THE-DREAM
Love/Hate
(Def Jam)
Author of two of the year's biggest smashes, Rihanna's loping "Umbrella" and J. Holiday's tender "Bed," Terius "The-Dream" Nash is a stylistically gifted, quirky songwriter. Both of those hits possess canny, odd bits — in the case of "Umbrella," the "ella ella ella" refrain — that the The-Dream cleverly calls "the dumb parts." Don't be fooled, there's nothing foolish about any of it.
But once a song leaves The-Dream's writing room, it can only be stretched so far and made so strange. On his debut, Love Hate, The-Dream's own songs are weirder, and in many ways better, than the ones that positioned him as a Babyface for the shawty set. Here, he takes the dumb parts that make his songs inescapable and places them at the forefront, turning what might have been a solid, if safe album into a mesmerizing carnival of blurps, squirts, and coos — Rihanna and J. Holiday sound positively quaint by comparison.
Instead, The-Dream channels two '80s iconoclasts: Prince at his vampy peak and Bobby Brown, who always led with an assured growl. "Fast Car" is pure Reagan-era: jumpy keyboards, car-sex imagery, and Nash's wondrous way with mid-song breakdowns. "Falsetto" is even better, as The-Dream's simulates lovemaking, raising his voice incrementally to crystal-shattering heights, mid-thrust — it's a goofy trick, but irresistible. Love Hate never breaks stride, balancing pace with power. The supple "Purple Kiss" bursts with vivacity, while the up-tempo techno-tinged workout "Ditch That" is sweet and sour at once — Nash is as versatile as he is unconventional.
And The-Dream's single "Shawty is Da Shit (10)" may be the year's most idiosyncratically traditional love song — packed with exuberant "ay" chants, synths that swoop high over the singer's voice, and that humble but immensely expressive falsetto. With R&B singers like T-Pain and Akon pushing the limits of tonal originality, The-Dream's dynamically original instrument makes a trifecta of vocal oddities. Though there are plenty of signature tics and hums here, The-Dream may not have his own "Umbrella" — that would have been just too dumb. And Love Hate is smarter for it.
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