Even as his latest album, “Passion, Pain & Pleasure,” continues to churn out singles — including the latest, “Love Faces” — Trey Songz is hatching plans for its successor.
“I want to release an album this year,” the Atlanta-based R&B singer tells Billboard.com. “We’re starting in the studio now. I’m always thinking about music. I’m in the studio whenever I can be. I’m not pressed or in a rush to make an album right now, but I always have a need to make music.”
Trey Songz: The Billboard Cover Story
Songz isn’t making any predictions about what kind of direction his fifth studio set will take, however. “No, not right now. I’m feeling very creative, though, so it may be something I’ve never done before. There’s always a certain amount of pressure there, but I like that. With every album, I definitely want to grow my audience as well as myself.”
Watch more of Trey Songz’ Q&A with Billboard.com
That’s certainly been happening with “Passion, Pain & Pleasure,” which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in September (No. 1 R&B) and has sold 662,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album also scored a Top 10 hit with “Bottoms Up” as well as an R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart-topper with “Can We Be Friends.”
“I think it’s definitely been a gradual build to where we are right now,” says Songz, whose first album came out in 2005. “I’ve worked very hard to get where I am…I’ve been blessed to have a lot of hits within the last two, three years, so I went from being a song you hear on the radio to being an [i]artist[/i] you hear on the radio.”
Songz, who opened for Usher on his recent OMG Tour, is celebrating the success with a five-date Love Faces Tour that stars Feb. 11 and hits New York City, Washington, D.C., Detroit and Chicago. “We’re actually putting a new show together,” Songz says. “I want it to be very special for this Valentine’s Day holiday. I want women and I want couples…I want everybody to just have an amazing Valentine’s Day weekend with me. I’m really excited about it.”
After that, Songz heads for Europe with Ne-Yo and Australia with Usher and hopes to make an international footprint before he heads back into the studio.
“We’ll be overseas for two months making sure that I’m world-renowned as a great tour act versus just another song,” he explains. “I put in a lot of work to be loved and welcomed in arenas and shows in America, so I want the same thing for overseas. I’m just exploring every opportunity, and I definitely will be making (new) music when I come back.”