Soul artists sung messages of painful sincerity and personal redemption – sacred music made secular. But, of course, the blues were another direct influence on the sound of soul. A call and ...

Soul borrowed the hysteria from sanctified church services and applied it to more sensual themes. Its artists sung messages of painful sincerity and personal redemption. This was sacred music made ...

When soul music emerged in the 1960s, it aimed to be a method of storytelling around which a community could be formed. With ‘Green Eyes’, Badu carried on that root idea and tradition, though she ...