Love/Hate II

The-Dreams highly uneven 2011-2020 projects -- in the wake of an exceptional 2007-2010 trilogy consisting of Love/Hate, Love vs Money, and Love King -- were followed by the longest between-albums break in his career. During the drought, he was nonetheless on an upswing behind the scenes, remaining one of Beyonces main collaborators, co-writing Megan Thee Stallions "Savage Remix" (featuring Beyonce), contributing heavily to Renaissance and Cowboy Carter, and doubling his number of Grammy wins as a result. Additionally, some of Dreams own earliest hits were sampled by artists like Camila Cabello, whose "Dream-Girls" was based on "Shawty Is da Shit." Dream rides the wave of nostalgia with this sequel to his debut. Linking again with fellow writers and producers Tricky Stewart and Carlos McKinney, he continues singing in his buoyant tenor from the perspective of an impudent, dirty-macking player, using "shawty" as his favored term of endearment and talking constant trash about shawtys man, but not without showing his soft side elsewhere. He integrates more references to his voluminous songbook, like when he pines for his "good girl gone bad" in "Be My Lady," a grimy relative of "Falsetto" and "She Needs My Love." The best of the vocal collaborations is with Usher on the booming "Tampa," a taunting track co-produced by Pharrell Williams. Likewise past collaborators T.I., Pusha T, Rick Ross, and Kelly Rowland are among the guests, making more connections to Dreams past work. "Tampa" and the coasting "Bring That Body" were rightly picked as pre-album singles, and though its those two that stand out most, there are some lower-key highlights that include the percolating slow jam "24/7" and the hypnotic "Powder Coat." Reliance on old ideas notwithstanding, this is the most enjoyable Dream album since the third one. ~ Andy Kellman