Billboard TOASTS SKIP’S Slow Down
SLOW Down, the chart-topping song by Skip Marley featuring R&B singer HER, tops the list of 10 Best R&B Songs from 2020, in a poll conducted
among Billboard magazine’s staff writers.
Marley was elated with the accolade and shared what it meant for him.
“It signifies that the music is resonating with new audiences, and for that we give thanks and praise to the Most High,” Marley told the Jamaica Observer.
He explained how the collaboration with HER came about.
“Well, I had the tune Slow Down, and someone suggested to me that I get HER on the track, so we sent it off to her team to check out. They sent back the track with her vocals, and that completed it. Nothing else was needed. Then we met to perform the song at her show at Hollywood Bowl and it’s been history ever since.
She is a very humble person — down to earth, loving, and one of the most talented young musicians out there,” said Marley, grandson of reggae icon Bob Marley.
Slow Down is the first single from Marley’s Grammynominated EP Higher Place. The song charted on multiple Billboard charts and made Marley the first Jamaican to top the Billboard Adult R&B Songs chart in May last year.
Slow Down was produced by Rykeyz, whose production credits include Demi Lovato, Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa and Ty Dolla $, among others.
Its other chart positions were Mainstream R&b/hip-hop Airplay (number 23); R&B Digital Song Sales (number six); Rhythmic Airplay (number 14); Hot R&B Songs (number nine); R&b/hip-hop Digital Song Sales (number 16) and R&b/hip-hop Airplay (number six).
In December, Slow Down was nominated for two Soul Train Music Awards, Best Collaboration and Video of the Year. It is nominated in the Best R&B Song category of the 63rd Grammy Awards.
“You never know what’s missing until it’s there in front of you. Case in point: the inspired pairing of Skip Marley and HER Slow Down. His and HER’S innate, soulful chemistry percolates throughout as Marley patiently implores his romantic interest to slow down and revel in their unfolding love story. Rounding out the magic is the track’s fresh, body-swaying fusion of reggae and R&B, culminating in Marley’s first No 1 on Adult R&B Songs,” Billboard wrote on its website.
The list also includes Don’t
Waste My Time by Usher featuring Ella Mai, Do It by Chloe x Halle, Pick Up Your Feelings by Jazmine Sullivan, Forever
Valentine by Charlie Wilson, Anything For You by Ledisi, Lie
to Me by Kem, Hate the Club by Kehlani and Masego, Moment by Victoria Mone’t, and He Don’t Know Nothin’ Bout it by Jam and Lewis featuring Babyface.