Kyle Kramer

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The-Dream - “Sorry”

Well, Love King may be a huge disappointment, but I really really like this song. Its minimalism is so effective that it just totally crushes you. In a sense, it’s a sketch of a song, and I can easily see it being reworked or covered to great effect, but it’s completely gripping in its present form. It reminds me of the Bon Iver song “Woods:” also seemingly a curiosity, but ultimately more resonant than the surrounding material, as well as the heart of another great song (Volcano Choir’s “Still”). The line “If you’re in love, don’t you dare sing along with me” is so good; it’s this totally meta commentary on the role of the song undermining its lyrics because it’s the line you want you to sing along to the most, and it’s also the song’s most devastatingly honest moment. This is a great sort of deconstruction of The-Dream’s music, which usually takes these little revelations and turns them into glossy hooks. Most importantly, though, this song just feels the way it should, and, circumstances permitting, makes you want to sing along.

My uncle Albert told me — when you tell a kid something, be prepared that they remember what you said. I was living across the street one day, and he came over to the house to borrow some money from my grandfather. At that time he was going through his own issues. And he said: “Don’t end up here. Be something, be a dream. Do what you need to do.” And I remember attaching that with “I know exactly what you mean.” I was like, O.K. — I was maybe 10 — I’m going to do that.

— The-Dream (READ THIS INTERVIEW. Literally every line is interesting.)