NE-YO v THE DREAM

haha bw <3s dreamer tho

ok, another genius moment: during the bridge of "Purple Kisses", the "DOOoun DOOoun DOOOOoun" background vocals from the intro are now the sound of his doorbell

DOOoun DOOoun DOOOOoun

Now there goes my doorbell
And I'm happy she's here
But I gotta wait a minute

DOOoun DOOoun DOOOOoun

And there's a number two
And even though shawty the shit
I can't let her know she's winning

DOOoun DOOoun DOOOOoun

I'm racin down the stairs
I open the door she's right there
And she's like "how you like my hair? "

DOOoun DOOoun DOOOOoun

I'm like "that bob looks fly but them lips, oh my"
Can't wait til you plant that kiss on me, on me, on me, on me,

Also, how great is that annoyed "Hold on!" in the intro? This is my new favorite song on the album btw.

<3 all of "purple kisses" - as i said in one of these threads it's all about the whoah-oh-oh-OHHHH backing vocals

oh yeah that too, his most powerful vocal moment, not that that's what I look to him for

I've been thinking about the "Livin' a Lie" conumdrum. Most of the people who seem to have glommed onto that song in lieu of the album seem to be big fans of Year of the Gentleman, is that fair? One thing that "Livin' a Lie" shares with most of Ne-Yo's writing (both for himself and others) is a certain fussy conciseness. Both "Livin' a Lie" and your typical Ne-Yo song are very trim, maybe even a bit blocky. "So Sick" is one of the most relentlessy verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus songs I've ever heard. It's total dedication to that form struck me almost immediately even after hearing an unknowable number of songs structured that way. I found how ably it called attention to it's most basic structure fascinating. Ne-Yo does not fuck around. And neither does "Livin' a Lie". The appeal of that type of songwriting is certain, but it is completely at odds with what has transpired over the rest of the album.

One thing that strikes me about the songs on Love/Hate is the pure generosity at work. Most second verses have completely different melodies from the first. Most tracks are overflowing with ideas, with sprawling, extended structures that keep on tacking on new parts. The songs are never long just to be long, they keep hitting you with new melodies, new lyrics, new sounds for their entire durations. Sometimes it gets a bit messy, but there's always a point to it.

It occurs to me that Dream's outside writing is for the most part a lot tighter than what appears on his own album. I'm not sure most of his clients would know what to do with a song as oddly-built as "I Luv Your Girl", tho. "Livin' a Lie" as the Rihanna duet makes a lot of sense in that context. The problem is that after all these decadent song-structures, here comes no-loose-ends "Livin' a Lie" and it's like, "Is that all there is?" That generosity has suddenly been taken away. I imagine why I didn't care for the song at all until I heard it outside the context of the album.

http://img.perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/aimg_1273__oPt.jpg

I imagine THAT'S why I didn't, etc.

xp lol waht

I listened to this album 5 times yesterday btw. 2 sober, 3 drunk.

One thing that strikes me about the songs on Love/Hate is the pure generosity at work. Most second verses have completely different melodies from the first. Most tracks are overflowing with ideas, with sprawling, extended structures that keep on tacking on new parts. The songs are never long just to be long, they keep hitting you with new melodies, new lyrics, new sounds for their entire durations. Sometimes it gets a bit messy, but there's always a point to it.

so OTM. the reason i love this album. plus the harmonies of what sounds like 200 the-dreams at once. gets to that sumptuousness someone was mentioning earlier.

ya what rev says. that's what struck me about "purple kisses" i thought it was a good sometimes great song but when i finally noticed the backing vocals that kick in in the second chorus i was like "ahhhhhhhh this"

this decadent overflowing with ideas thing is why i love "playin with her hair" so much - it goes from a sweet upbeat love song to a chanting club anthem

I Luv Your Girl is still the shit.

i used to be mehhh but yeah it's dope - best snap song of 08 for sure

Really? This has always been the standout for me

Its chorus is less massive than most of the other tunes and its sonics are rather restrained so it flies under the radar a bit, at least at first. Maybe I just like The-Dream being super-soft, I'm totally digging his exhausted-sounding falsetto on "Rockin' That Thing" and "My Love". And "Mama" is such a fabulous way to end the album (i hope there are at least two out and out ballads on the new album).

Yeah the generosity thing is OTM, that's probably why "Purple Kisses" is my favourite (most of the time). The "Hold on!" intro is great, it took me a while to work out what's actually going on though.

wow @ the energy you guys can expend talking about this guy. i actually kinda like the album now but serious: do any of you have any reservations about his singing, or disliked his voice at first before getting used to it? because i don't think i'll ever completely enjoy his music for that reason.

Just realized Dream references "I'm a Flirt" in "I Luv Your Girl" w/ the "Kelly told y'all don't bring em up the club" line. Was about to defend the similarities of the two songs by saying ILYG must have been recorded by the time Double Up dropped but it looks like it was definitely on Dream's mind during the writing process. Makes sense now that I see Double Up came out in January of '07 and Love/Hate in December of the same year.

wow @ the energy you guys can expend talking about this guy. i actually kinda like the album now but serious: do any of you have any reservations about his singing, or disliked his voice at first before getting used to it?

I very much did, but I've gotten used to his voice and it no longer bothers me.

Double Up didn't come out til that June or so, but that's still plenty of time, especially since "I'm a Flirt" was floating around months earlier.

It just occured to me that I hadn't even heard "Rockin' That Shit" so I am listening to it for the first time now. Sounds dope.

BTW I have belatedly become obsessed with Electrik Red's "So Good". It really is!

tim have you heard "we fuck you"

is the whole album floating out there or just a couple tracks?

just a few afaik... they might've even had an ep but all i've been able to find are "we fuck you" and "drink in my cup" and then more recently "so good"

def jam website says the album came out last year, doesn't seem to be actually true though.

def jam website has shit all screwed up iirc - amazon says march 24 for electrik red

maild u

re "we fuck you":

Yes, though for the first time earlier today (following up on "So Good" love). I'm impressed by the alien synth-bass burbles but I don't know if the song itself works. I like the idea of it I guess. Need to listen more.

really love the singer's voice

Isn't it four of them? Or is it a Pussycat Dolls style solo + back-up arrangement?

No actually you're right, I'm thinking of the singer on Freaky Freaky/So Good, they definitely seem to hand it around a lot more than PCD

i never understand how ppl thought 'i luv your girl' could be a standout -- its the most generic-y / boring joint on the album

wow @ the energy you guys can expend talking about this guy. i actually kinda like the album now but serious: do any of you have any reservations about his singing, or disliked his voice at first before getting used to it? because i don't think i'll ever completely enjoy his music for that reason.

― some dudes might think about blow jobs, like, way way way less (some dude), Sunday, February 15, 2009 12:13 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

oh i know the album was a total sleeper hit that accrued buzz over a pretty long period of time...but i thought that was more of a gradual word-of-mouth thing, not people all hearing it when it was released and having to slowly get used to the squeak-toy vocals.

havent we all moved on to ryan leslie now anyway

RL isn't an ilm obsession, he's just getting the afterglow of the Cassie ilm obsession

i think hes a 'grower' -- tho not the-dream level -- but maybe im wrong

i mean grower in terms of ilx fanbase/respect not like corny 'this album is a grower' fauxcrit

hayyyyy kanye/the-dream joint leaked

fauxhawk

do not hesitate to post link deej

http://i35.tinypic.com/2aacacz.jpghttp://i35.tinypic.com/2aacacz.jpghttp://i35.tinypic.com/2aacacz.jpghttp://i35.tinypic.com/2aacacz.jpghttp://i35.tinypic.com/2aacacz.jpghttp://i35.tinypic.com/2aacacz.jpghttp://i35.tinypic.com/2aacacz.jpghttp://i35.tinypic.com/2aacacz.jpghttp://i35.tinypic.com/2aacacz.jpghttp://i35.tinypic.com/2aacacz.jpg

^this is my track review

this sounds like 'forever' by cb (RIP)

only reservation is im not sure this is gonna make folks feel better who agreed w/ tim's criticism about 'rockin that shit' -- i just hope there are some subtle & more intricately written ballads like 'purple kisses' & 'luv songs' on the lp

man this is earnest as shit -- i guess hes decided to step up in the wake of chrisbrowngate

this song is so serious

it's so gleaming

can't imagine any other rapper besides kanye being on this too... he's kinda cornered this market

yo this song is a jam

This sounds like that O'Neal McKnight song. Dope tho.

By "tim's criticism" do you mean that it's more universal/generic than his first album stuff, Deej?

I should note that this doesn't at all bother me w/r/t "Rockin' That Shit/Thing", though yeah it'd be a cause for concern if the entire album was like that.

"walking on the moon" is nice but I'm really feeling "sweat it out" which is some classic kells shit