'Tuned In' review: Is T-Pain faking his growing pains?

By emphasizing the “evolve” in “revolver,” T-Pain, the king of Auto-Tune and juvenile party songs, apparently wants us to think he’s a mature romantic, too. That’s hard to buy given that he rarely shows heart and doesn’t even sound human.

Nevertheless, here comes “rEVOLVEr,” his first collection of songs in a few years. His modulated vocals often sound as unnatural as ever, sometimes to the point of irritation, and his shtick feels dated. It doesn’t help that his crass hedonism borders on offensiveness and some of his songs have no style — not even compared to other modulated-vocal, crassly hedonistic songs in the hip-hop/pop/dance realm.

T-Pain’s would-be electronic spin on sensual R&B, “Sho-Time (Pleasure Thang),” is creepy; his celebration of excessive drinking, “Bottlez” (where he warbles, “So drunk I can’t even see your face”), isn’t fun; and his attempt at sly naughtiness on “Rock Bottom” (“When you climb on top of me, I hit rock bottom”) is undermined by his abrasive, overprocessed vocals. Desperate ploys also surface — silly attempts to sound social-media savvy/relevant on “Default Picture” (“You don’t even show up in my mentions ... Should I be unfollowing you”?) only make him come across like a cyber-stalker, and he violates Lily Allen’s textured “Who’d Have Known” with a childish response song, “5 O’Clock.”

Still, there are times when it comes together — as on bossy closer ”Turn All the Lights On” (featuring Akon), and on the pounding “It’s Not You (It’s Me)” (featuring Pitbull), where T-Pain celebrates his bad-boy ways: “Even though I’m messing up, I can’t stay out of this club.”

And to be fair, T-Pain’s earnest-lover persona that emerges on latter tracks is an admirable effort, if not fully convincing. In a startling about-face to the previous 10 tracks, he presents himself as vulnerable on “Drowning Again” (featuring One Chance), and he’s overwrought with emotion on “When I Come Home” (key line: “I want you here when I come home”). Plus guest vocalist Chris Brown helps him work on his charm on the uplifting “Best Song,” where T-Pain anxiously wants to impress, “gotta tell her how I feel.”

His sincerity might be suspect, but at least there are signs T-Pain actually is evolving.

Rating: 2.5 stars (out of five)

© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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