By shelz.
Trey Songz said his 4th studio album Passion, Pain & Pleasure is his most personal and mature work to date. In a move reminiscent of Dwele’s Wants World Women, Songz has broken down his private side into three loose sections of introspective analytics, both celebrating and bemoaning the events that have made his heart (and other body parts) beat.
He toggles from bedroom bully to alcohol hero to spurned lover as he extends an open invitation to what he presents as his world. It is raunchy, amusing and sometimes poignant. However, the split ends of his relationships weigh heavy while the middle ground is missing. There are plenty of booty calls and after club trysts with strangers that lead to painful breakups. The day to day grind of nurturing a healthy relationship is conspicuously absent, making this album a lot less mature than Mr. Songz probably wanted it to be.
If you are looking for something to bump in the boudoir while you well… bump in the boudoir, Songz presents a smorgasbord of hyper-sexual material. “Love Faces” incorporates his normal give-it-to-me steez over some sexy piano tinkering, muddled guitar and a slow thump. It’s a good start and sets the overall theme in stone.
The same general scene is repeated in a heaping handful of songs on the album. Mr. Steal Yo Girl scooped one from the club to whisk away to his fortress in the upbeat “Alone.” It’s a little clap and head nod inducer with spacey digital accents and a harp buried in the layers. The operatic delivery on “Red Lipstick’s” opening vocals set against frenetic digital pulses is a painful pairing, but as long as Trey sings about dragging someone to the bedroom caveman style I’m assuming that can be forgiven. Then there is “Usual” with its epic strings and less than epic feature, Drake. The song takes PDA’s to new nastier heights only to flood into the next track, “Doorbell.” Guess what it’s about.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the Pain portion of the album. The wonderfully hazy “Unfortunate” features some decent minimalist construction that Songz mutilates with a really bad chorus as he facetiously apologizes to his ex for catching a lame after she left him. “Please Return My Call” sounds like a string of Keith Sweat’s best pleadings, but it’s by far the best song on the album, begging lyrics and all. There is an old school warmth to the track that bleeds into Trey’s delivery and he manages to almost not sound like Robert Kelly.
Rounding out the subject matter is Songz’ ode to being drunk, “Bottoms Up” on which he is completely upstaged by Nicki Minaj’s best Sybil impersonation to date. “Already Taken” is an incredibly cute song about not wanting to be a player any more (RIP Pun), but why kick out 17 tracks of sex anthems to stop your roll? There is also a suspiciously out of place alt rock pop tune. “Blind” is either radio pandering or an ill conceived attempt at broadening the fan base, but at least it’s not about sexing. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is about though.
The title of Passion, Pain & Pleasure is a pretty good summary of the emotions experienced when listening to the album. There is good, bad and ugly as Trey attempts to break free of his one dimensional style and grow. He’s on his way, but he still has quite a bit of maturing to do, musically and otherwise.
Trey Songz – “Already Taken”
3 Out of 5
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Trey also shows his versatility on crossover ready track “Already Taken”. Dripping with emotion and passion, this song gives fans a real view of his vocal range and a break from his usual subject matter.
The song “Say Aah”, released to rhythmic and urban airplay as the fourth official single from his third studio album Ready is an electrohop-pop song with R&B vocals, with lyrical content referring to a night of drinking during a birthday celebration.
Listen to the latest music tracks and more.
This album is the beginning of a new Trey Songz. I believe what he intended to do was deliver the songs his core fans are seeking and create new material his critics would like to see. Trey hears what they are saying and appears well versed in the old school music. But sex sells and it has worked well for him. At the end of the day, it’s why he is here. I see Trey definitely transitioning to more mature music and I see this album as a bridge to that. After all, he can’t be 50 still talking about how he is going to Viagra somebody up. Diverse subject mattter with solid material is what will keep Trey Songz around. All in all, this was a very solid effort by Mr. Songz. Oh, and “Please Return My Call” is topping a lot of people’s list as a favorite.
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