Passion, Pain & Pleasure

Is it a different Songz?

Why, actually, do we have only seventeen songs on a new album from Trey Songz, and not twenty? The young man has advanced to an unrivaled level of recording activity as he has released four long players in five years! Could he have added three more tracks to make the set look so beautiful wit the total number of twenty songs? Indeed, it may seem that it does not take this artist any effort to write music material, that melodies and words are born in his mind the same instant when he wishes it. Probably, he had only seventeen songs that meet the concept highlighted by the title of his new studio work, Passion, Pain & Pleasure. If we believe Trey’s statements that this is the most serious and personal work he has ever made to date, than we have to believe that his life is basically a combination of passion, pain and pleasure, which has recently inspired Trey to make a whole new record. Once again there is Trey Songz pictured on the cover of the fresh album, yet this depiction breeds some different emotions. After the ‘look at me, I’m the best’ images, Trey is depicted as a romantic character looking at you with sad and contemplating glance through the rain-washed glass. Has he really matured now?

Songz does not know sadness

Even if Trey Songz did become more mature, you can not trace it in his music and, particularly, in the lyrics. He prefers to sing about pleasure and passion, and he does it much more often and with a greater encouragement. Love Faces is exactly what we should expect from this guy, R&B with a sensual voice, airy piano and hardly perceivable guitar. Club adventures imminently ending in a successful conquering of another lady are unfolding furthermore in the more upbeat Alone, and in the very beginning you start to understand that the album is just one more collection of stories from a super lover. In the majority of these tales, he is doing fine as his passions burn like an eternal fire and pleasure is a never ending river. The subject of pain is the one that is covered by Songz rarely and without a great desire. Unfortunate is spoiled by the chorus, while Please Return My Call is short of true emotions. The last song out of the pain category is Bottom Up and brings up the irksome issue of the conflict between a human being and monsters of drinking. This one is really good, but Songz here is just shadow as the whole light is projected on the guest vocalist Nikki Minaj. Another invited performer here, Drake, helped Trey create one of the most remarkable tracks on the album, Unusual. However, many would skip it because of too rough lines in the lyrics.

Passion, Pain & Pleasure will not fail in any case

Generally speaking, the title Passion, Pain & Pleasure is quite an accurate and full mirroring of the album’s lyrical side. Nevertheless, the emotional side is not so much diversified. Trey Songz continues to follows the footsteps left by his more experienced and established R&B-performing colleagues and keeps delivering music for clubs on steady and regular basis. There is nothing that can seem technically insufficient because the work is done by real professionals, and Trey is one of them. He was the one who wrote and performed these songs. Moreover, the artist is gradually mastering the craft of producing, which he is good at as you can see from this record. Songz’s attempts to broaden the sector of listeners are made only in a song called Blind, where there is an influence of contemporary rock, yet nearly untraceable. This should not upset either the singer, who already has a considerable fan support, or his followers who have sixteen more new songs.