There was one question I had to ask Tank. After listening to his music for years —with song after song about sex— I had to know if he really enjoyed it as much as he sang about it.
Turns out, he does.
“Great question,” he replied. “I love, love, love sex. But, the things that I love, I don’t like to overdose on. The things that I really love and really appreciate, I want them in moments. I want to miss them and come back to them and try to almost relive the first time I ever had them. I always want to have that feeling about the things I really love.”
Visiting the ESSENCE office to promote his 8th studio album, Savage, the 41-year-old crooner hilariously shared his story of becoming one of the most notable true R&B singers of the 21st century.
His new album is a filled with eleven well-produced songs about love, sex, independent women and relationship drama. It’s light on features with Trey Songz, Ludacris, J. Valentine and Candice Boyd as the only additional voices. Smooth with just the right amount of base in more uptempo songs, it’s classic Tank with the blush-worthy lyrical content fans love.
“The album is aggressive,” Tanks said. “When I say lyrically it’s aggressive [I mean] melodically it’s aggressive, sonically it’s aggressive.”
“If we do want to truly inspire the next generation, we’re going to have to lead them where they are. We’re gonna have to take the same savage approach as every other generation, we have to fight for it.”
The song “You Belong To Me,” highlights Tanks approach to marrying the emotion of old school R&B with contemporary production. But this is something he’s always been adamant about— coming with something fresh each and every time.
Engaged last January to his longtime love, Zena Foster, he takes this fresh approach to love making as well. Well, of course.
“It’s really about finding the person that inspires that or brings it out,” he said about knowing Foster was the one. “It’s a chemistry thing. You can have some good sex with probably anybody. The kind of sex that keeps you coming back is totally different.”
Funny, charming and even philosophical at times —Tank’s work is a reflection of himself. The disciplined church kid turned Ginuwine backup singer turned confident vocalist.
“I wrote most of it, me and J. Valentine were writing it,” he said about Savage. “This new kid, Kamari, wrote some stuff on it. We just can’t be nice about it. It’s something I came to realize, people just want you to be mean. That’s the flawed church kid that I am. I’m a lover, a fighter and a mess. It’s just what I am.”
