REVIEW: TYRESE - BEAUTIFUL PAIN

4/5

The Beautiful Struggle

Pain is a great teacher, and Tyrese takes us to the old school with his bold, brand-new album, 'Beautiful Pain'. All in the same week, the Watts, California native premieres his new L.A. riots movie '1992', co-starring Scott Eastwood and the late, great Ray Liotta, in one of his last roles. Possibly the 'Fast and Furious' and 'Transformers' star's best picture since 'Black and Blue', or even the classic 'Baby Boy'. This double-header comes almost a decade after we thought the sweet lady swan song of 'Black Rose' would be actor and acclaimed author Tyrese Gibson's last album. But yet, here we are with an open invitation to the actor's music alter-ego as one of the three heads of the king's of grown and sexy R&B, like his TGT allies. If Tank is all about the explicit art of sex and Ginuwine is the dancing king, way before Usher and them, then Tyrese is the love and marriage of heartbreak in beautiful ballads. The perfect matrimony.

Yet, here, my dear, like a contractually obliged Marvin Gaye album in separation settlement, Tyrese's latest greatest goes in on his divorce, for his deepest and darkest cut yet. Tyrese, like his NBA Haliburton and Maxey, new namesakes, recently paid homage to Gaye and his NBA All-Star Game classic 'Star Spangled Banner' with his national anthem at a Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys game. That went viral, like a moment of pure vulnerability back at one of the lowest points of his life, with his back and his future as a father against the wall. The callous, casual cruelty of those who turned this suffering into a meme is what should really be humiliated, but we never see those people that hide behind screens. 

Yet in recent reel worthy interviews with Shannon Sharpe (like a Katt Williams) and Charlamagne's 'The Breakfast Club', Tyrese has laid it all out bare, in brutal and beautiful honesty. Even hilariously and perfectly throwing some tissues in the air like he was going off-script for a moment of levity, bringing it right back to the real and raw truth of the fact that, "black man cry" like we all do and shouldn't be ashamed too. The 'How To Get Out Of Your Own Way' and 'Manology' (with Rev Run) author's next book can't come out soon enough. Just like what it will do for those going through the same mental health and profound pain can't be quantified. 

All the way to the title-track curtain closing classic, this 'Beautiful Pain' is an all killer, no filler, long, drawn-out, 17-track, one hour plus album, that at times feels like a movie. You could imagine this trouble man's record playing out like Motown over his 'Four Brothers' movie as Mark Wahlberg spins around the city of Detroit in the harsh winter of an outstanding opening. Make what you will of the memes, but this deep and decadent album is not for the TikTok generation. Instead, it brings the like legendary likes of El DeBarge ('Runaway'), October London ('Bedroom Bully'), Tamar Braxton ('Neither One Of Us') and Eric Dawkins and the one and only Kenny G for an 'Unbelievable' track. All whilst Mr. Gibson talks about the toxicity of love's 'Poison'. Wondering whether marriage is for the matrimony of life, or just another 'Love Transaction' with him picking up the tab.

"Made my mistakes/Honey, you made yours too/I can't erase all the s### we put each other through/We were supposed to be together/Through the good and the bad/But you folded under pressure/Left our love in the past/Did you ever love me/Or was it the things I did for you?" Ty asks where he almost already knows the answer on 'Don't Think You Ever Loved Me'. All as the roses of his romance novel like album artwork turn into a black heart. It's 'Impossible' in these ignorant days when all we're left with is a ring on the bedside table and the laments of 'What Happened To Forever', with lyrics like, "Nothing in this life is certain/Thought we were untouchable/I don't wanna lose faith in love/But it's got me on this lonely road." Searching for a 'Rescue', 'rese is still 'Willing' to make love work, like you can see in his lovely relationship with health and beauty influencer Zelie Timothy. 

'This Man Is Me' he declares baring it all emotionally like D'Angelo, physically, when another R&B great asked, "how does it feel?" Well, some of us know all too well, when we are left to pick up the pieces and try and puzzle over 'When Was It Over' ("They say it's never when they file for divorce/Something went off in your mind, light switch went off, baby/What did I say?/What did I do to you?/That made you say this madness was over"). But even so, despite all the years and tears, Tyrese isn't 'Giving Up' in an empowering precursor. Why? Well, it might have something to do with another influential woman in his life, his first love. His dear mama. Paying beautiful tribute to the mother he lost with the bloom of 'Wildflower', Tyrese Gibson gives us the grace this album and his life in the limelight had needed, until now.

"She's faced the hardest time you could imagine/And many times her eyes fought back the tears, Lord, Lord/And when her youthful world was about to fall in/Her tiny, slender shoulders, all the weight of all her fears/And a sorrow no one hears still rings in midnight silence/In her ears." With his eyes on the sparrow, this...THIS is what the man you mocked on social media is really all about and the woman who raised no fool. Mr. Gibson's courtroom drama is still being settled in front of a jury of his peers and a hand on the bible. But for the record, on God, Tyrese shows us all the nuance that happens in the break-ups and downs, that like love, takes two. All whilst taking ownership of his side of the street. Painful as this all is, there's something beautiful in that. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Love Transaction', 'Wildflower', 'What Happened To Forever'.

Spin This: Marvin Gaye - 'Here, My Dear'.