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The Austin 100: Parisalexa

Parisalexa.
Courtesy of the artist
Parisalexa.

Hometown:Seattle, Washington

Genre:R&B

Why We're Excited: Parisalexa's sound draws heavily on the springy, buoyant playfulness of '90s R&B, but she's too genre-fluid, rangy and clever to sound like a mere throwback. In the effervescent "Chocolate," she revels in the virtues of her own skin — not just her physical appearance, or her blackness, or her considerable self-esteem, but also the way she moves through the world.

Listen to Parisalexa's "Chocolate"

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Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)