Ariana Grande’s latest release, “eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead,” came with a fair amount of buzz, but my personal favorite was the humorous discourse about the song “dandelion,” and specifically the return of “Trapiana” — a nickname that her fans have given her (among others) for her more R&B-centric songs that oftentimes are on trap-inspired beats.

In talking about “Trapiana” with a friend of mine, I argued that, historically, Grande isn’t really that much less of an R&B artist than SZA, and that the only real reason why SZA is consistently grouped solely in that box is because of her race.

My friend may have disagreed, but even SZA herself doesn’t. She said the same thing herself in a 2024 interview with Dazed, expressing frustration at the restrictive labels she’s been given in her career.

“The only reason I’m defined as an R&B artist is because I’m Black,” SZA said. 

SZA’s discontent isn’t the product of a problem exclusive to her. Rather, it’s a problem that has plagued the consumption of Black music forever — an endless insistence on trying to generalize it. 

We exist in an era of music where Black artists are arguably creating more diverse assortments of music than ever, yet they’re still consistently pigeon-holed into being strictly considered urban, R&B or hip-hop artists anyway. 

Talented white artists like Justin Bieber and Grande are allowed to be seen as respected for producing songs in genres outside of their main ones. They’re both mainly known for their pop contributions, but their ability to make forays into other styles of music like R&B is acknowledged — enough acknowledgement to earn them entire fan-made alter egos that reflect their versatility as artists.

As wholly unserious as the nicknames are, “Trapiana” and “Bizzle” were born of our ability to see these artists’ contributions in their entirety, not just what they have contributed to pop.

However, when Black artists tend to do similar things and “genre-bend” in the same fashion as some of their white peers, they often aren’t afforded the same degree of individuality and freedom to express themselves as their white counterparts. 

SZA is one of the most prolific R&B artists of our generation, and she’s recognized as such. However, reducing her to just that label is disrespectful to the range of her work. “Kill Bill,” her most streamed song ever, leans much heavier to the side of alternative pop music than it does R&B. “SOS,” SZA’s most iconic album, is a blend of not just R&B, but also many elements of alternative pop, hip-hop and some rock, yet it is rarely recognized as anything other than just R&B.

Another well-known example of this phenomenon is The Weeknd, who I personally believe to be one of, if not the single most, undeniably creative and stylistically varied artists of our generation. 

The Weeknd’s music has a heavy R&B influence, but there is a very large argument to be made that most of his discography since 2015’s “Beauty Behind The Madness” leans closer to other genres. 2016’s “Starboy” has a lot of songs with heavy electro pop influence, and his latest three albums, including “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” which was released this January, have greater 1980s-style pop influences.

However, despite the abundance of variety in his music, all of The Weeknd’s albums on Apple Music are listed solely as being “R&B and Soul,” and all but one of his Grammy nominations —which he boycotted from 2021-2025 — have come under the Hip Hop or R&B labels. 

In 2020, The Weeknd’s massive hit “Blinding Lights,” which is, by all means, very clearly a pop song, won best R&B song, not pop, in the MTV Music Awards and topped the Billboard Hot 100 R&B chart for 21 weeks despite it not really being R&B. The Weeknd took a niche style of ’80s-like synth pop and modernized it into the most-streamed song of all-time on Spotify, yet much of this genius wasn’t properly recognized due to preconceived notions about what his music “should” fit into. 

Doja Cat is another confusing case of a Black artist who made largely pop music, but had her work dumped into the R&B category for one reason or another. At the 2022 Billboard Music Awards, Doja Cat won Best R&B Artist and Best R&B Album for “Planet Her,” a pop album.  

Tyler, The Creator, has also expressed his own frustrations about the issue, this time from the perspective of the hip-hop side as opposed to the R&B one. Tyler’s 2019 album, “IGOR,” is not a rap album; rather one that features heavier alternative pop and jazz themes than anything else. Tyler was so adamant about the vision of his album that, before its release, Tyler told his fans not to go in expecting a rap album.

Much to Tyler’s dismay, the album was nominated under the rap category anyway, and it ended up becoming his first-ever Grammy win, something he admitted was bittersweet. 

“It sucks that whenever we — and I mean guys that look like me — do anything that’s genre-bending or that’s anything, they always put it in a rap or urban category … When I hear that, I’m just like why can’t we be in pop? Half of me feels like the rap nomination was just a backhanded compliment,” Tyler said.

I’m not making this argument while naive to the reality that, yes, many of these artists being seen in these R&B and hip-hop categories do derive a significant amount of their inspiration from themes in those genres. However, where frustration sets in for many Black artists is that those inspirations are all that are seen, and when they venture out to other genres, their innovations aren’t recognized.

For far too long, we have allowed the R&B and hip-hop genres to essentially just serve as the categories that every Black artist gets lumped into. 

Black artists deserve to see their innovation and creativity properly honored. I’m not saying that everyone needs to have a “Trapiana” alter-ego, just that we need to start seeing Black artists as separate enough from preconceived notions that we allow it to be a possibility.

Kailen Hicks is a sophomore writing about current trends, conflicts and discourse around music in his column “Noteworthy Noise,” which runs every other Thursday.