Sabrina Claudio on Tour

Sabrina Claudio is an impossibly captivating force on an album — her lightly experimental and deeply affecting R&B is an intoxicating swirl of emotional connection, vocal seduction and all-around intimacy. Naturally, all of those qualities are intensified in a live setting, where the Miami-born singer and songwriter surrounds herself with a small band capable of creating a powerful groove. Claudio's music has occasionally been called "nü-quiet storm," referencing the moody but cool, enveloping atmosphere of her music, which plays like a mix of Sade's mellow, Maxwell's neo-soul sincerity and FKA twigs' avant tendencies swirled up with small doses of bossa nova, trip-hop, jazz and modern pop production. But Claudio herself is the primary source of slow-burning magic — when the show strips down to just voice and guitar, the minimalism only enhances her ability to hold audiences rapt. It's no wonder she sparkles as a guest on songs by EDM producers (Chainsmokers, Kaskade) and rappers alike (A$AP Rocky, Wale), not to mention alongside seasoned smooth-talker ZAYN, formerly of One Direction, who appears on Claudio's 2019 album, Truth Is. While A-list collaborations speak to Claudio's immense talent, her artistry talks loudest, even (especially) during her hushed performances.

Sabrina Claudio History

Sabrina Claudio grew up in Fort Lauderdale, the daughter of a Cuban mother and Puerto Rican father. Early immersion in local Latin-influenced dance music eventually transformed into an obsession with the R&B her folks listened to — artists like Mariah Carey and Destiny's Child — while her initial interest in dancing and modeling evolved into the desire to become a fully fledged music artist herself. She first took to YouTube, sharing covers of songs by Amy Winehouse, Beyoncé and Rihanna. She also made the move to Los Angeles to be closer to the music business and, in 2016, began self-releasing her aching, '90s-inspired R&B songs on SoundCloud. Claudio smartly parlayed her rising fame — millions of plays racked up over mere months — into 2017's independent Confidently Lost EP, a gorgeous set of sultry ballads that not only positioned her as the next most exciting voice in R&B, but also scored her a deal with Atlantic. Her About Time mixtape, released before the end of the year, proved that she could transfix listeners across an album's worth of rich, inventive, modern soul. It also paved the way to a spot on the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack, and 2018's especially intimate No Rain, No Flowers LP. In late 2019, Claudio returned with Truth Is, an album that found her stepping up her pop chops by working with hitmakers like Julia Michaels and Sir Nolan, while at the same time deepening and darkening her groove-heavy sound and heartrending lyrics.