• "Lloyd tries to come into his own on smooth ballads like the Bryan-Michael Cox-produced song 'Year of the Lover' and "I Can Change Your Life," a piano-driven song on which he aims to sway a lady from her unstable relationship. Yet, both tracks lack the infectious hit capability as past hits like 'Get It Shawty.' " [AP/Chicago Tribune]

• "Lloyd comes off as randy, rather than skeevy, in part because his music avoids the low-down grind. By current R&B's slovenly standards, this is brisk stuff. But the crowning element remains Lloyd's light voice. His flutter offers just the right stroke." [NY Daily News]

• "Throw in help from Lil Wayne on the irresistible throwback single 'Girls Around the World' or playful '80s references - including the reworking of The Outfield's power-pop nugget 'Your Love' for 'Lose Your Love' or the Pet Shop Boys-influenced keyboards on 'Have My Baby'—and Lessons in Love becomes a class worth taking." [Newsday]

• "The U. of Love is always in need of good professors. Lloyd is still working on his résumé, though, and he's not quite ready to assume the Barry White Chair of Romance." [USA Today]

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: In that interview with Lloyd that we posted yesterday, the young R & B singer talked about his fantasy of becoming a professor to a room of beautiful ladies, schooling them in the ways of love. Lessons In Love, his third album, is proof that he isn't kidding, as it opens with "Sex Education," where the singer declares that "class is in session." "Education" is a slow jam that has slightly corny lyrics, including someone chanting over and over "I wanna make a A," but it's a slow jam that sounds pretty OK as a bridge to the still-irresistible "Girls Around The World." Other highlights include the lighter-than-air dance track "I'm Wit It," which has a barely there accompaniment that was produced by "Get It Shawty" producer J. Lack; "Treat U Good," which is a sinewy slice of R & B that sounds like Lloyd's attempt to channel every R & B love song he heard on the radio growing up; and "Year Of The Lover," which is apparently the next single—it sounds like a better, Jeezy-free version of "Love In This Club" and has lyrics that could be reconstituted for some sort of Hands Across America II-type project. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention "Your Love," which flips the hook from this track the same way that "You" did on last year's Street Love:

The only real misstep is "Touched By An Angel," which uses a little too much church organ for me to be comfortable with it as a baby-making accompaniment. But other than that, Lessons In Love is solid and sleek, and something that will probably get a lot of play around these parts for many months to come.

LLOYD ON COMMUNICATION (WITH GIRLS)

tj: So, what is the biggest lesson in love you've learned so far?



l: A couple! I learned a couple. One: lust is physical; love is emotional. You must know the difference. Two: I've learned that you have to take time to know yourself, to understand yourself and help put into perspective what you're looking for before just jumping into something crazy. But then again I've also learned love has no limits, it can't be defined by any words, or any definitions. Sometimes when you just jump into it, hey, it's more exiting. The word is "unpredictable" is another lesson that I've learned. And I learned that you should turn your Blackberry off when your girlfriend's over.

LLOYD ON HIS OTHER DREAMS (OF GIRLS)

tj: What would you study?



l: Either one of two things: I would either take psychology because I'm just really fascinated by the human psyche and I always want to know what's on the mind of of girls. But I would also like to be a pilot.



tj: Oh wow!



l: Fly the friendly skies with my captains hat on and stuff. [Laughs]

LLOYD ON HIS HAIR (AND THE GIRLS WHO LOVE IT)

tj: [Laughs] That's a good answer because we wouldn't want you to [cut your hair].



l: If Sampson cut his hair off, what would happen to him?



I actually had this conversation with Hype Williams over the course of shooting the video for "Girls Around the World" in Miami. He offered to have someone come and cut my hair in hopes for that more mature Lloyd. "Lloyd and Hype. First time. Let's give them something they're just never expecting. I think that that's cool but.... I think that the coolest thing that you can do to be different is create stability. To have security. Making music is like making love. It's like a relationship that I have with my fans. And the one thing I want that girl to know that's listening to Lloyd is that I'm always gonna be there for her, whenever she needs to hear those words that make her feel better, you know, "I love you," "I'm always there," I'm that guy, and I'm never gonna change in a way that she won't like.



I think that you have to know what people like from you.

LLOYD ON LONG-TERM SUCCESS (NOT JUST WITH GIRLS)

tj: What are your sales expectations for this album? It seems like gold is the new platinum with the industry the way it is right now.



l: Well, you know...I'm not really big on numbers. I'm not nostalgic. Just because we went gold last year doesn't mean it has to be a multi-platinum selling album. I think that what we're trying to build here is longevity and stability. You just create great music that has the power to last through the times, through the seasons. I'm trying to make an album for the year, not just for the fall, not just for the winter. And if that means going platinum then that's what we gotta do, and that's what we came to do

Really, you should read the whole thing. Especially since he mentions that he's going to start lifecasting! I might actually watch that, if only to see whether or not he gets the chance to live out that whole professorial fantasy.

Neon Limelight Interviews Lloyd [Neon Limelight]

1. Ida Maria, "Oh My God"

Twitchy and bewitching, this song has stuck with me since I was first introduced to it in March in the type of way that results in me still drumming along with it after all these months.

2. Lloyd, "All Around The World (ft. Lil Wayne)"

Over the weekend, I realized that Lloyd's album is my most anticipated record of the year (well, not including Chinese Democracy, but at this point I think that record is in its own category). If it's half as good as this song is, the excitement will have been worth it.

3. Estelle, "American Boy"

I've gone on about this track (and its attendant album) quite a bit, so instead I'll just alert you to the fact that it now has Jay-Z's blessing (via Vulture):

4. Headlights, "Cherry Tulips"

The most instantly hummable chorus of the year. Maybe of the past two?

5. M83, "Graveyard Girl"

This and the Headlights song back-to-back on my list: A crystal-clear sign that I listened to a lot of WLIR/WDRE back in the day.

6. R.E.M., "Mr. Richards"

Yes, I do miss the '90s. Why do you ask?

7. Cherish, "Killa (ft. Yung Joc)"

This Atlanta R & B group has a knack for making semi-anonymous radio hits that get played often enough for me to vaguely remember their hooks and Google the lyrics during a down moment on the job. (See also.) This track from Step Up 2 The Streets crept into my consciousness so slowly, I thought it was Danity Kane for the first month or so that I was aware of it.

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Lloyd can't seem to stop giggling when he's standing next to Wayne, but he's getting better about looking earnest when it's just him and a video hottie, even she's got laser beams shooting out of her eyes. If "Girls Around The World" gets as big as it sounds, maybe we'll eventually see that promised The Best Of Young Worlds album.

Girls Around The World - Lloyd & Lil' Wayne [WSHH via Rock The Dub]

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: The Atlanta-raised singer Lloyd had two of my favorite singles last year, and I could listen to Ludacris twist the vowels and consonants of almost any words in any language, so to say that finding this song in my RSS feed made me excited may be a bit of an understatement. And yet there's something about "How We Do It" that seems kind of off; I'm not too crazy about its syncopated beat (which sounds like a slowed-down "S.O.S"), especially since it doesn't quite mesh with Lloyd's sorta-frenetic vocal. And then there's Luda-by-the-numbers guest rap on the break, which starts off with Ludacris flaunting a singsongy delivery that gives the whole thing an Andrew "Dice" Clay perverted-nursery-rhyme feel but just feels tacked-on, particularly with the "ayyy"s that have been on so many other Ludacris songs being forcibly weaved into the chorus. (I do like the crazy guitar that slices into the song's end, though.) his song may define "meh" for 2008, and I'm hoping it isn't a sign of what's to come on Lloyd's next album, which drops this summer.

WHERE TO HEAR IT: Toya's World, who's as lukewarm on it as I am.

Lloyd's "You" was cad-pop taken to a new level, a song where he paid tribute to the woman he was looking to bed while also letting her know that there were other ladies—in his line of sight, even!—who were also tickling his fancy. It's a sweeping song that sounds like it's more tailor-made for a rainy day of post-one-night-stand rutting than said possibly regrettable hookup, warping the chorus of Spandau Ballet's "True" just enough to make that song's pledges of fidelity turn into an oily devotional to Ms. Right Now (and Ms. Maybe Later If I'm Still Feeling Frisky). But while Lil Wayne's charged with letting anyone else listening in know the real reasons for Lloyd's interest—dropping sex-on-Mars verses and what may be the best way to thank someone for giving head ever, "You give good brain like you graduated from a good school"—the shimmering strings and Lloyd's insistence that he "just wants to chill" could probably, nine times out of 10, work at charming the thongs off our hero's intended targets.

Lloyd - "You" [YouTube]
Idolator's 2007 Top 40 List Of Awesomeness

Note: Wikipedia is claiming that Lloyd was a contestant on Double Dare 2000 back in the day, but I won't believe it until I see the YouTube. Anyone?

So I spent the summer and the fall walking around with the twinkly glide of "Get It Shawty" on my iPod, driving myself batshit trying to figure out the provenance of the hook until (taking pity on me) Maura finally said: "It's Technotronic, stupid." Oh. Right. So it's "Pump Up The Jam" all smoothed out, but with a crunchy mid-tempo rhythm track that's more hips than house and wicked layered vocal harmonies drifting through the back of the mix. But Lloyd, while your horny effervescence makes me wish I was also young and doing wheelies on what I assume is a bridge in the middle of a desert, your hairstylist needs a talking to.

Lloyd - "Get It Shawty" [YouTube]
Idolator's 2007 Top 40 List Of Awesomeness

Lloyd - Get It Shawty [MP3, file removed]
Lloyd [MP3]

Ian's voice has been heard on such big hits as Foreigner's "Feels Like The First Time", "Cold As Ice", "Waiting For A Girl Like You", "Juke Box Hero", "Double Vision", and more. He is cemented in Rock 'n' Roll history with his world-wide #1 hit "Brother Louie" and can also be heard on Billy Joel's "I Go To Extremes", as well as appearing on CDs by Yes, Peter Frampton, Ian McDonald [of King Crimson / Foreigner fame], and Survivor to name a few.

"I Go To Extremes" and "Cold As Ice"? Shouldn't there be a playground statue or Julliard scholarship created in Lloyd's honor?

Ian Lloyd - Slip Away [MP3, link expired]
IAN LLOYD HOMEPAGE