Songz is not the only aging singer to be pushed aside by changing fashions in R&B. That’s when Songz nearly became a star, thanks to gliding, unabashedly pretty singles like “Can’t Help But Wait” and gleeful, sex-drunk Nineties throwbacks like “Neighbors Know My Name,” where he sings an entire silly verse in the tone of someone who just huffed a whole canister of helium. He fared better in an earlier era, when beats were less somber and there was more of an appetite for singers willing to prove that they were different from rappers, often by showing off their range. Unfortunately, that it isn’t particularly helpful for Songz, who hasn’t had a Top 20 crossover hit since 2010. That’s not uncommon in R&B today, as the genre continues to follow hip-hop, rather than vice versa. You could take him off any record here and replace him with nearly any rapper, and the transition wouldn’t be too jarring. It leaves little room for Songz’s vocal histrionics - his trademark swooping singing. Despite the lengthy combined tracklists, there’s not much variation in tempo or style, and the chugging beats are compressed and melody-averse. There is a whole lot of music here: 10 slow and sweaty numbers with only Songz (titled 11), followed by 10 more slow and sweaty numbers with collaborators ranging from Swae Lee to 2 Chainz to Chris Brown ( 28). At midnight on Tuesday, R&B singer Trey Songz released a new double album to celebrate his 34th birthday.
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