It's no secret that Niaz is inspired by Mariah Carey. You hear it in his vocals and dreamy production. He even nails a whistle note flawlessly. But "Gumbo," his full-length debut ...

Ironic, then, that such a shift seems to have been ushered in by a death — not of R&B proper, mind you, but of one of its greatest modern pacesetters: The Weeknd. Since 2011, the persona inhabited by ...