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Its busy press day at Chicago’s Swissotel and Tremaine “Trey Songz” Neverson is taking in all of the excitement over a snifter of Hennessey — straight, no chase. Rolling out caught up with “the Mike Tyson of R&B” to talk about his artistic evolution, the Star Trek cast member he’d most like to see naked and why he still feels like he’s the “people’s property.” –gavin philip godfrey
You once said that you felt like you were “the people’s property.” Still feel that way?
When I step out, there’s a certain aura that I have to give — it’s a certain thing that fans want to see. When they see me in the streets they see Trey Songz, they don’t see Tremaine Neverson. It gets frustrating sometimes, but it’s all love.
You rap too and Drake’s your homie. In a battle who wins?
We’d never battle. We sit in the studio and we think of song concepts and we talk about music for hours. I’m so happy to see my homie blowing up. I remember when nobody knew who was a Drake was. [We] went to Canada and shot a “Replacement Girl” video with him and people looked at him funny because he was on Degrassi as “Wheelchair Jimmy.” Nobody would really listen to how lyrically talented he was, just like people would look at me as a singer and not really listen to how lyrically talented I am.
I also heard you’re quite the sketch artist. If you could do a live nude sketch of any celebrity whom would you choose?
I’d probably put a few bodies together. If I could sketch a nude body at this point – I’m really feeling Zoe Saldana. I love her face more than anything, but I would love to have that moment.
So you’ve shed the bad boy image. Who is Trey Songz today?
I think that bad boy light was shining on me real bright at one point and I think it was just a misunderstanding of me adjusting to the fame, me really being who I was. … A lot of people from the outside looking in don’t know what character a man has. … You look at the songs that I’m singing and you wonder why I’m acting the way I’m acting. I think a lot of my evolution has been just stepping into manhood and understanding that some things are childish and to be left behind.
