ARTIST: Chris Brown
TITLE: “A Changed Man”
WEB DEBUT: Aug. 14, 2009


ONE-LISTEN VERDICT:
The rehabilitation of Chris Brown continues with this midtempo ballad that’s allegedly the first single off his forthcoming album Graffiti, and it’s a midtempo ballad that recalls a super-Autotuned variation on Ne-Yo’s “Mad.” And there’s a similarity in tone, too: Brown’s lyrics on “Changed” are overtly apologetic, with him pleading to an unnamed lover to not end things with him, because he’s going to show the world that he’s grown as a person. It’s hard to not read autobiographically into this song; at one point Brown gets a little too self-pitying by name-checking the CW’s Everybody Hates Chris, and there’s another lyric that goes “all of this money and fame could never amount to every morning when I see your face.” Which is sweet, I guess. Too bad that the public psychodrama nature of the apology makes me wonder if he isn’t trying to prove his new purpose in life to the TMZ-reading masses more than his lyrics’ intended target.


WHERE TO HEAR IT: YouTube rips are popping up here and there; this one should stay up for at least a few minutes:





Chris Brown – Changed Man [YouTube]