Brookie M. Madison

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Ty Dolla $ign and dvsn give R&B male group nostalgia with album collab

Picture this: two singers known for their harmonious falsettos and their deep raspy melodies come together to bring you a reminiscent, vivid, grown and sexy, 90s R&B vibe. 

Dvsn and Ty Dolla $ign recently released Cheers to the Best Memories in late August and did not miss with this collaboration. 

Ty Dolla $ign and dvsn’s Daniel Daley really were in their bag when they created this album, which felt equally parts their own project and a collaboration all at once. 

The first song on the album, Memories, samples one of my all-time favorite male R&B groups, Silk. It’s one of their nastiest and most popular songs, but dvsn and Ty made sure to put it to great use. 

This song will have you stuck smiling and daydreaming of some of your most graphic sex flashbacks. You know, the kind that have you in a daze while driving or in that meeting at work. The kind you have to shake your head to get your mind out of the gutter. 

Their flow is synchronous, with Daniel’s falsetto matching perfectly with Ty’s deep raspy tone, with auto tune giving it a nice old school flare, as well.

My favorite part of this song has to be the ending and the way it drops you and brings you back to reality from your sex flashback that the song gives you. 

The next track from the album is called Don’t say a word and the repetition of this song reminds me of dvsn’s song Too Deep. The lyrics detail the experience of two private lovers who keep what they’ve got going on to themselves. 

My favorite lyrics from this song include, “what’s a secret if everybody knows,” “we understand our situation,” and “doing more and saying less.” This song speaks to the sneaky link narrative that we see in pop culture, but also to having a person to do your body right. 

Can you take it interlude is a continuation of Don’t say a word and features Daniel’s remarkable falsetto. With this song, they really touch on the honesty of sexcapades and admitting the feelings that often are developed. 

With lyrics like, “I hate it when you go, love it when you come” and “think I’m falling for you, cuz I only want it from you,” one might feel as though Ty and Daniel are talking them through climax (or am I the only one who had this sentiment? Hmm).

On the track Outside, Daniel and Ty’s voices felt like booty rubs when you’re trying to behave while cuddling. They set the tone and the mood with feelings of not leaving without getting what both parties involved know they came for. Themes on this song include being teased and being playful.

Have you ever been with someone and was trying to figure them out and get a good vibe on where their head is (yes, I mean both of them)? Those are the vibes I was getting from the song Can’t Tell. Daniel is trying to figure out if this woman is as nasty as he is. He’s clearly been peeping her from the pics posted to how she’s dressed. 

This track features YG, who hones in on the compatibility of him and the woman. He even makes it clear of how serious he is with words, “don’t play with the words I love you, don’t play with the words you stuck with me because ima hit it raw expect a baby when you fucking with me.”

My favorite sample used from this album is on the song Fight club, as it samples Juvenile and Soulja Slim’s 2004 Slow motion. This song is super relatable as it details how two people are fighting to keep their relationship alive. Neither one of them are ready to call it quits. Ty borrows words from Drake when he said, “if you had a twin, I’d still choose you.”

It’s obvious that the couple uses sex to make amends, but it’s not fixing anything. It only suppresses it and puts a bandaid on the real problem that needs to be addressed. 

I wish Daniel was singing for me on track Better yet, because he is singing his heart out about a woman who seems to be oblivious to her impact on him. Daniel is declaring that he’s got all the friends and time in the world, but it’s her. “Why else would I be singing for,” he said. “Better yet, better yet, who else would I be singing for?”

The album ends with I believed it, which was released in June 2021 and samples the Continental 4 song, (You’re live in) a Dream World. Ty is in his feelings because he got caught cheating and his girl said she’d never leave him no matter what actually ends up leaving him (as she should, because what?). 

Ty played himself and unfortunately so many other people do too when they think someone is going to wait around for them to be chosen. I felt this song to the core because after all of this you still gonna say we’re “homie lover friends?”

I was surprised to hear Mac Miller’s voice on this track. While listening I was thinking, “oh, this sounds like Mac Miller...It can’t be Mac Miller. OMG, it’s Mac Miller!”

On June 29, dvsn shared a post on Instagram of dvsn, Ty, and Mac MIller all listening to this track and it made my heart smile to know that Mac wasn’t added to this song posthumously. RIP Mac Miller. 

This album was such a bop and is still such a bop. No matter if you are single, taken, playing the field or going off of vibes, there’s something for everyone on this album.