INTERVIEW: Trey Songz Opens Up About 'Tremaine The Album' & Love Life

Trey Songz is ready to continue to melt our hearts with the release of his seventh studio album, Tremaine The Album. 

Since dropping his debut project in 2005, I Gotta Make It, the singer/songwriter has blessed his fans with constant hits and we’ve loved him for it.  Songz's new 15 track album was released worldwide today via Atlantic Records and features his brand new smashes, “Animal,” “She Loving It,” “Song Goes Off,” “Playboy,” “Nobody Else But You” and more. 

We haven’t received a new album from Songz since 2014 when Trigga was released. The singer admittedly took a mini break from music to focus on himself. But, can you blame him? Anyone who’s been busting his behind for over a decade would deserve some time to turn down.

But then, we heard last year that he was prepping to release new music and instantly got excited. Now in 2017, he’s picking up where he's left off and is catering to his diehards R&B more than ever before – but with a twist!

One of the star’s methods of promoting Tremaine The Album is with a parody web series where he’s looking for love, as his songs provide the soundtrack to his “journey.” Songz is also gearing up to steal men’s girls across the country on “Tremaine The Tour,” which kicks off on May 3 and goes on until early June. 

iHeartRadio got the opportunity to speak to Tremaine about his new album, his “Tremaine The Playboy” VH1 web series, his love life and more.

Buy Tremaine The Album here and check out the artist's interview with iHeartRadio below.

How does Tremaine The Album show your growth as an artist from your last album, Trigga?

I feel that growth between albums is very imperative to the evolution of any artist. So, speaking on the growth between the albums of Trigga and Tremaine The Album, I just want to let people know that my evolution is probably looking at myself and being more vulnerable with my fans, and being more vulnerable musically. I think this album has a far greater R&B tone. Not to say that Trigga abandoned the R&B tone or the R&B sound. But, I feel this album is more genuinely what R&B means to me and what it has meant to my career.

Are all of the songs based on your past (and even current) experiences with women and relationships? And how so?

My music is the soundtrack to my life in many cases, and in so many cases, the soundtrack to my fans' lives. So, a question I'm often asked is, ‘Are the songs that I create based on my experiences and relationships with women, current or past?’ Yeah, the bulk of them of course. But there are some situations where I write from a perspective of being someone from the outside looking in, or where as though I've heard a situation from friends, or I've seen something that I want to write about. Being a writer and being someone that creates music, you of course draw from personal inspiration, but outside inspiration as well.

What inspired you to promote Tremaine The Album with a web series, “Tremaine The Playboy”?

I was inspired to promote Tremaine The Album with the web series entitled 'Tremaine the Playboy' for so many different reasons. Just looking at the climate of today's information and the way people intake information; whether it be music, whether it be news, whether it be drama, whether it be rumors and gossip. So with people being interested in my love life constantly, people being interested in what it is I do in the bedroom with women, am I gonna get married, am I gonna have kids, etc.… I decided to take a play on that and people's love for reality television. I also looked at the parallel worlds that do lie between myself and 'Tremaine The Playboy,' the web series. And it just was fun to do. I wanted to release music in a different way with an entertainment, visual aspect as well. I think we got the point across.

Are you secretly a fan of reality TV shows? ("The Bachelor," "Flavor Of Love," "I Love New York," etc.)

I do remember watching 'Flavor Of Love' when it came out, and even 'I Love New York' in sporadic ways, or [catching] 'Love and Hip Hop' from time to time. I think we all have seen an episode or two, at the very least, and understand the premise of why people watch it. So for me, it was more about getting people's attention for something that they already are fixated with. People like reality shows. [It’s] a taboo that people hate to admit they watch. So for me to say I was doing one, I knew it would get people's ears and attention.

Was it ever difficult to shoot a scene/music video that was based on a past relationship? Did any scenes hit too close to home?

Being that I love artistic interpretation -- art-imitating life -- a lot of my videos actually are scenes from my memory. Sometimes lyrically, things hit very close to home and I might zone out and go back to that moment or that place.  But, I think that's what lies inside the authenticity of my music and my videos.

Would you say the overall theme of your album is you trying to understand why you’re still a “lady’s man” and not yet settled down?

I wouldn't say the overall theme of the album is me trying to understand why I'm still a ladies' man and not yet settled down. I would say that's a question that's asked throughout. I would say it's an answer that's explained throughout, too. Not for the world, but for myself and for men and women in the situations I've been in. Like I've said, I like to make my music the soundtrack of my life, as well as the possibility to be the soundtrack for other people's lives. So, I just want people to get an understanding of where I am mentally and what I think about sometimes.

What are some misconceptions about your “bachelor” lifestyle that people will be surprised to know? How does your album explain these misconceptions?

Some misconceptions about not only my lifestyle, the bachelor lifestyle, but also the lifestyles of entertainers period [are] that everything is lustrous, everything is lavish, everything is amazing. From the outside looking in, somebody may be having an amazing time. You can be in the room with thirty people and still feel alone, or you can be somewhere with twenty thousand people and still feel alone. It's a misconception that because a person is branded a certain way, or because you're used to them being a certain way that they're expected to be that way forever. I think that's something that we all fight with as humans and you gotta push through to be who it is you want to be, no matter who people say you are or who people expect you to be.

Were there any songs that you were hesitant about putting on the album?

No, there weren't any songs I was hesitant about putting on the album. There were actually songs that I couldn't put on the album that I wanted to. The only thing I went back and forth with was thinking about who I wanted to involve with the project. If I did want anybody on it, as far as features were concerned.

What about Tremaine The Album makes you most excited about releasing it to your fans?

The thing about Tremaine The Album that makes me most excited to release it to my fans is [that] it's a piece of me that I'm giving to my fans and it grows our connection further. It grows the love they have for me further [and] the love I have for them further. It's just a further step in our path.

Photos: Katherine Tyler for iHeartRadio