Some of the best counterintuitive relationship advice ever? From my pops. “Sometimes you apologize even when you’re not totally in the wrong. When you eat that humble pie and disarm your boo, then you can really talk things out.” Carmen Rodgers—a smoky-voiced soul singer in the vein of Brandy and Algebra—also embraces this truism. And the lyric video for her new song, “Heartless,” lovingly lays a full deck of cards on the table for her salty significant other.

The Mississippi-born Dallas native has been on her indie grind without missing a beat throughout the 2010s, and her collaborations with the heavy likes of Robert Glasper, Zo! and Anthony David (and as a touring member of The Foreign Exchange) have all stirred up a groundswell of buzz around this accomplished vocalist.

“Heartless” is the lead single (produced by Deonis Cook) from Carmen’s crowd-funded, lavishly soulful third studio album Stargazer, which the Pledgemusic label dropped from the R&B heavens on Feb 17. Her alto voice, subtle, gentle, firm and soothing from its roots to its stem, delivers songs that will penetrate the surface of your winter-frozen emotions like few other singers can. Think “tribe of Jill Scott.” Without question, Carmen Rodgers’s time to offer some sisterly tenderness and realness to modern R&B is right now.

Download her gorgeous Stargazer on iTunes and follow Carmen on TwitterFacebook and Instagram.

Sun Singleton is a musician/editor/journalist based in New York City whose work has been featured in a variety of publications, including VibeMass Appeal, Complex.comEBONY.comBronx BiannualYOYO/SO4 and BET Digital. Feel free to connect with her on Twitter at @sunsing.

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