which each spent multiple weeks atop the Urban Adult Contemporary radio charts. The internationally renowned R&B singer/songwriter has to his credit: one platinum album (KEM: Album II), two gold albums (Kemistry and Intimacy), three GRAMMY nominations and seven No. 1 singles. In addition, KEM has been nominated for six NAACP Image Awards, two Soul Train Awards and a BET Centric Award.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com