Contemporary R&B is being eroded from multiple directions: Hip-hop has absorbed its melody, and pop has thinned out its signature vocal gambits. Anodyne traditionalists make hay in the genre’s adult contemporary wing, but the mainstream’s center is so diffuse that R&B is beginning to feel less like a genre and more like an accent. Into this morass steps Monica, a consistent and reliable singer for two decades now, who is releasing “Code Red,” her eighth studio album. At 35, and a decade removed from her biggest hits, she’s in a liminal space — not an etched-in-stone elder but not an innovator. On the tepid, noncommittal “Code Red,” that manifests in the tension between traditionalist instincts and modern music-making imperatives, which make for uneasy neighbors. Though in places, like on the title track, Monica is almost sing-rapping, she’s far more comfortable with — and adept at — traditional soul singing. But throughout this album, almost every instance of elegant, strong vocals comes with a current-day caveat. On the jumbled “Just Right for Me,” it’s a thick drum arrangement and a Lil Wayne cameo. On “Hustler’s Ambition,” an elegant duet with Akon and one of this album’s best songs, it’s subject matter: The song is about the committed love between a criminal and his woman. These are the choices of an artist trying to thread several needles at once. But Monica may truly be a nostalgist at heart. Near the end of the album comes “I Miss Music,” a song-length reminiscence-cum-complaint about the lasting value of music. She sings about Stevie Wonder, Lauryn Hill, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain. Over and over again, she asks, “What am I gonna sing to?” as if being the answer to her own question weren’t even an option.
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