Score: 2/5
Normally crowns are symbols of power and accomplishment, but for The-Dream’s new EP release, “Crown” isn’t worthy of its title.
The “Crown” EP features six songs, with a plan for a second EP titled “Jewel” to be released in July. The “Crown Jewel” series seems like a creative effort, but after listening to “Crown,” it’s clear neither are worth the anticipation surrounding them.
The-Dream’s records began losing his popular touch after 2010’s “Love King.” Whether it’s him drifting away from the music, not enough fan support or that he peaked between 2007-2010, it’s confusing to think of how he’s gone from a high-ranking Billboard artist to “Crown.”
If he’d focused more on penning significant lyrics instead of this relationship present in every song, maybe the EP would have more appeal.
The album is a mix of slow and upbeat R&B melodies, with some hip-hop thrown into the closing track.
The opening track “Prime” is exactly what the title implies — The-Dream’s argument he’s still relevant and an ode to an unknown woman, in which he repetitively tries to convince her of his ever-present self worth.
He pens the lyrics, “15 I was stacking my bread, by 20 I made sure none of the success went to my head. By 25 everybody expected me to be dead, by 30 I did exactly what I said.”
The halfway track “All I Need” includes a long intro of a woman speaking in French before finessing into the beat of the song. The song is a ballad to the same unknown woman stressing his desire to have her in his life, belting the lyrics, “Without you I’d die.”
The closing track “Cedes Benz” offers a change of pace and subject. It’s more hip-hop and upbeat, a five-minute long song about having a new Mercedes Benz and a carefree attitude.
However, in the last minute or so of the song, the upbeat melody disappears and it transcends back into a slow, rhythmic melody and reaches out to the unknown woman saying, “Just tell me what you want baby I’m listening.”
It’s unclear what The-Dream is trying to accomplish with mixing so many different elements together. Maybe the “Jewel” EP will be better, but the effort to have two separate EP’s come together seamlessly is lost in the first half.