If you listen closely, you’ll hear it. Not just the bassline thumping through a passing car window, or the jazzy keys drifting from an open café door—but something deeper. A shift in tone. A warming of the sonic palette. As the UK rolls gently into Summer 2025, the sound in the air isn’t aggressive or over-polished. It’s soulful. Lush. Rooted. And leading the charge is a generation of artists reclaiming neo-soul as not just a genre, but a way of moving through the world.
At the heart of it all is London—South London, to be precise—where a new constellation of voices is emerging with velvet tones, dusty grooves, and lyrics that read like pages from a well-thumbed journal. This isn’t revivalism for nostalgia’s sake. It’s evolution. And it’s soundtracking one of the most vibe-heavy summers the UK has seen in years.
The Quiet Glow of JoJo Moon
Enter JoJo Moon, the 21-year-old singer-songwriter from South London whose debut EP Sunlit Reverie has become something of a seasonal touchstone. Released in early spring, the project—five tracks of mellow instrumentation, poetic lyricism, and soft-glow vocals—feels like a warm-up stretch before a sun-drenched marathon.
Tracks like “Summer Waves” and “Endless Glow” aren’t just standout songs—they’ve become shorthand for the kind of mood 2025 is leaning into: introspective but groovy, romantic but real. JoJo doesn’t try to dominate your attention. She gently earns it. Her voice—somewhere between the emotional clarity of Cleo Sol and the spiritual warmth of Lianne La Havas—has become a key fixture on chilled playlists, radio rotations, and garden speakers from Peckham to Brighton.
What makes JoJo emblematic of this moment isn’t just her sound, though—it’s her sensibility. She’s part of a new wave of artists prioritising emotional truth over industry polish. And in a year where the world is craving connection more than spectacle, that truth hits harder than ever.
Neo-Soul in the UK: A Growing Garden
Neo-soul, born from the rich seams of R&B, jazz, and hip-hop in the late ‘90s, has always been a genre of intimacy. Think D’Angelo’s ache, Erykah Badu’s swagger, Jill Scott’s poetry. The UK has flirted with it for decades, but something about the past five years has seen it take root more deeply—especially in London.
Cleo Sol’s solo work (particularly her Rose in the Dark and Mother LPs) helped redefine what British soul could sound like: stripped-back, rich in texture, emotionally brave. Her work with Sault added a layer of mystery and political resonance. Meanwhile, artists like ELIZA, Mnelia, JGrrey, and Children of Zeus have all helped colour the scene with their own hues—blending elements of lo-fi, alt-R&B, hip-hop and jazz into something distinctly British.
Even instrumentalists like Yussef Dayes, Venna, and Mansur Brown have been central to this wave—bringing the improvisational heartbeat of jazz into more mainstream consciousness. Their grooves lay the foundation for a new generation of soul storytellers.
Together, these artists are less concerned with fitting into playlists and more focused on crafting worlds. And in 2025, that world is looking increasingly analogue, textured, and sunlit.
The Summer Soundtrack: Soul, Not Spectacle
Part of what makes the UK’s neo-soul moment feel so timely this summer is the culture shift it reflects. After years of hyper-digital music cycles, TikTok trends, and high-gloss pop saturation, audiences are craving something that breathes. Music with space in it. Songs that invite you in rather than push themselves onto you.
Neo-soul, in its UK incarnation, offers exactly that. It’s music that prioritises groove over drops, feeling over formula. JoJo Moon’s Reverie (Interlude), for instance—just ambient textures, birdsong, and spoken word—has been embraced as one of the most replayed moments of her EP. Not because it bangs in the club, but because it offers a kind of meditative pause modern life often lacks.
And this summer, whether it’s at intimate festival stages, rooftop sets, or late-night NTS radio sessions, that mood is resonating. The energy is soft, but strong. These aren’t headline-chasing anthems. They’re soundtracks for long walks, hazy evenings, and conversations that spill past midnight.
The South London Scene: Still the Soul Engine
If the UK’s neo-soul sound has a capital, it’s still South London. Peckham, Brixton, Camberwell—these pockets have birthed not just artists, but a full ecosystem of venues, studios, and collectives that keep the movement thriving.
Spaces like Peckham Audio, Earth Hackney, and Colour Factory are leaning into the vibe, booking lineups that centre soul, jazz, and alt-R&B rather than chasing the latest hype genre. Community events and tiny label nights are thriving. There’s a renewed focus on live band energy, too—stripping back the laptop sets for real-time musical dialogue. And JoJo Moon, with her intimate live visuals and earth-toned stage presence, feels tailor-made for this return to embodied performance.
It’s telling that many of these gigs aren’t massive spectacles. They’re candle-lit, rug-draped, dotted with incense and surrounded by vintage speakers. You don’t go to see a show. You go to feel it.
What This Means for the UK Sound
As we soak in this new summer of soul, one thing is becoming clear: the UK isn’t just following trends—it’s quietly setting them. There’s a depth to the current moment that goes beyond charts and metrics. Artists like JoJo Moon aren’t here to dominate—they’re here to resonate. And they’re doing it on their own terms.
In many ways, this feels like the start of something bigger. A recalibration. A reminder that music can still move slow and hit hard. That sometimes the most radical thing an artist can do is whisper.
So, if you find yourself basking in the golden haze of a London afternoon, drink in the soundtrack. Chances are, it’s neo-soul. Chances are, it’s local. And chances are, JoJo Moon is somewhere in the mix—smiling quietly as the breeze carries her voice through the streets she grew up in.
Because in 2025, it turns out the summer of vibes isn’t built on noise.
It’s built on soul.
