Jazz, R&B/Soul, Blues and Pop
Poetically, Harmon's music has evolved since he debuted in 2000, at the age of fourteen with his MySpace cover release using Eryka Badu's "On & On" instrumental. He cites the song was his first demo he record on his karaoke machine. From that moment he developed a poetic style that gave him a “good boy” image with a “hip-yet-wholesome” poetic appeal. At the age of 24, he dropped his first single, 'Time In A Bottle (Drifting…)' delivering pure spokenword about his trials and tribulations. In 2011, he released "Expressions of Poetry," a collection of Harmon's best work to date. The same year he released ''Who I Am," the single which signified him as a spokenword artist. At the beginning of his career, he often cited Brandy Norwood as his biggest musical inspirations. He has cited singers Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder and R. Kelly as being his major vocal influences. Before the age of 17, Harmon had already written over 1000 songs along with poems that eventually won him numerous awards from song writing competitions, poetry contests from online sites such as poetry.com. Harmon’s initial sound is contemporary Hip Hop and R&B, heavily rooted in spoken word poetry. His lyrics speaks of various types of love, life, and understanding from casual and friendly love to romantic and spiritual affairs. Influenced vocally by Norwood and Jackson, he incorporated a ballad-heavy style and an adult contemporary feel into his urban-poetic-r&b pop sound for the majority of his releases. His latest release EP “Love and Lessons” released in 2015. Saw Harmon abandon his soft spoken like appeal for a more adult and sensual edginess. Along with his image, his voice has gone through a major change, trading his low soft rasp voice for a now deeper and warmer voice that has acquired a somewhat throatier, smoky edge grounded in soulful poetry. His music also reflected the change, as songs like “Take My Hand (Come with Me)," "Cold Winter Nights," and "Sad & Lonely" explored more adult sexual topics, and a sound that blended his previous soft urban-poetry sound with a more heavier influences of garage, glitch, and hip hop electro funk as it is heavily advanced on his sophomore album "Eclipse,” which changes how poetry is created and developed as songs like "Take A Ride With Me," "Forever My Love," "Lay With Me (One Night)" to name a few showcases Harmon's natural singing ability. Following behind many more songs that separates his previous sound into a more distinctive sound. This go round Mr. Harmon invites his alto ego BoSsWRiTeR on his music and dominates Hip Hop and R&B with a new sound no other poet/artist has created with tracks like "Bad," which takes a turn strictly towards Hip Hop music approaching it with a different personality. "Give It Back," opens up and tells a story about the poets rivalry between him-self and his alto ego BoSsWRiTeR. Eclipse released on August 21, 2017. Harmon voice that has often been described as low, soft, raspy, and husky by music critics and Harmon himself.
Track list and 30sec audio provided by
Title | Artist | Year | Type |
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Take A Ride With Me | Montice Harmon | 2017 | Single |