Tremaine Neverson. Trey Songz. The man is a rare commodity in this insipid game. He’s like the sprinkles to your vanilla ice cream, the 24 inches to your new ride. How would I know? Ask every teenage girl whose estrogen level is bursting with furor every time the man’s name is uttered through the TV set. Rather than remix songs in a languid manner, Songz has vivaciously enlightened people with his impressive catalog of tracks ranging from Jamie Foxx’s “Blame It”, to T-Pain’s “Can’t Believe It”, to Jasmine Sullivan’s “Busting Windows.”
He might not have received the accolades. He might not have gone diamond, but, Songz has undeniably provided his listeners reasons as to why he was chosen as Ballerstatus’ “Hottest R&B Artist in The Game” this past July.
His latest endeavor entitled Anticipation sparked the attention of men and women alike. Tracks like “Yo Side of the Bed, & “Scratching Me Up” gave fans of Songz a good reason to be patient, and await his highly anticipated--no pun intended—release album Ready, scheduled to drop September 1st.
Ballerstatus was able to sit down with Songz, as he discussed being crowned the top singer in the game, if there’s a difference between Trey Songz & Tremaine Neverson, a Best of Both Worlds album with Drake, and more in this exclusive interview.
BS: A while ago Ballerstatus named you the "Hottest R&B Singer in the Game.”Does that title provide additional pressure for you to really follow through on this album?
TS: Oh most definitely. For the fact that Ballerstatus has a big following and a lot of people—a lot of people around the world too--agreeing with that—made me feel real good. You know at this point, the pressure is on period. You know, whether they named me number one or number ten, it’s going to be the same pressure for me because I put that pressure on myself to be the best.
BS: Normally when a person receives accolades, they tend to relax. How do you remain hungry and maintain that grind that got you to where you’re at?
TS: Ah man, it’s the will to be great. It’s my desire to be the best at what I do. I actually love my job. I love making music, and I love proving to people that I’m worthy of being mentioned with the best, with the elite. It’s always been a goal of mine just to make sure within myself I stay persistent, and to never let myself down. With that being said, I go hard. That’s the only way for me to go.
BS: A lot of people said since you didn’t have the awards to back you up, that you shouldn’t have been the top dude in the game? Do you feel awards should be accounted for a person’s success or quality of music?
TS: I think it’s definitely quality of the music. I think awards play a part of what’s peoples’ perception of what success is you know? You know I think I was named number one by Ballerstatus this year because it’s apparent that I’ve worked harder than any other R&B artist out this year. I’ve been consistent. Awards and things of that nature are things that the public plays on occupation, and entertainment to show. You know what I mean? I would love to get these awards, and I feel that I will. But, I don’t think they determine the quality of an artist truthfully.
BS: Anticipation was a big release considering hardly any R&B cats provide their fans with mixtapes. Do you think R&B artists should consider doing mixtapes like rappers do for their fans?
TS: I mean, I think they should do what works for them. I have a hip-hop mind state. I think like a rapper. You know Anticipation is pretty much an album that sets the mood for love making and things of that nature. But, it’s still the marketing nature of a rapper because rappers never worry about how much music comes out. If you think about Wayne when he first came out, people thought he was crazy because he probably had so many songs out that you were like “Yo, he’s gonna kill himself.” And still to this day, he’s good. (Laughs) You know what I mean? Some artists still put samplers out. They still put samples of their album out. Anticipation is the sampler for me, which happened to be an album within itself. Like I said really, quality and persistence is definitely the key to win people over.
BS: You slightly just touched on this, but because you have the ability to rap, and sing, how much of a threat do you feel you pose on your fellow peers?
TS: I think I’m quite of a threat myself. (Laughs) As an artist you’re supposed to think so. If you’re an artist and you don’t think of yourself as a threat to anyone, then you’re not a real artist. If you’re an artist, and you don’t have that competitive spirit, then you won’t be a threat to this man, or the next man. It’s like what are you competing for? I think other people are threats as well though you know what I mean? I just focus on my lane, and work on perfecting my lane. I like to think of myself in a lot of cases as a horse in a race. When horses race they have blinders on. They can’t see the horses next to them. So I don’t focus on what’s going on with anyone else. I stay in that lane, and I run as hard as I can.
BS: You know Ne-Yo surprised people when he did freestyle on “A Milli”. In a freestyle battle, who do you think would take it one on one, you or Ne-Yo?
TS: Me.
BS: Why’s that?
TS: Just cuz I’m me and he’s him. I’m sure he’d think he would win. You’re supposed to think you would win. I don’t think I’d lose.
BS: Matter fact, give me a percentage of rappers you think you could rip today in a battle?
TS: The percentage of rappers I could rip in the game? Most of them, I’ll say that. There’s a lot of rappers out there. You know, even in my mixtapes, I ain’t rapping. I’m actually putting lyricism to melodies. I think of myself being pretty witty and clever. I know a lot of rappers who could put words together, but I’m singer man. (Laughs) So I don’t even play with those antics. (Laughs)
BS: Nah I dig it. Since you’re big on doing remixes on a lot of records, I’m curious, which song in particular was your personal favorite to do?
TS: A favorite remix of my own? Ah man. A personal favorite of mine is actually Kanye’s “Bad Newz”. I actually rapped on that record. I mean most of the records I’m singing on. I sing and rap, but I actually sang on the Kanye parts of that record, and rap at the end of it. I think that record means a lot to me from what I was talking about at that point of my life. At that point I was going through stuff.
BS: Another track I know you remixed but decided to put on the album was Drake’s “Successful” record. What made you decide to remix “Successful” and put it on the album?
TS: Well actually Drake came and hit me up about it man. He said he wasn’t putting it on his album Thank Me Later. It’s actually going on the retail version of So Far Gone; which is actually coming out in a couple of weeks. But, he wasn’t going to use it for his album. A lot of my fans would hit me up telling me; Man, that’s what I love about twitter. Just to give you a sidebar. You could hear directly from the fans, and what they want. You could give music directly to them, and if anything goes wrong, you could talk to them directly. But, a lot of my fans would come and tell me “You should put a verse on “Successful. Why haven’t you done “Successful “over?” I was like, “That’s my homie’s song.” Then initially, Drake came up to me with the idea like “Nah dog. That’s your song. I’m not putting it on my album. So it’s going to be a waste. So it’s going to be a big record with no one to go retrieve it.” So we put the verse on there just to give me a little more presence on the record for it to be on my album. You know we actually just shot the video for that verse as well.
BS: Because you and Drake have such chemistry together, do you think there’s a possibility that you two could do a Best of Both Worlds album in the future?
TS: It’s crazy because on the first record we actually did, on Drake’s last verse he says, “Since Jay {Z} and Kels {R. Kelly} aren’t doing the thang no more, I guess me and Songz are the replacements.” Back then, it was wild to hear him say that. Now it’s crazy cuz’ people are begging us to do an album together. It’s very possible man. I could see that in the realm of possibility. He has to put his album out, which he’s focused on right now, and I’m focused on Ready right now. Whenever the time for that permits, I’m sure that’ll happen.
BS: Speaking of Ready, a lot of people fell in love with Trey Day. Did you follow the same approach when you were making Ready as when you made Trey Day?
TS: Well this album was good for me once again you know because of the internet, I’ve been able to show that I know what people I like from me. And then, I know what I’m doing musically to my label, you know what I mean? Because with Trey Day actually; all albums have been a joint effort. With my two albums prior, it’s been more a tussle with the label to do exactly what I wanted to do. With this album, it’s been more; I always had a good amount of creative control, and I’ve been in a position where I wouldn’t do things that I absolutely would not wanna do. It’s a compromise when you work with a label because it’s a partnership. So I think, what the internet did for me, what Anticipation did for me, what the mixtapes did for me, and what the popularity of me growing throughout the internet without the label having any say on the music being made, I think made them listen to me more in a musical arena. I think the difference is throughout the time span that we’ve been working on the album, it probably changed like four or five times. Initially when I thought of the concept for Ready, I knew I was going to cut my hair. I knew I was going to get in the gym. I knew that this was my third album. I’ve had two before. So everyone who I knew I’ve came in the game with surpassed me as far as accolades and things of that nature that we spoke about earlier. I think Ready was stating that I was ready for things in that nature. Now, I think we actually worked to the point where the definition of Ready is for the world, because everybody is just as ready as I am for the album to come.
BS: Definitely. You brought up the issues with the label, and I was wondering, was the album being pushed back because of the label or did you want provide the fans with different sounds for the album?
TS: Well this album actually, every time it’s been pushed back, has been a decision made from myself, my management, and the label jointed. There’s nothing I ever been against as far as pushing the album back. Initially, when the first decision was made, I was making more music. I had actually turned ready in way back in probably May. Like I said, the album changed up like four times. I think I turned the album in, in May. Then I think we had a June 30th date. Yeah June 30th was the first date. That’s when I started making a lot of the music that was on Anticipation. After I turned the album in, I went back in the studio that week and kept creating music. It was already in my mind to release a mixtape before an album came out. When I started making music, it eventually became Anticipation. It was different from what we’ve had, and it’s what was missing from Ready. You know, I was in the creative space where I wanted more time to make more music. I was still feeling like I had hotter stuff within me. So it was pushed back from June 30th to August 4th. The push back from August 4th to September 1st was actually because of me being a business man. “I Need a Girl” was at a certain point. You know back in the day, the logic was that you get a record, and you try to time when it gets number 1. That was when you would probably have the most audience, and because of that you want to drop then. However, we’re in a different world now. On August 4th, I think “I Need a Girl” was at number four. I think it peaked actually at number four on the urban charts. Audience is very important when trying to sell a record. What an audience is; is the amount of people that actually hear your record. Whether it be from video spins, whether it be from radio spins, it’s whatever. That’s the audience. An artist of pretty good numbers usually has pretty good numbers. For example, his numbers his last album out, he had about 60 million in audience, and then did 125. At the time, “I Need a Girl” was only at 30 million in audience. So as a businessman, I figured with a month more I’d get “I Need a Girl” a bigger audience. Within that month, not even a month now, it’s been three weeks since that original release date, I’ve had four songs in rotation. Now had I released on August 4th, “Successful” wouldn’t have been on the album. “LOL (Smiley Face)” wouldn’t have been getting as many spins as its getting right now. “Invented Sex” definitely wouldn’t have been added to 15 radio stations. So right now, versus one record on the charts, I have a mixtape, four records on the radio, and I have three records in the top 20.
BS: Wow. That was smart. Good move. (Laughs)
TS: (laughs)
BS: I want to go a little different now if you don’t mind?
TS: Sure.
BS: Let’s play a word association game. Whatever I say, you just have to tell me the first thing that comes to mind.
TS: Fa Sho’
BS: Anticipation.
TS: Pre-album.
BS: R.Kelly.
TS: Legend.
BS: “Best I Ever Had” video.
TS: Kanye West.
BS: Lauren London.
TS: Great girl.
BS: Tremaine Neverson.
TS: A great guy.
BS: I was trying to see if you would bite on the R.Kelly one, but that’s all good.
TS: (laughs)
BS: But jumping back to the “Best I Ever Had” video, what did you think about it? Do you feel the video was appropriate for the type of song he had originally?
TS: You know I think in all honesty, if it had been Drake four years ago, I think that video would have been cool. I think if Kanye West would have done that same video for that same song it would be, you know what I mean? He wouldn’t have been under such pressure as Drake, because you know that was his first video. Although he is almost instantly a superstar this year, he has to make sure of his connections with the fans, because that video didn’t mesh. The song made women feel special. The video made women feel the opposite.
BS: Now as for your name, do you ever separate Trey Songz from Tremaine Neverson when you’re in the studio or do you bring them all in one?
TS: Umm in some respects. I mean in music, Tremaine Neverson is all there. Whether it’s a ballot, or whether it’s a mixtape record it’s all there. One thing about when I do music, it’s all me. There’s some situations where on the album yeah I may drop experience but, overall it’s me. The most you get out of me is actually on the stuff like “Yo Side of the Bed”. You know in a man, I mean everyman, there’s so many personalities to us. If you as a man wanted to release them throughout music, it wouldn’t be one beat. It wouldn’t be one key. It wouldn’t be one genre of music you know? So as a man, I release myself through music, and every which way I do, is a different part of me.
BS: I respect that. I know you’ve done a lot of features before, but let’s turn the tables a bit. Let’s say you had to do a record with somebody outside of the realm of Hip-Hop, R&b, and Rap, who would you want to do that track with and why?
TS: I’d probably roll with Maroon 5. I have both of their albums. I love their songwriting. Shout outs to Adam Levine. I love his voice. I think it would be great to work them.
BS: Now I got to ask you before we go, is there a possibility of you making a remix to the track “LOL”, and naming it “LMAO”?
TS: (Laughs) That’s a dope idea actually. I never really thought of that. I shouldn’t have actually told you I haven’t thought that, and I should have said yeah. (laughs). That was a dope idea. If not’s actually a part of the lyricism, it would be the actual remix. I think there’s going to be a remix for that song, because a lot of people dig it. A lot of people dig it. A lot of people have hit me up actually about it. That song is blowing up real fast man.
BS: Any ideas of who you would want on the remix?
TS: Well I actually spoke to Nikki Minaj, because we spoke about doing a record. I told her that I wanted it to be something sexy, something kind of dark and moody maybe. She wanted to do more of a commercial record, a cuter sex record. “LOL” was actually already done, but when she heard it, she hit me up, and said “I love that song. You’re a punk for not putting me on it.” She’ll definitely be on the remix.
BS: I’m curious about Nicki. Do you think people confuse her for simply being a person who’s purely just about sex?
TS: Most definitely. I mean I think she loves sex. I mean just listen to her music, and who’s to say that she doesn’t? (laughs) She’s a great lyricist. I think she’s eager to show that she has more to talk about, because she’s been given that platform to do so.
BS: Man to man, would you hit?
TS: Yeah I think damn right. (laughs)
BS: Since I got the idea for the remix just shout me out on the track. (Laughs)
TS: Yeah, I’ll make sure to shout out my man Carl at Ballerstatus. (Laughs)
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