![]() ![]() It would feel so free.’ I said, you know what, that’s what I’m going to do for the cover art.” “I would say to myself, ‘Man, I wish I could just run around here naked. “I would go there and oftentimes no one would be there,” he explained. Insecurities of the body, being free in a public place.”Īccording to Lloyd, the location in North Georgia where the cover was shot was also instrumental to his recording process. All the inhibitions, the insecurities that usually exist in a person to me it’s no exception. “Although what you see on the outside is a guy who is apparently balls-to-the-wall naked in the woods near a waterfall, it’s really a moment for me to conquer all the fears that I might have had. “It was really more of an introspective thing,” he told Complex. Speaking about appearing naked on the cover, Lloyd says he was able to symbolically share some of his vulnerabilities. ![]() 9 includes features from Rick Ross (“Heavenly Body”) and 2 Chainz, who guests on the remix to the title track. “Tru” is a quality album which combines an enjoyable listening experience with stylistic innovation in a way which is impressive and refreshing in the modern R&B landscape.The R&B crooner is baring it all on the cover of his anticipated new project Tru, which finds the singer appearing naked on a large moss-covered rock waterfall. Listeners may not hear traces of Bob Dylan when they listen to “Tru,” but the album leaves no doubt that Lloyd is starting to evolve his style. Lloyd also explained that he has recently taken to listening to older music on vinyl, picking up influences from outside of contemporary-style R&B including names like Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan and Bill Withers. In an interview with the Technique, Lloyd emphasized that during his hiatus from making music, he took the time to “reflect on own self.” He explained that his time away from music taught him to recognize and embrace “the beauty in imperfection,” leading him to channel a more natural, analogue sound into his new music. Beyond being good to listen to, the album achieves the artistic goals which Lloyd set out to accomplish. Most of the songs on the album are enjoyable and catchy, even if they can sometimes fade into the background if the listener does not focus enough on what he is listening to. That the song was originally released so far in advance of the LP is most likely the only reason that this track is not the first or second on the album. “Tru” is the most radio-friendly of the tracks on the album, with a fast pace and catchy beat making it an enjoyable song to listen to. Lloyd’s first release since 2011, the track served as an announcement of Lloyd’s return to the music scene after taking a break to deal with the emotional trauma of losing an unborn child. Lloyd saves his best work for the last track of the album, the titular “Tru.” Lloyd originally released the song as a single in 2016, and the lyrics of the track explain the reasons behind Lloyd’s extended hiatus from making music. ![]() Thanks to the choir, “Lil Sis” does the best job of blending different sounds of any other track on “Tru.” The members of the choir feature on the second to last track of the album, titled “Lil Sis,” and their presence brings a gospel sound to the song and makes it stand out from and break up the stylistic uniformity of the rest of the album. The overall style of the record is still very much defined by Lloyd’s smooth vocals.ĭespite the preponderance of high-profile features on the album, the members of the Spellman Women’s Choir actually deliver the most outstanding and complementary performance on the album. Rather than defining the sound of the LP, the features support Lloyd’s singing and complement his sound. Lloyd does not let his guests hijack the album. While the album may seem heavy on features, this is not necessarily a knock against the quality of Lloyd’s musical abilities as it might be for a true hip-hop artist it is not uncommon for R&B singers to bring in a large number of features, as they typically do not do very much rapping themselves. Seven of the 11 tracks on the album have features, with the list of guest artists including Lil Wayne and Rick Ross. He shies away from vocal aids like autotune, opting for a more natural vocal style which is refreshing in a genre saturated with similar sounding autotuned voices. ![]() With the album, Lloyd embraces an analogue sound which is relatively uncommon in the world of contemporary R&B, bringing a new raw feeling to his music. Atlanta-based R&B singer-songwriter Lloyd recently celebrated the release his first full-length studio album in seven years, a feature-heavy LP called “Tru.” The record expands upon the material Lloyd released as “Tru-EP” in 2016. ![]()
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