The-Dream, born Terius Nash, has written songs in 20 minutes, ones that immediately became part of our pop culture lexicon, like Rihanna's "Umbrella". He knows that a future hit makes headlines when it advances an artist's narrative: Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" arrived before the Carters were a confirmed unit. But as a solo artist, he's refused to settle for an easy sell or compromise his ambitious R&B vision. He writes suites and trilogies where the patient seduction of '80s-era Prince meets the cockiness of Southern hip-hop, and his newest release, the 40-song _Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3_, arrived in December 2018 on his own RadioKilla Records. In this Fireside Chat, the four-time Grammy-winning artist talks about how he's led a double life, working between his hit singles for Beyoncé and Rihanna and his ambitious R&B concept albums.
