Nao

Neo Jessica Joshua was content to remain in the background and teach singing until the mid-2010s, when she and her collaborators began to cook up a mix of airy, heartfelt ballads and off-center grooves that sounded progressive and accessible yet willfully out of step with commercial sounds. Terming her hybrid sound "wonky funk," the remarkably skilled vocalist, songwriter, and producer gained a foothold as Nao in 2015 with a pair of well-received EPs and a highlight contribution to Disclosure's Caracal. She was already a MOBO nominee by the time she released her Top 20 U.K. al...