Artist Spotlight: Odeal is the London R&B voice for Brent Faiyaz fans who want the sun to come out

If Brent Faiyaz lives on your late-night playlist and you have started to wonder what that sound would be like with the windows open, meet Odeal.

Odeal is a singer, songwriter and producer based in London. His real name is Hillary Dennis Udanoh, and his stage name comes from an Igbo term of endearment his mother used, one that roughly means "heart". He grew up moving between Germany, Spain, Nigeria and the UK, and settled in London in 2017. You can hear every one of those places in the music: R&B at the core, Afrobeats and Afro-Latin rhythm underneath, and a voice that stays soft even when the drums get busy.

Start here

"Miami" (feat. Leon Thomas). The opener of his 2025 album The Summer That Saved Me. It is about a summer trip and a connection that made him stop numbing himself. Leon Thomas, the American singer behind some of the best R&B hooks of the last two years, is the guest on the track.

"London Summers." A love letter to the city the week the sun finally shows up. It leans into the amapiano-style swing that has taken over UK summers.

"In the Chair." The album's closer, and the one for Frank Ocean people. It imagines being the person someone else goes home to, over a hush of a beat. The official video is below.

"Patience." A playful one about a partner who moves slowly and deliberately, and what that taught him.

"Obi's Interlude." Under three minutes, and the most open song on the record. Odeal sits with the tension of loving someone guarded instead of trying to fix it.

Why now

Odeal has been releasing music since his 2017 EP New Time, working through the OVMBR series and a run of EPs, and in November 2024 he put out Lustropolis through OVMBR and the Atlanta-founded label LVRN, home to Summer Walker. In 2025 he won Best Newcomer and Best R&B/Soul Act at the MOBO Awards, and The Summer That Saved Me followed in July that year. In 2026 he is nominated again at the MOBOs, for Best Male Act and Best R&B/Soul Act, and his single "Coming Home" brings in Jorja Smith. His 2026 EP is called For a Good Time... and a newer single, "Cry On You" with Mannywellz, landed on 23 October 2026.

For readers in India, the pull is easy to feel. This is R&B that borrows from Afrobeats and amapiano, the same sounds already running through our playlists, and wraps them in the intimacy of Brent Faiyaz or Frank Ocean.

If you like Odeal, try

• Leon Thomas: the "Miami" guest, with a velvet voice and old-school songwriting instincts.
• Jorja Smith: London R&B with a similar cool, and the other voice on "Coming Home".
• Summer Walker: the LVRN sound at its most confessional.

Start with "Miami," then let the album play through. It is only seven tracks, and it fits in one commute.