There Is Now An R&B Song That Interpolates The Rent Anthem
Trey Songz is perhaps the goofiest contemporary R&B singer people take seriously. He once wrote a song about emoticons called “LOL :-)” and another about inventing sex called “I Invented Sex,” a claim that was has yet to be verified by an independent governing body. But today he might have revealed his most absurd ploy yet: a track that interpolates Rent’s “Seasons of Love”—aka the “five hundred twenty five thousand minutes” song.
It’s called “Loving You,” and the relevant part of the chorus goes like this:
I got
Five hundred twenty five thousand
Six hundred women
They come around and we take ‘em all down
Kick ‘em out when we finished
I mean, what do you even say to Trey Songz about this? Trey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course, the thing about Trey Songz is that he stumbles into a flat out incredible song frequently enough to justify his open hackiness. For instance, “Na Na,” his big single from last year that interpolated Teena Marie/The Fugees, leaned too heavily on its source material; but the follow up single, “Touchin, Lovin” built a hypermodern pop song around a melody from Biggie and R. Kelly’s “Fuck You Tonight.”
As for this Rent business, I’m dropping it in the “flat out incredible” bucket. May the legacy of Rent burn and a horny R&B singer rise from its ashes.
