British R&B singer and songwriter, Cleo Sol, released her third solo studio album, “Heaven” on Sept. 15 and another project titled “Gold” on Sept. 29 and Howard students are loving the positive vibrations of Sol’s music. 

With her use of piano melodies and jazz compositions, Sol has created an R&B classic that touches the hearts of her listeners.

“‘Heaven’ honestly speaks to women who are truly healing. It speaks to women who are trying to figure out where their place is on earth while also trying to fit into the image that God has destined them to be within too,” shared Gia Rhone, a junior education major.

According to Jennifer L. Fink, a health journalist and expert, music moves us in different ways. In an article published for Pfizer, Fink said music “increases blood flow to brain regions that generate and control emotions”.  

Trinity Webster-Bass, a junior journalism major, loves how Sol sings about positive topics, which is different from the norm. 

“I think what’s so powerful about Cleo Sol’s ‘Heaven’ and her music [unconventional topics]. We listen to a lot of music that’s not always fulfilling. Sex, drugs, money, murder. These are heavy things to listen to all the time and have sitting in your spirit,” Webster-Bass added. “Cleo Sol has reignited the rebirth of healing music and what it means to create wholesome music that challenges us to look inwardly,”

Sol occupies a very rarified space in the music industry in both the U.K. and U.S. scenes. Her newest album “Heaven”—similar to her previous ones,  “Rose in the Dark” and "Mother”— dramatizes the changes that come with enduring love, motherhood, platonic relationships, and fidelity. Each song is a short story with a heightened sense of the course of spiritual self work.

“This album is the soundtrack of my life right now. I’m personally in one of those really transformational seasons right now and I was actually writing in my journal the other day that ‘Heaven’ and the timing of it felt kind of like a gift of confirmation to go ahead and flip the page,” said Wisdom Baker, a senior public relations major. 

Sol preaches prophetic advice throughout the albums while calling on a higher power in moments of inner dialogue. She also repeats reminders throughout the entire body of work. The most prominent message is that “loving yourself is free.”— a statement that acts as a form of salvation for listeners. Her balladry is very simple, but somehow encompasses personal and communal healing.  

Ellington Bocage, a recent Howard alumna, describes the album as “neo-soulful, soothing, very encouraging to the present self and inner child, meant for the independently minded trying to hold their own”.

“It feels like listening to your mother, older sister, or older self singing to you. Feels like a hug. But that’s just Cleo Sol forreal. Personally it hit me at a time where i’m singing every song to myself. Perfect timing,” Bocage expressed..

Sol’s new projects are available on streaming platforms.