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"The 2022 Soul Train Awards-An Opinion Piece"

  • Writer: Sey
    Sey
  • Nov 30, 2022
  • 5 min read

This Year's Soul Train Awards was packed with laughs, beautiful outfits, and of course vocals that make you get out of the chair and start cheering. In short, it was a promising award show for the genre and #TheMove for your R&B fix.


The 2022 Soul Train Awards was held in Las Vegas, NV (BMI 2022)and hosted by comedian, Deon Cole. In my opinion, Deon Cole did just what he needed to as host. He kept the show going with a few laughs. I don't remember any standout jokes, so if I had to compare him to the years' prior host Tisha Campbell and Tichinia Arnold then I'd say he did a decent job. I will note they tend to be extra together, so sometimes we as an audience are laughing at them and not necessarily the jokes. In any case, the vocals DID indeed show up last night.


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Courtesy of Paras Griffin from BET

The show was kicked off by "Hrs and Hrs" songtress, Muni Long. She performed the single in addition to her song "Plot Twist". I've always thought that Muni Long has a unique sound vocally. You can tell she can sing by her runs and control, however, depending on the ear she may not sound great because of her breathiness and wild ad libs lol. I will say the new R&B girlies don't sing from their diaphragm like they used to. It gives whisper singing sometimes. Nonetheless, Muni's performance was very engaging because it resembled a play and it lived up to the song's name of being a "Plot Twist". She also won the songwriter of the year award for her song, "Hrs and Hrs".



There were two artists that performed on the amplified stage this year, which I thought was kind of low. However, the Soul Train Awards isn't as big as BET's other productions like their annual Summer award and Hip Hop show. Coco Jones and Q, the new artists both did a great job from what I saw.



Now my two favorite performances were Xscape and the Soul Cypher lol. I laugh because my sister stated that she actually hates the Soul Cypher and feels that it doesn't work. I used to agree, but I think it can be great when executed correctly. This year's artists in the cypher were Muni Long, Durand Bernarr, Alex Vaughn, and Tasha Cobbs Leonard. They all did well individually (especially Durand, his was my favorite), but when they started harmonizing together WHEW! They all covered Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" which was the instrumental used in the Cypher. (Do yourself a favor and click on this picture for the link hunty!)



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Courtesy of BET (YouTube)

(This performance isn't on the internet so I hope y'all liked it :)



Xscape of course shut it down too. They were this year's Lady of Soul award recipients. If y'all missed their performance, I'm here to tell you they still got it! Every last one of them sang their heart out. They sung all the hits from "Just Kickin' It" to "Understanding" and more. They also looked bomb. The body, hair all of them ate for real. If you want to watch their full performance it can be viewed here courtesy of BET.



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Courtesy of David Goodson from New Amsterdam News

For my young kings out there, y'all were not left out of the festivities. SIR, Tank and J. Valentine performed on the main stage and received plenty of applause. Unfortunately, I'm not super familiar with SIR and his music so I couldn't really get into his performance. He did sound good though. Tank and J. Valentine's rendition of "Slow" live was cool. It started out shakey, but J. Valentine gave it to us. He lowkey enhanced the performance (love you Tank!). I've heard the song on the radio a few times, but seeing it live was better. Will I be adding it to the playlist...not sure about that one chief lol.


Another honorable mention for performances was Flo!!!. I love them lol. I only know their one hit "Cardboard Box" (which they performed), but I just think they are sooo pretty. They did what they had to do too! Them girls were hitting runs and harmonizing EFFORTLESSLY. I loved it. Like, just listen to first five seconds of their performance. They didn't even have to go that hard. Had me ready to change my locks today!


Finally, the last heavy heavy hitters of the night were Chante Moore and Morris Day & The Time. I'm showing my age (and music knowledge) a bit, but I have no clue who Chante Moore is. I'm familiar with the name, but wouldn't have been able to recall any songs off the top of my head prior to her performance. What I do know is homegirl was SANGIN. She probably gave the best performance vocally outside of Xscape. I mean complete with choreography and everything. She even walked into the crowd. Was def a show stopper for me. Morris Day & The Time was this year's Legend Award recipient. I only know one song by Morris Day & The Time, The Bird. I'll tell ya what though, their song "C.O.O.L. wasn't that bad either! It had the crowd on their feet. Also, for the group to be a little more seasoned they kept up with choreography and looked sharp out there.



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Courtesy of BET

I really could go on and on about other performances and things but I won't drag it lol. I know everyone is wondering about the rest of the awards so with no further delay the award winners are...




If you're curious who they competed against, you can find the full list of nominees here.


Overall, I give the award show a 6.5-7/10. Although I was disappointed I didn't know a whole bunch of the songs I think the artist selection was appropriate. Not only that, but it was also nice to see stars whose names aren't as common shine on the big screen. There were some independent artists out there as well as new faces for the audience to meet such as Q for myself. I wouldn't say this was vocally the best Soul Train Awards but it was far far from the worst. That's why I liked it. You'll definitely get your R&B craving filled with this award show.


If you missed it and would like to watch the full 2022 Soul Train Award show, it is available via streaming sites/apps.






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Seylon Edmundson

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