Donell Jones has expressed interest in a Verzuz celebration with fellow R&B star Joe Thomas.
The singer-songwriter went to Instagram to list the qualifications why Thomas is the right fit.
“They gotta have uptempos. They gotta have ballads. They gotta have a whole sh*t,” said Jones. “It’s only one person that I wanna see, that’s Joe. The truth is that he’s worthy, so worthy.”
Jones also stated that the celebration between him and Thomas would be “on some grown man sh*t.” Jones’ callout for Joe came just days after the Verzuz with Mario and Omarion, which also included a pre-show battle with Team Ray J and Bobby V and Team Pleasure P and Sammie.
The Verzuz, which garnered more than 5.1 million viewers, sparked a lot of discussions online around the vocal performances displayed that night as well as the competitive behavior.
Q Parker, founding member of 112, went on Instagram live the next day to share his opinion on the battle. He believed no one displayed their vocal ability other than Mario and he also wasn’t fond of their behavior.
“At the end of the day, guys, you are singers and nobody displayed their singing ability other than Mario,” he said. “I was just really disappointed [because] they [are] better than that. They allowed the pressure and the platform of Verzuz to have them acting out of character. I know Sammie. I know P. I know [Bobby V]. None of them are like what they displayed yesterday.”
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Hence, Jones insists there will be “no disrespect” if he were to participate in a Verzuz with Thomas. “Just love. That’s what we do. We show each other love. We ain’t on that bullsh*t these young niggas is on,” he added.
Songwriter and producer Bryan-Michael Cox weighed in on Jones’ interest. “This is actually a great idea. I think it would highlight both of you as producers and songwriters too with the joints y’all made for other artists,” he commented on Jones’ Instagram post.
Thomas has not responded to Jones’ yet. However, Verzuz’s co-founder Swizz Beatz commented on Jones’ post with a few shocked face emojis and a hands-raised emoji. Jones replied to Beatz, stating, “Make it happen.”
In 2021, Jones released his seventh album, 100% Free, which featured his single “Karma (Payback).” He released a remix featuring Carl Thomas, Dave Hollister, Jacquees and RL. The song debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard Adult R&B Airplay chart in its first week.
Thomas has been relatively quiet in regard to music. He released his final album, My Name Is Joe Thomas, in 2016. This year, he joined Maxwell on his Night Tour, along with Anthony Hamilton.
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