Durand Bernarr - BLOOM [2LP]

BLOOM is the album that took Durand Bernarr from cult favourite to Grammy winner, and it stretches out across two LPs here.

The Cleveland-born singer grew up around music, with a vocal coach for a mother and a sound engineer for a father, and spent years as a background vocalist in Erykah Badu's band before stepping fully into the spotlight. Released in 2025 on DSING Records, BLOOM won Best Progressive R&B Album at the Grammys and finally put his acrobatic voice in front of a much bigger crowd.

The album centres on platonic friendship and self-acceptance, and it is generous in every sense. Bernarr pointed to the Waiting To Exhale soundtrack as a reference, and you can hear that lush, grown-up nineties R&B polish all over it, along with nods to heroes like Phyllis Hyman, Luther Vandross and Maxwell.

Generous opens the album with a warm, unhurried glow, and Overqualified, which earned its own Grammy nomination for Best R&B Song, struts with sly confidence. Here We Are, nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance, leans into classic soul, while That! brings T-Pain along for a playful detour.

Big-voiced, funny and full of feeling, it is a modern R&B record with old-school craft in its bones.