Cut(s) of the Day: Blossom, "Video"/"Rhyme"

On her latest single, issued through the increasingly prolific EYRST label, the singer continues to refine her relaxed, almost ambient brand of R&B.

Blossom is a name you're going to hear a lot more this year, and it's not because Netflix is rebooting another '90s sitcom. The singer, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago and honed her performing chops in her uncle's steel drum band, started her career in Portland singing hooks for various members of the local hip-hop underground, and since 2014 has been steadily releasing a string of EPs showing off her coolly understated vocal presence. On her latest single, issued through the increasingly prolific EYRST label, Blossom continues to refine her relaxed, almost ambient brand of R&B. "Video" is a nostalgic kind of Netflix-and-chill anthem, exuding sweet romance over a lightly loping beat from producer Neill Von Tally, while "Rhyme" is more vaporous and dreamy, but no less sultry.

You can catch Blossom tonight tonight at Holocene tonight, performing as part of Pulse, a new quarterly music series put on by Willamette Week.

Willamette Week

Matthew Singer

A native Southern Californian, former Arts & Culture Editor Matthew Singer ruined Portland by coming here in 2008. He is an advocate for the canonization of the Fishbone and Oingo Boingo discographies, believes pro-wrestling is a serious art form and roots for the Lakers. Fortunately, he left Portland for Tucson, Arizona, in 2021.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office.

Help us dig deeper.