Sowed Up Like A Singer

The-Dream “Sex Intelligent”

The-Dream mostly boasts and flirts his way through his songs, but what makes him so interesting is the way he laces all of that bravado with neuroses and complicated, often totally confused intentions. Much like Beyoncé, he sings about sexuality as a bargaining process, inextricably knotted up with material possession and social status. The latter is key to The-Dream, whose sexual prowess is framed as a competitive drive rather than a mode of affection, a way of proving himself superior to other men. When he declares himself to be “sex intelligent,” he chops and screws his voice, bringing his high, expressive voice down to a slow, dumb monotone. I hear self-loathing in this move, especially in the way it contrasts with his more dramatic, emotive singing throughout the track. He’s turning it all off, making himself an animal or a machine, distancing himself from all these conflicts and contradictions, and forcing out every thought but whatever insecurity is driving him to make his sexual rivals “irrelevant.” His fear is transparent — he’s terrified of not being good enough, and not measuring up to arbitrary standards of masculinity. It could be that, deeper down, he realizes that no amount of orgasms can make up for how cold and emotionally unavailable he’s made himself as a result of this ruthless, soulless pursuit for primacy.

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