Artist: Trey Songz
Album: Ready
Release Date: 8.31.09 (pushed up from 9.1.09)
The Good: The baby-makers are not in short supply on this album, as you could probably tell by the titles: Panty Dropper Intro, Neighbors Know My Name, Invented Sex. While those are okay, the real jewels of the album are found in songs like One Love, a mature ballad led by a piercing guitar rift. There’s an energetic vibe on the champagne-touting club hit Say Aah which features rapper Fabolous. Jupiter Love is one of the best among the slow jams, very intimate and perfect for that late night intimate playtime. The latter part of the album exposes the man beyond the playboy façade starting with the Bei Maejor contribution Black Roses, which stands out with a new sound for Songz. Love Lost takes me back to my MJ days, a la Human Nature, and while lyrically it’s not the best, the vocals and production here are excellent. Yo Side of the Bed is another favorite, originally heard on the Anticipation mixtape with another amazing guitar rift to close out the album. The singles Successful and I Need A Girl are also on this project.
The Bad: If sequence is truly important, as he stated in his exclusive Sound-Savvy interview, then LOL :-) is clearly the exception to that rule. No matter how catchy the hook, this is the one song that does not fit on the album, and breaks the focus completely. The fact that it’s right in the middle doesn’t help. Beyond that, there’s not much else to dislike about the album, but I will say that the constant sex talk gets a bit much after a while; there’s a reference to sex in almost every song on the album.
The Bottom Line: If you’ve heard Trey’s Anticipation mixtape, you already know what to expect here. There are plenty of good vocals throughout, and there’s enough sexual content to increase the population at least twice with each purchase. Without a doubt this is Songz’ masterpiece, undeniably the most consistent and best delivered project of his career thus far. Conceptually, Ready is a relationship walkthrough, from meeting to meltdown, with all the emotions experienced along the way. Some singers get it right the first time, and some have to try a few times to get it right. With Ready, Trey Songz got it right.
Sound-Savvy rates Ready with 4 out of 5 platinum headphones.
1 Comment
I wasn't sure about this one. After digging Anticipation so much I felt like this would be a wack commercial version, especially when I saw the list of guests. I didn't think it would hold a candle to Anticipation, but your review says differently ("masterpiece") so I might check it out after all. "I Need A Girl" definitely gets my vote for best summertime cruising track though. He's doing his thing.
Posted on August 31, 2009 at 12:31 PM
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