Finding the right music for a night in the sack can be a challenge. You don’t want something distracting, but you also don’t want elevator music or something cheesy like Enya. Luckily for you, the 2010s have already given us more than our fair share of sexy records perfect for smooching your sweetie. Here are five of my personal favourites.
Beyoncé – Beyoncé (2013)
Were you really expecting anything else? While Lemonade is proof that hell hath no fury, Bey’s self-titled is the calm before the storm: a sexy, confident, and courageous platform on which Beyoncé owns her sexuality, her marriage, and her feminist worldview. There are sex jams (“Rocket”), self-love anthems (“Flawless”), and a bouncy ode to cunnilingus that’s a lot less subtle than it thinks (“Blow”). To top it off, Bey filmed a suite of music videos to match each song, all of which bring their own flavour of sexiness to the table.
D’Angelo – Black Messiah (2014)
While not as overtly sexual as his LP Voodoo, D’Angelo’s latest retains his charismatic vocal delivery and effortless knack for all things groovy. Equal parts Prince and George Clinton, the album has an undeniably progressive undertone that matches perfectly with its more primal instincts, especially on tracks like “Betray My Heart” and “Ain’t That Easy.” Black Messiah is sex music for activists and world changers, proving that the personal is indeed political — and D’Angelo is more than capable of handling both.
FKA twigs – LP1 (2014)
Tahliah Barnett is the ultimate girl next door — you know, if your next door neighbours are art school dropouts who have a lot of loud tantric sex at weird hours of the day. LP1 strikes that perfect balance of sexy and vulnerable that has made Barnett’s work as FKA twigs so intriguing and so painfully, achingly human. Lyrics like “Pull out the insides / And give me two weeks / You won’t recognize her” might be a little bit heavier than your usual late-night bedroom jams, but no less well-suited for gettin’ it on.
Miguel – Wildheart (2015)
Miguel is Marvin Gaye reborn. After his commendable breakthrough record Kaleidoscope Dream, the 30-year-old Los Angeles native expanded his horizons with last year’s Wildheart, a churning mix of R&B, soul, psychedelic rock, and new wave. But like any great sex record, Wildheart is about a lot more than just doing the deed; it’s also about love, life, death, and what it means to live in the world today. If that sounds broad, it’s because it is. That Miguel handles these themes with aplomb (and more than a little bit of carnal charisma) only makes the record even sexier.
Washed Out – Within and Without (2011)
Ernest Greene, also known by his stage moniker Washed Out, is probably best known as the guy who does the Portlandia theme song. But as he’s proven on his studio LPs, Greene also has a talent for sensual, dreamlike synth-pop that seems to evoke stale cigarettes and late-afternoon slow dances in bedrooms. If sexy for you means comfy sweatpants and mugs of licorice tea, look no further than Within and Without.
