This is by far, one of the best contemporary R&B albums of the last decade. By FAR!!! I honestly can't think of an R&B album in the last five years thats as well rounded as this album. And I knew going into King of Hearts that this was going to be a good album, I just didn't know it was going to be a classic, and I don't think many people did. Because let's be honest, as much as I have always liked Lloyd and his previous albums, I never truly thought that he would ever be able to put together an album of this caliber. As much as I wanted to hope that after his last album, Lessons In Love, flopped he would some how rebound with a great album was just highly unlikely. Especially on Murder Inc. Records. The whole hype for King of Hearts started in late 2009 when Lloyd was featured one the Young Money single, "Bedrock", which ended up being a number one hit in the US and was also the biggest song Lloyd had ever been a part of. Lloyd had had solo hits before, but he never truly broke onto mainstream radio until "Bedrock". After "Bedrock" started to blow up, thats when people started wondering when Lloyd's next album would be dropping, and a lot of people speculated he was going to sign with Lil Wayne's Young Money label, especially with all the success those two have had together in the past. But then Lloyd threw us a curve ball by signing to super producer Polow Da Don's Zone 4/Interscope records. A lot of people were surprised he didn't sign with Young Money, especially since some people thought he was already recording an album for them, but when I heard he signed to Zone 4, I was actually happy. I thought it was the best move he could have possibly made signing with Polow, because now not only did he have one of the best producers in the game making his music and backing him, but he was also going to be the center of attention at the label instead of being the 3rd or 4th artists on the roster, like he was at Murder Inc. and how he probably would have been on Young Money...So needless to say, King of Hearts was a very very highly anticipated album to say the least. And there were so many different factors that played into the anticipation. There was the whole label switch, the pushbacks, the whole Polow Da Don & Lloyd combo, the success of "Bedrock", and just the fact that it had been almost three years since his last album was released, all of which only added to the anticipation for King of Hearts, making it one of the most anticipated R&B albums in recent memory for me at least. Lloyd also really really really teased us with this album in so many different ways. For starters, the first official single, "Lay It Down", was released almost a year before the album even came out, and it was hit too which made it even more strange that it was released so early. And then they proceeded to release three more singles before the album came out, a slew of promo pics, and there was a buzz around the album which was a first for Lloyd. Him and Polow knew that they had a classic on their hands with King of Hearts, so they made us wait, and wait, and wait some more until finally, after at least six or seven release dates had passed, July 5th the album was released. And like Lloyd had stated in several interviews prior to the albums release, Polow was going to handle the majority of the production, which he did. And now that the album is finally here, it's hard to describe exactly how good this album is. It's a surprise mostly because if you would have asked me three years ago, who of all the young R&B singers would be the one to give me the best album, one of the last people I would have said would have been Lloyd. I have always liked Lloyd and I have all his music, but I just never saw him giving me a true "Classic" album like this. And the thing about it is, it's not just Lloyd that made this album the classic it is, but it's also Polow. Lloyd gets a big portion of the credit, because he did also kill this album, but people need to tip there hat to Polow's production on this album. I honestly think this might be both of their best and most focused work to date, from the artist and producer standpoint. Polow is easily one of the most versatile Hip Hop/R&B producers out right now, and he's never shown that better than on this album. As for Lloyd, vocally and swagger wise, he has never been better. You can tell that Polow pushed Lloyd in a new direction, stylistically and vocally. King of Hearts is pretty much flawless, from the artwork to the music, there's not much to complain about here. As far as the music goes, there is only one song that I skip over when I listen to the album, and that's the upbeat rap track
"Bang!", and honestly even that song is listenable, but when compared to the rest of the album, thats the only real filler on it. I mean even the intro is good, and Lloyd's not even on the song. The production is flawless, and like I said Lloyd has never sounded better and more energized, not even close. Lloyd has grown soooooo much as an artist since he first came out til now, it's really mind blowing. I would have never expected him to be able to pull off such a sweet and melodic babymaker like "Naked", nor would I have ever expected him to be able to do such a soulful/radio anthem as "Dedication to My Ex". The creativity that was put into this album is unmatched. I've never heard an artist sound so close to Michael Jackson vocally as Lloyd does on the sweet banger "Jigsaw", and thats only one song out of a handful where Lloyd seriously channels MJ. "Shake It 4 Daddy" is a sure to be stripper anthem with it's thumping beat and blaring horns, another standout. While "This is for My Baby" could have been cut from the same cloth as Justin Timberlake FutureSex/Lovesounds album. And on "Angel" Lloyd sings probably the most mature song of his career, also another instant classic...Overall King of Hearts is sure to be one of the years best R&B albums, I wouldn't be surprised at all if it is the best, and it's a shame because I have a feeling it will get overlooked despite it being of the best male contemporary R&B albums of the last ten years...No joke, don't sleep on Lloyd...