Romance today can feel far too jaded. It’s why so many people tend to look to the past when thinking about the kind of love they want. It’s easier to have rose-colored glasses about old-school love when the present feels so doomed. Oftentimes, 90s R&B captures that euphoria. But 70s R&B is the greatest time for the genre, when artists like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye operated in their prime.
In a world of people who want a 90s kind of love, we picked five songs that show why the 70s might be the new decade to strive for romantically.
Five 70s R&B Songs That Will Make You Yearn for Old School Love
“As” by Stevie Wonder
While Stevie Wonder was certainly depicting a universal, all-encompassing kind of love on “As”, it is deeply touching on a romantic kind of level. To be told that you will be loved until the sun burns out is the kind of one-of-a-kind love that any person would be lucky to have.
“I Choose You” by Willie Hutch
The ultimate marriage song, so much that UGK and Outkast turned it into “Int’l Players Anthem“. The horns are sweeping and triumphant, belting out as flowers rain from the sky. Meanwhile, Willie Hutch might as well be reciting his vows and telling us why he’s committing the rest of his life to his woman.
“I Want You” by Marvin Gaye
While it’s really easy to just marvel at how sweet and romantic 70s R&B was, it was also deeply sexy and sensual. Take Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You”, where his heart throbs and yearns to be desired the way he does for her. As a generation of prudes seems to become more prominent, “I Want You” shows lust and love done right.
“Sweet Thing” by Rufus and Chaka Khan
No one has yearned quite like Chaka Khan on “Sweet Thing”. She alludes to being smitten by a man who is already spoken for, telling him that the love is unconditional regardless of circumstances. By the time she belts out in the bridge, you realize her threat of going crazy wasn’t just exaggeration. Khan is completely encompassed by the love she feels, “be it right or be it wrong.”
“Feel Like Makin’ Love” by Roberta Flack
Roberta Flack had such an unbelievably delicate voice. It made her desire for sex sound sweet and thoughtful on “Feel Like Makin’ Love” instead of dirty or steamy. Her desire was only sparked by watching other lovers live their lives at the park. It shows that intimacy doesn’t need to be sparked in the raunchiest ways. Sometimes, you just want to be closer than a hug and a kiss allows. Flack singing it so poetically allows us to see why sex is such a vital part of a relationship.
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