The-Dream has said his third album is "deeper than space," but it's more like a victory lap — a plush, pleasure-packed album on which the Atlanta singer-songwriter plays the hyperconfident Lothario and avoids risks. At times the self-described "R&B Gorilla" keeps his touch too light: The melodies here don't stick like classic Dream-penned tracks such as "Mr. Yeah" (or "Umbrella"). Love King is the soul-music equivalent of Dream's beloved Patrón: Not exactly eccentric, but finely crafted and intoxicating.

“Too Close”

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'"