Passion, Pain & Pleasure
Encyclopedia
Passion, Pain & Pleasure received positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 71, based on five reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Allmusic writer Andy Kellman gave it four out of five stars and complimented its second half as "the strongest, most varied side of a Trey Songz album, just about flawless. It smoothly shifts through several moods". BBC Online's Mike Diver praised the album's "in-depth descriptions of how our protagonist is going to pleasure his other half" and noted Songz's performance as a strength, stating "The skill is in the execution, in the articulation – and Trey is well studied and blessed with some wonderfully smooth vocals". Sean Fennessey of The Washington Post
wrote that the album "is softer and subtler than Ready. There are more ballads here -- and fewer 'panty-droppers' and 'baby-makers'. Instead, Trey is making 'Love Faces' at his girl, or growing reflective, and occasionally maudlin, as on 'Can't Be Friends'". Tyler Lewis of PopMatters
commented that "Songz rides the tonal and rhythmic shifts with impressive agility" and commended "a clearly rejuvenated songwriting team of Troy Taylor, Edrick Miles, Tony Scales, and Songz himself, who in various combinations wrote the lyrics and melodies to nearly every song here".
In contrast, Rolling Stone
writer Will Hermes gave the album two out of five stars and stated "it's just steady mackin' over dull, airbrushed slow-jams". Andrew Murfett of The Sydney Morning Herald
expressed a negative response towards its sexual content and stated "Little, if anything, is left to the imagination here". Los Angeles Times
writer August Brown viewed that Songz "lacks an especially charismatic voice", but complimented its musical quality and wrote that the album "leaves you like a perfect one night stand — you don’t have to remember the person, just the way he or she made you feel". About.com
's Mark Edward Nero stated "this album's musical and vocal quality are consistently good from track to track" and concluded "despite the few miscues, this is clearly Trey's most consistent album yet". USA Today
s Steve Jones gave the album three out of four stars and stated "his consistent passion makes listening a pleasure".
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 71, based on five reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Allmusic writer Andy Kellman gave it four out of five stars and complimented its second half as "the strongest, most varied side of a Trey Songz album, just about flawless. It smoothly shifts through several moods". BBC Online's Mike Diver praised the album's "in-depth descriptions of how our protagonist is going to pleasure his other half" and noted Songz's performance as a strength, stating "The skill is in the execution, in the articulation – and Trey is well studied and blessed with some wonderfully smooth vocals". Sean Fennessey of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
wrote that the album "is softer and subtler than Ready. There are more ballads here -- and fewer 'panty-droppers' and 'baby-makers'. Instead, Trey is making 'Love Faces' at his girl, or growing reflective, and occasionally maudlin, as on 'Can't Be Friends'". Tyler Lewis of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
commented that "Songz rides the tonal and rhythmic shifts with impressive agility" and commended "a clearly rejuvenated songwriting team of Troy Taylor, Edrick Miles, Tony Scales, and Songz himself, who in various combinations wrote the lyrics and melodies to nearly every song here".
In contrast, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
writer Will Hermes gave the album two out of five stars and stated "it's just steady mackin' over dull, airbrushed slow-jams". Andrew Murfett of The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
expressed a negative response towards its sexual content and stated "Little, if anything, is left to the imagination here". Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
writer August Brown viewed that Songz "lacks an especially charismatic voice", but complimented its musical quality and wrote that the album "leaves you like a perfect one night stand — you don’t have to remember the person, just the way he or she made you feel". About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
's Mark Edward Nero stated "this album's musical and vocal quality are consistently good from track to track" and concluded "despite the few miscues, this is clearly Trey's most consistent album yet". USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
s Steve Jones gave the album three out of four stars and stated "his consistent passion makes listening a pleasure".
Track listing
Notes- "Can't Be Friends" contains samples of "Bibo No Aozara" performed by Ryuichi SakamotoRyuichi SakamotoAfter working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
. - "Doorbell" contains elements of "Carol of the Bells", written by Mykola LeontovychMykola LeontovychMykola Dmytrovych Leontovych was a Ukrainian composer, choral conductor, priest, and teacher of international renown. His music was inspired by Mykola Lysenko and the Ukrainian nationalist music school, along with Kyrylo Stetsenko, Alexander Koshetz, and Yakiv Stepovy...
and P. Wilhousky.
Personnel
Credits for Passion, Pain & Pleasure adapted from Allmusic.- Rebecca Alexis – stylist
- Johnta Austin – background vocals, executive producer
- Tanisha Broadwater – production coordination
- Dee Brown – engineer
- Greg Gigendad Burke – art direction, design
- Mike Caren – A&R
- Charles Parker, Jr. – violin
- Mark Christensen – mastering
- Andrew Clifton – producer
- Nina Cottman – violin
- Carl Cox, Jr. – flute, tenor saxophone
- Steve Dickey "Rock Star" – engineer
- Lanre Gaba – A&R
- Jesus Garnica – assistant
- Sasha Gomez – vocals
- Dionnee Harper – marketing
- Jean-Marie Horvat – vocals, mixing
- Eric Hudson – producer, instrumentation
- J-MIKE – producer
- Mark "the Mogul" Jackson – producer
- Jaycen Joshua – mixing
- Kane Beatz – producer
- Olga Konopelsky – violin
- Emma Kummrow – violin
- Christian Lantry – photography
- Ezekiel Lewis – vocal producer
- Giancarlo Lino – assistant
- Bei Maejor – producer
- Connie Makita – design
- Fabian Marasciullo – mixing
- John McGee – producer, musician
- Donnie Meadows – production coordination
- Edrick Miles – background vocals, lyricist, producer, musician
- Frank Nitty – background vocals
- Adrian "A.J." Nunez – assistant
- Thiago Pinto – engineer
- Zachariah Redding – assistant
- Karen Anna Schubert – French horn
- Noah Shebib – producer
- Stan Slotter – trumpet
- Jerren "J-Kits" Spruill – producer, engineer
- Zach Steele – engineer
- Romeo Taylor – producer, engineer
- Troy Taylor – background vocals, producer, engineer, executive producer, vocal producer, musician
- Gregory Teperman – violin
- Tha Bizness – producer
- Stephen Tirpak – trombone
- Chef Tone – lyricist
- Carolyn Tracey – package production
- The Track Dealer – producer
- Allison Traylor – guitar
- Trey Songz – background vocals, lyricist, engineer, executive producer, vocal producer
- John Walsh – trumpet
- Dexter Wansel – producer
- Mark Ward – cello
- Mario Winans – producer
Chart positions
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
32 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
138 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
2 |
| US Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
1 |
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Urban Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
11 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 58 |
| UK R&B Albums Chart UK R&B Chart The Official UK R&B Chart is a forty-position R&B/Hip-Hop chart compiled by The Official UK Charts Company. Although the chart does not receive any airplay, its compilation is viewed on BBC Radio 1's website and publications such as ChartsPlus and Music Week... |
22 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2010) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
52 |
Release history
| Country | Date | Label |
|---|---|---|
| United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
September 14, 2010 | Songbook Entertainment Troy Taylor (producer) Troy Taylor was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut, into a family of musicians. He got his start by singing in talent shows at an early age then moved on to playing keyboards. Before reaching the age of 21, Taylor was signed as an artist to Motown Records and later helped produce several... , Atlantic Records Atlantic Records Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz... |
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
November 1, 2010 | Atlantic Records Atlantic Records Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz... |
| Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
March 11, 2011 |
External links
- Passion, Pain & Pleasure at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...