Robin Thicke: "Sex Therapy"

With his fourth release, Mr. Thicke tries to present another side of himself to the world: a candid sex symbol, with a desire to "put some cream in your coffee."

I'm not sure if he's pandering or not, but it's clear that black women are attracted to Mr. Thicke, and lines like, "last name Mahogany/first name Ebony," are his way of saying "I love you back." ...or perhaps it's the result of some PR person in his ear telling him to try to milk that whole my-wife-is-black connection for as much as he can. Looking at the album art, it feels a bit contrived.

While other albums have been less overt with the sexual content, the very title of the album, along with the Parental Advisory label, are a warning that explicit appeals to your fantasies are about to come. "It's in the Morning" features an appearance by Snoop Dogg. As you can guess it's an ode to making love in the a.m. And the hip hop-driven "Shakin it for Daddy" has verses by Nicki Minaj, who raps "I stick shift the ding-a-ling." The latter song is laidback and melodious, fitting of Snoop's flow, while the second is a Polow Da Don-produced track with a hard-hitting dance beat to fit Ms. Minaj's in-your-face style.

Collaborating with rappers is nothing new for Mr. Thicke, however his last two albums solely included great collabos with Lil Wayne. For some reason, Thicke and Wayne were a great fit for each other, but this go round? We get rapper overload, with a weak verse from Kid Cudi on "Elevators," and the awful song from start to finish, "Meiple," featuring icon Jay-Z. I do enjoy the tribute to strong women everywhere, "Diamonds," feat. Game, despite my personal opinion that Game is one of the weakest rappers allowed in the game.

Overall, it's a decent album. Favorites include, "Just Right," "Mrs. Sexy," (featuring an Al Green sample) and "Sex Therapy," as well as the aforementioned "Diamonds" and "Shakin it for Daddy." I prefer the stripped down, true R&B records over the more hip-hop influenced ones; we get about half and half here. I understand artists are supposed to evolve, and while I appreciate that Robin is not trying to simply remake his most commercially successful album, "The Evolution of Robin Thicke," that album was his most personal, and therefore relate-able. With his trademark falsetto, he sang passionate and raw songs that expressed his struggle to find his way in the industry, his battles with self-doubt in terms of his career and even his relationships, and his efforts to even encourage himself to believe in things that seemed beyond his grasp. Other songs were fun without feeling forced.

Thicke's clearly not in the same 'starving artist' space anymore, so one can't expect the same topics, but after setting the bar so high, I had hoped to be more satiated with this album. I get less of his identity and more of a packaged image. And while I'm a die-hard fan of Thicke as an artist, musician and producer, I just want the next album to feel more authentic. Only include collabos that enhance the album. Just sing, Thicke, sing!