Artist: The Dream
Album: Love (me all summer); Hate (me all winter)
Genre: R&B
Release Date: 12/11/2007
Label: Def Jam

I read a statement on Amazon.com by The Dream that said "It's more of what I'm giving other people. It's like the 80s, its musical. I'm doing the `Umbrella' routine to this whole album. All of my records are singles. I don't think a record has been done this good since Thriller." For a breakout artist to say a record this good hasn't been done since the classic Thriller by Michael Jackson, he is giving himself a very ambitious compliment. I'm not saying the album isn't good, I'm just saying it's is not a comparison to Thriller in no way, shape or form.

From the guy that wrote one of the if not the biggest singles of the year "Umbrella", he clearly recognized early on what worked for that single and made it work for this album. What do I mean by that you ask, well remember all the "ella ella ella ehhs" on the song "Umbrella"? You'll definitely hear no shortage of those on this album as well. Also another tactic he uses is very repetitive lyrics that seem to captivate you and make the songs very easy to sing along to. Could this idea to use catchy singable lyrics end up being a downfall by allowing the songs to be annoying over time and cause them to loose likeability after hearing it about 10 times? Only time will tell.

With all that said the album is definitely a solid effort and will most likely see the mainstream success that other projects have done that he has been a part of. According to The Dream every song is a single....I wouldn't go that far as to say that, yet there are plenty of potentials for him to choose from. Out of 5 stars I give this album 3.5-4. My favorite tracks on the album are "I luv your girl", "Fast Car", "Purple kisses" and "Mama".

**Note** Because this album has explicit content I will not post tracks unless they are the clean version.

1. Shawty is da s*** feat. Fabolous: I know a lot of people are liking this song, I hear it on the radio way too much. I'm fine with going out on a limb here and saying this has got to be the most annoying song of 2007, just barely above "Umbrella" also written by him. Way too many ehhhh's and oooooh's, after awhile it just gets annoying. I also think this beat is really plain and uninteresting as well.

2. I luv your girl: There is something so catchy about this song. I know it's wrong for me to like it; it's talking about taking someone else's girl. Yet it's one of those unspeakable pleasures, you know it's wrong but you like it anyways. That's how I am about this song. I like the beat, I like the arrangement of the lyrics and the little extras he puts into this song. I really don't know why this wasn't the first or second single.

3. Fast Car: I absolutely love this beat! It has the old Prince vibe to it with a fresh new twist. This is a very different style than the other songs you'll hear from him on the radio but it is a good look for him. I would love to hear him do more stuff along the lines of this!

4. Nikki: Very annoying beat and way too repetitive for my liking. I think this is even worse than his first single. I'm not sure what he was thinking on this track but it falls really short compared to the rest of them.

5. She needs my love: I'm indifferent about this track. I don't love it but I don't hate it and it isn't until I get to the chorus that I actually like it more than not. He's definitely not the best singer out there and that's evident, yet there's something undeniably interesting about the way he can deliver a song.

6. Falsetto: The second single off of his album. It's a pretty decent choice but I think there are clearly better songs on this album that could have been released instead of this one. An interesting idea he had for this song nonetheless.

7. Playin' in her hair: Back to the ehhh's and ayyy's The Dream delivers another catchy hit. Another song that will definitely find itself on repeat in your car. It bumps and the delivery will be sure to have you singing along to this one.

8. Purple kisses: Wow is all I can say about the beat to this song. Very infectious sounds and a smooth mellow groove. Sure to be another hit for him. It follows his sure fire structure that has produced his previous hits. This would be my second favorite song on this album.

9. Ditch that: Missy is that you? Seriously, he really sounds like Missy Elliott at the beginning. I really like the beat to this song, but it really falls apart for everything else to me. More of a dance kind of track the synth-heavy beat moves along well while the vocals just fail to do it for me. My favorite part is towards the end when the beat breaks down but then it gets a little to crazy for me.

10. Luv songs: Definitely a hot beat! You will notice that right away. Yet again, another catchy mellow groove you can cruise to.

11. Livin' a lie feat. Rihanna: This seems to be the only song on the album that doesn't really fit in with the rest of the album. I'm not the biggest fan of the beat however if the song was different I might have been able to bare it. There's just nothing interesting at all about this song and I have never been a fan of Rihanna singing and this song does nothing to change my view of that. An overall annoying track.

12. Mama: Nicely done track, this one has much more meaning than anything on this album. At the beginning The Dream sings "This is the interpretation of what mother tells her son....". A nice song dedicated to his mom and even though his voice is manipulated on this song you can hear him get a little choked up towards the end. From the sound of it I think his mom might have passed away because he talks about bringing her back. I really like this song and it is definitely a standout track on the album.




Aaron Fields is the Sales Marketing Coordinator for KSTW-TV in Seattle. All opinions expressed in this column are strictly his