The-Dream has been talking about the two EPs, Crown and Jewel, for some time now. As of April 14th, Crown has been released, so we’re just waiting on the July 10 release date for Jewel. The singer/songwriter is putting down that work, but he is looking forward – kinda – to take a three to four-year break in order to “reinvent” himself.
“It would be more than a tough time to step away. I was thinking like, can I even do that? I couldn’t even imagine,” Dream tells The Boombox. “I would have to come with a different name and do work under that name and then reinvent The-Dream, period. That’s the only way that’ll work. But it’s not really that hard to keep going because I think I am reaching most of the time to impress people who actually have an ear for the stuff that I do.”
JaaiR (JR)
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In addition to Crown and Jewel talk, The-Dream tells The Boombox how to have a marriage last. I mean … check Dream’s record and then you decided if you’ll except marriage advice. But he has great music …
What is a typical studio session like for The-Dream? Can you tell us about a great studio moment while you were creating Crown?
Flowers. A lot of roses everywhere. I love flowers. I love the smell of the fresh flowers. It just softens up the room. There’s enough ratchetness inside of me so flowers softens it up. The flowers are always a constant reminder of being sensitive — a women — and I think that is important when you are making records where most of the people want to talk to women or I am talking to women.
It goes without saying that all of your albums are thematic, with love being the focal point. However, your creativity as an artist shines with each delivery. On the last album, IV Play, with songs line “P—-” and “Turnt,” it was more about sex, lust and passion. What aspect of love are you catering to on Crown and Jewel?
The purity of love. Like with this album it’s like the record I just played for you, “All I Need” [is] pure, honest and straight to the point. It’s so straight to the point that it will probably sound too witty coming from me because I am always being witty. There is a record at the end called “Fruition.” “Fruition” is something that you really don’t hear about in song — I mean we say it in conversation, but it’s one of those things like how “Falsetto” was. With “Fruition,” I wanted to make sure I catered to my fans that like to hear analogies in records and how they wrap back around in creating a story. So it’s almost like you creating the title of a movie and then you write the script based on that.
Crown and Jewel are two separate EPs. Can you break down the division and what experience you are hoping to give listeners with each album?
With Crown, I just want to give people what they want from me. With Jewel, I just want to deliver more of a progressive sound. Not that it hasn’t been done before but because my fans haven’t seen it from me. It’s different when the “Umbrella” tracks are for Rihanna because I did demo it in the first place but even past that, I never went further with trying to do songs like that. To be honest, I didn’t see myself doing music like that. It’s kind of like now I am starting to come into my own. It was always about being a musician and a songwriter first, it doesn’t take away from the fact that I am an artist. But I mean coming into my own as far as showmanship. I wanted to step all the way into it with Jewel.
You are still a newlywed. It will make one year in July that you’ve been married to Lalonne Martinez. What advice can you give to newlyweds to make the honeymoon phase last?
Listen to my album [laughs]! You just have to stay fun and remember how you got somebody. Never stop the courting process. Take trips. I think more so it’s about just being fun and not taking yourself so seriously. Adding husband or wife to your title doesn’t make you more serious then you were nine months ago. You have to have fun with yourself and understand there are things you don’t know and there are things that you do know.
While people should accept you for you, they should also accept you for who you aspire to be. You are not going to wake and be this ultimate person and think like, cool I won, because you have a ring. Nobody has won anything; you are still trying to win everyday. So you should still try to win your woman and you should still try to win your man.
