ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
Finally this hour, new music from the songwriter Terius Nash. He goes by the stage name The-Dream. And over the past decade, he's had a hand in some of the biggest pop songs on the Billboard chart.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG MONTAGE, "SINGLE LADIES," "UMBRELLA," "BABY")
SIEGEL: Justin Bieber's "Baby," Rihanna's "Umbrella," Beyonce's "Single Ladies" - the list goes on. But when The-Dream writes music for himself, he says he always comes back to R&B.
TERIUS ''THE-DREAM'' NASH: R&B is a conversation that you should be able to sit down and have.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TOO EARLY")
SIEGEL: Rhythm and blues is based on love and heartbreak. So you need it because that's real life.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TOO EARLY)
SIEGEL: The-Dream's new album is called "IV Play." That's the Roman numeral IV, by the way. And here he is talking about a track off the album called "Too Early."
THE-DREAM: You're having an argument, and it's 6 p.m. And you have a good chance of getting over that argument, and it's going to be OK by the time you go to sleep. But too early in the morning means when you wait till that hour - like, if something's been bothering you, and you wait till like 2 a.m. - and then you want to start the argument, it's just too early, I guess. It's - it's going to set the tempo for the next day.
And it's just - that's tiresome in itself. It's like, oh, God. So that's what this song is. It's too early in the morning to break up, then make out.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TOO EARLY")
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TOO EARLY")
THE-DREAM: (Singing) It's too early in the morning to break up and then to make out. It's way late for pretending. It's time to stop now...
SIEGEL: That's Terius Nash, also known as The-Dream, talking about the song "Too Early," from his latest album, "IV Play."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TOO EARLY")
SIEGEL: Youâre listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, from NPR News.
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