“River” by Kris Kollins

Kris Kollins reached the Top 30 of the Club Dance Charts in 2018, and for him, that was just getting started. Blending influences from across the 80s and 90s, from Michael Jackson to Janet Jackson, he’s created his own sound that he’s continuing to refine by the day.

His new tune, “River”, takes an intriguingly different approach to the traditional seduction tune. Kollins tells a familiar story here of wanting to spend the night with somebody, but the sexuality here is mixed with a genuine sense of human curiosity and exploration – the act of getting to know someone better in every way.

It’s reflective of the exploratory aspect of Kollins’ music – a desire to find out everything there is to know about people, and the personal rewards that can come from it. In the song, the ‘river’ becomes a metaphor for the boundless potential there is in finding out what makes someone tick, and the way in which there’s always something new to learn. In doing so, he’s unpacking the idea that casual sex is all surface and no meaning.

Naturally, it’s all expressed with an effortlessly cool R&B sensibility that clearly echoes the influences from which Kollins is drawing while still going somewhere new with it. Updating classic formulas for a more thoughtful contemporary moment, it’s an impressive statement of intent from an artist with much more to give.