Trey Songz - Passion, Pain & Pleasure Album Reviews & Song Lyrics

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Trey Songz "Passion, Pain & Pleasure" album

- Release date : September 2010 -

"Passion, Pain & Pleasure" is the fourth studio album by American R&B singer Trey Songz, released on September 14, 2010(US), by Atlantic Records. Production for the album took place from March to July of 2010 and was handled by several record producers, such as Bei Maejor, Tha Bizness, Mario Winans, Mark Jackson, Kane Beatz and, of course, his longtime production partner, Songbook Entertainment founder Troy Taylor. The album's lead single, "Bottoms Up", featuring Nicki Minaj, was released on July 27, 2010 while the second single, "Can't Be Friends", was released in August 2010. Drake also makes an appearance on the album. This album is being promoted via his Summer 2010 tour with Monica.

Trey Songz took to Ustream to share a few sensual cuts from his upcoming fourth album. Throughout the broadcast, Songz lamented the leak of Pleasure tracks like "Love Faces" and "Doorbell," which began making the Internet rounds last week. "Shout out to everybody who didn't listen to the leaks," he said. But the singer brushed off the premature release of some of his tracks, adding, "Bootleggers gotta eat. I ain't mad at y'all boys". Songz also gave fans a taste of "Massage," another bedroom-burner dedicated to lavishing a lover with a head-to-toe rubdown that he frequently performs on the tour while hooking up a lucky concertgoer with an actual massage.

"While the words Passion, Pain and Pleasure immediately invoke sexual thoughts, for me they have become somewhat of a personal mantra because they so accurately describe this time in my life,” says Trey Songz. "The passion I have for my art fuels my drive and work ethic, while the sacrifice of my personal life to benefit my career will always be a source of pain. The pleasure that I derive from my work and my accomplishments make everything worth it. When I began conceptualizing the new album, these three words stuck in my head. They completely infiltrated my creative process, so it was inevitable that they became the album title."

"This is the album where I talk to the people who think all I can sing about is sex,” says Songz. "I take a step further out of that realm, although I do keep one foot in.”

"I’ve had three albums before this, but only one was really a hit,” he says. "This album will show that I’m not going anywhere.”

"Passion, Pain & Pleasure" album tracks and lyrics

"Passion, Pain & Pleasure" album reviews

Through the release of his third album, 2009’s Ready, Trey Songz appeared to be an up-and-comer poised for top-tier R&B stardom. A fast succession of three Top Ten R&B singles later, that promise was fulfilled. Rather than squeeze every drop from Ready and take a break or open a clothing boutique, Trey chose to build on his momentum. The week Passion, Pain & Pleasure was released, he was on the R&B chart in six forms, whether as a lead or featured artist, and two of those slots were occupied by his own new singles. The shamelessly mindless “Bottoms Up,” a thematic sequel to “Say Ahh” that features Nicki Minaj, was already in the Top Ten, and the hushed Mario Winans collaboration “Can’t Be Friends,” one of 2010's finest ballads, had touched the Top 30. The remainder of Passion, Pain & Pleasure likewise does not stray very far from Ready. After all, only a year separates their release dates, and they are both dominated by Troy Taylor productions. The early singles highlight Passion’s first half, which also features the classy pleader “Please Return My Call” and playfully libidinous bedroom ballads like “Massage” and “Love Faces.” The album’s back half doesn’t boast an outlandish moment like “I Invented Sex,” either, but it is the strongest, most varied side of a Trey Songz album, just about flawless. It smoothly shifts through several moods. The opulent slow jam “Red Lipstick” rivals anything in a similar mode produced or recorded by the-Dream. Throughout the in-heat “Doorbell,” Trey rides lapping/swaying percussion with impressive agility. The sparse, chilling “Unfortunate” is the most affecting post-808s & Heartbreak song yet, wounded and spiteful without coming across as hateful. “Blind,” a somber narrative, demonstrates how Trey — who, for all his lyrical boasting, displays considerable vocal aptitude without flaunting it — is as comfortable in front of a band as he is over a beat.

*** by Andy Kellman, All Music Guide ***

With his fourth album in five years, Songz continues his methodical rise to stardom. Last year's Grammy-nominated Ready was his best seller, and he seems ready to take another step forward. He's built his reputation on libido-charged ballads and club bangers. He deals with each of the title themes in roughly five-song segments, and his consistent passion makes listening a pleasure.

*** by Steve Jones, USA Today ***

There is something unusually Broadway about the 25-year-old Virginia-bred singer Trey Songz. The mode he works in -- sex-obsessed, hi-tempo R&B -- is utterly masculine, but his voice has a bright, quavering quality that recalls sturdy female performers like Judy Garland and Bernadette Peters. He sings, and often raps, quickly and with deep melodic gifts. This is no slight -- being the most theatrical of all modern R&B singers has served him well. His fourth album -- with the Sondheimian title "Passion, Pain & Pleasure" -- doesn't have the unbridled mania of last year's breakthrough, "Ready," which found Trey alerting neighbors to his bedroom exploits and inspiring lovers to consider the notion that he had, in fact, "invented sex."

But "Passion" is softer and subtler than "Ready." There are more ballads here -- and fewer "panty-droppers" and "baby-makers." Instead, Trey is making "Love Faces" at his girl, or growing reflective, and occasionally maudlin, as on "Can't Be Friends." Though his near-yodel has slowed, it has hardly disappeared. "Pain (Interlude)" is practically a paean to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" -- this is highly unlikely loverman music. But when Trey does indulge his libertine desires and penchant for puttin' on a show, as on the gleeful, kinetic "Bottoms Up," he is trumped by an even more eccentric performer. Nicki Minaj supplies a brilliant extended cameo on the song, and as she has on nearly all of her guest appearances this year, changes tempo, tone and persona in thrilling flashes. She is an even truer spotlight hog. And just like that, a headliner is pushed back into the chorus line.

*** by Sean Fennessey, Washington Post ***

It took him four albums to do it, but on his latest release, Passion, Pain & Pleasure, Trey Songz has managed to record an album that's enjoyable from beginning to end. Unlike his first three releases, this album's musical and vocal quality are consistently good from track to track, and Trey actually sounds like a full-grown man now. Passion, Pain & Pleasure, released in the U.S. on Sept. 14, 2010, is strong, romantic album on which Trey, seemingly for the first time, sounds completely comfortable in his dual roles of R&B sex symbol and creative young artist.

Perhaps the most impressive things about Trey Songz' Passion, Pain & Pleasure is that it was released 13 months after his breakthrough third album, Ready. In an industry where it's common for artists to take two or three years between albums, it's to Trey's credit that he kept grinding and managed to crank out a quality album in a year. This is even more impressive since the new album is an hour long and consists of 14 full songs, plus an intro and three interludes. Anyone who's been a Trey fan the past couple of years have definitely gotten their money's worth from his albums. One drawback though, is that this album may be a little too long, but more on that later.

Among the album's highlights it's second single, "Can't Be Friends," a somber, piano-laced track where Trey sings about how he's aching over getting physically involved with a woman he knows he shouldn't have. "What we've done, we can't take it back/Now I'm sittin' here halfway crazy 'cause I know she still thinks about me, too/And there ain't no way in hell that I can be just friends with you," he sings. On Ready, Trey established his main forte as lovemaking songs, and that this strongest material on this album as well, particularly the bump-n-grind anthem "Love Faces," where he sings lyrics like "We'll be makin' love faces, shadows on the wall while the candle's burnin,' messin' up the bed while you're sweatin' out your perm, and makin' love faces." Another winner is the sexy midtempo "Red Lipstick," where he bluntly sings "I'm in the mood, if you're in the mood, let's go in the room and do what we do."

Where the album tends to falter, however, is the upbeat party songs, particularly the first single, "Bottoms Up," featuring the rapper Nicki Minaj. If there was ever a stereotypical, ringtone-ready party song that brings nothing new to the table, this is it. Taken on it's own, it's a fun, catchy tune, but in the context of the album, it's pretty weak. Even Nicki Minaj, who's had the golden touch as far as song cameos over the couple of years can't save this track. If anything, her irrelevant, manic lyrics after the first few lines, don't add anything to the song's theme of getting tipsy in the club, a topic that's been done to death by hip-hop and a few R&B acts for the past five years.

The album's other big miscue is one of the album's three interludes, "Pain." Trey stretches his creative boundaries on this song, but the mood and tone of the track come across like a lost Janelle Monae track, or worse, a Judy Garland song. And his uncharismatic spoken-word passage at the end of the song doesn't do him any favors, either.

As mentioned above, the album clocks in at about an hour, and toward its end, the album starts to sound a little dull and repetitive, and you might get the feeling that the last few tracks were tacked on to fill the album out. But despite the few miscues, this is clearly Trey'z most consistent album yet. It remains to be seen if it becomes the hit that Ready was, since there aren't as many instantly catchy songs, but from a creative standpoint, this album is definitely the best of Trey's career so far.

*** by Mark Edward Nero, About.com Guide ***