Trey Songz - Ready (Album Review)

Trey Songz has always been a more hip-hop influenced R&B singer, but Ready might be the most soul Trey Songz has ever exhibited on an album. At the very least, it is more complete than Trey Day could have ever been, and there are even a few gems beyond the trademark sex jams that Trey is known for.

The album is front loaded with radio ready singles and funny sex stories that are either hit or miss depending who you ask. “Neighbors Know My Name” should be familiar to anyone who has ever made love in an apartment or college dorm room, and “Invented Sex” boasts of Trey’s bedroom skills with some assistance from newcomer Drake. “LOL :-)” is borderline awful, but also catchy enough to get stuck in your head for days. Gucci Mane and Soulja Boy are clearly here to help market this album to a younger generation, but then again, why are we marketing sex to a younger generation in the first place?

Moving on to the good of this album, “I Need A Girl” is the first down to earth love ballad that shows up, and features more alternative guitar-laced production that you would expect to hear elsewhere. “Black Roses” is even more alternative than that, and is really the first time we get to hear Trey in a completely different element. “Does He Do It” and “Be Where You Are” are more traditional, but also the biggest sounding records of his solo ballads. The album closes out strongly with a song that has been out for awhile, but “Yo Side Of The Bed” is still so smooth and so relevant to anyone who has found themselves missing an ex.

It has been too long for me to really remember Trey’s first album, but I can tell you Ready is much more advanced than his last. Trey seems to be moving in a more mature direction musically, if only he could stay away from the teeny bop stuff. You can’t really take love-making seriously when marketed to a 16 yr old, and instead of toeing that line, Trey needs to decide what kind of artist he ultimately wants to become. Until that time though, Ready is solid enough to buy and should please most Trey Songz fans. I give this album a 3/5.