Bryant Barnes 112

Bryant Barnes’ tenderhearted, low-key R&B plumbs the singer’s emotional depths. Born in Cypress, TX, Barnes started studying classical piano around the age of six and took up cello in middle school, eventually shifting his focus fully to music after a torn ACL put an end to his basketball dreams. In the early 2020s, Barnes started posting videos of himself playing songs by his favorite artists—XXXTENTACION, Joji, and Mac Miller—and the score from 2014’s Interstellar on public airport pianos. Mercury Records took notice and signed him in 2023, releasing his debut single, the unrequited love song “Adore You,” that same year. Barnes’ songs blend romance and melancholy, as on his sorrowful second single “Losing You” (2023) and “Don’t Want A Love Song” (2024), both of which place him securely in a similar realm to contemporaries like Daniel Caesar, spotlighting the gentle soul in his vocal style and a willingness to confront heavy themes.