The-Dream fulfills his own

12/13/2007 3:00 PM, AP


Singer-songwriter Terius "The-Dream" Nash believes in hooks.

He's the guy who put the uber-catchy "ella, ella, ella" in pop singer Rihanna's Grammy-nominated "Umbrella." He also added the "bed, bed, bed" in crooner J. Holiday's silky ballad "Bed."

And though most folks wouldn't make the connection between Nash and the chant "shawty is a ten (aye), a ten (aye), a ten (aye)" on "Shawty is a (10)," he's the pen behind that song, too — and the voice.

"Shawty is a (10)" marks The-Dream's debut as an artist. His first album, "Love Hate," was released this week. Just before the release of the album, the 27-year-old talked to The Associated Press about his thoughts on writing for himself and for others.

AP: Your singing voice is high. Are people ever surprised that the voice on "Shawty is a 10" belongs to you?

The-Dream: Yeah, of course. (At a radio station), somebody said 'Yeah, your song is starting to wear on me. ... When I heard it, I thought I was about to hear this 13-year-old.' I was like 'Man, my voice has always been high. It never came down. Like — ever.' And I'm kinda happy that it is where it is because it's still distinct enough to be like 'Oh, okay. I know exactly who that is.' ... Hopefully it's not that irritating where you're not gonna buy my records.

AP: Do you try and make every song you write a single?

The-Dream: Hooky, hooky, hooky, hooky, hooky. Put a hook everywhere — that's my answer. Don't write a verse, write a hook there.

AP: Why that philosophy?

The-Dream: Because, man, that's what sells. It's the hook. As a songwriter, when I was first getting into it, everybody was like "All right now, what's the hook?" and it was the big part. And like everybody says "This is the big part of the song — the hook! Get to the hook!" and I was like, "Well, why don't you just get to the hook right off the bat? ... And that way you graduate to something bigger than that, then the hook will be crazy!" Everybody was like, "Uh, no. I don't think so." And I was like, "All right." And I just kept going that way. So now, all my songs have those hooky things all the way from the beginning."

AP: Did you always want to be an artist?

The-Dream: Everybody wants to be an artist. I grew up in the '80s. You know — Michael. I don't care who the hardest person is, everybody wanted a red jacket with zippers on it. Everybody wanted a glove. I remember my mom bought me a Michael Jackson CD. I've been in (a) band since third grade, so musically, I was already inclined to do such things. When I graduated, right in twelfth grade, I joined this (other) band. It was a group of us — like five of us in a little singing group. (Writing) came in like 2000. I just noticed like "Oh, wow, I'm pretty witty. And oh — Jermaine Dupri makes a lot of money off of being pretty witty, after he honed in on his craft." So I just honed in on it and that's what kinda made it pop. And when it came back around time again to do the artist thing, I was like, "Let me get control of when my stuff comes out." Because you don't want to give a record to an artist — I got so many records man, that just sit ... So to me, I was just wanting to control the way my records came out, so by me singing 'em, that kinda controls exactly when the record comes out.

AP: How does the guy who writes for Celine Dion write for people like Chris Brown and Young Joc, as well?

The-Dream: I must have multiple personalities. Cuz somebody asked me a similar question like "Well, didn't you write 'Coffee Shop' for Yung Joc?" I'm like "Yeah." "Well, didn't you just write a song called 'Skies of LA' for Celine Dion? So what are you doing?" I'm like, "I don't know. To me, music is music. I'm just trying to do my thing."

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