Love/Hate (The-Dream album)

Love/Hate
Album cover featuring The-Dream with his hands clenched at his chest and dressed in a suit jacket, sunglasses, and a backwards baseball cap; overlayed with his name and the album title
Studio album by
ReleasedDecember 11, 2007
Studio
Genre
Length53:09
Label
Producer
The-Dream chronology
Love/Hate
(2007)
Love vs. Money
(2009)
Singles from Love/Hate
  1. "Shawty Is a 10"
    Released: July 10, 2007
  2. "Falsetto"
    Released: September 28, 2007
  3. "I Luv Your Girl"
    Released: April 15, 2008

Love/Hate (rendered as Love Me All Summer, Hate Me All Winter on the front cover) is the debut album by American singer-songwriter The-Dream. It was released on December 11, 2007, by Def Jam Recordings and Radio Killa Records (The-Dream's imprint label through Def Jam) during his emergence as a prominent songwriter-producer in R&B and pop music.

The-Dream pursued an electronic, avant-garde, and hook-oriented direction of soul on Love/Hate, drawing inspiration from the 1980s musical works of Prince and Michael Jackson as well as the rap forms of his native Atlanta. Recorded with fellow songwriter-producers Tricky Stewart and Carlos McKinney, the album employs synthesizer, keyboard, and percussion sounds on eccentrically arranged tracks sequenced in a suite-like manner. It also features guest appearances from rapper Fabolous and singer Rihanna, whose 2007 hit single "Umbrella" had been written by The-Dream and served as another template for the album. Themed mostly in sex, his quirky lyrics are falsetto-sung and half-rapped from the perspective of a lecherous romantic with self-awareness and moral sense.

Love/Hate was promoted with the release of three singles – "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto", and "I Luv Your Girl" – which became top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. The album itself charted at number 30 on the Billboard 200, selling 59,000 copies in its first week in the US. It eventually reached 552,000 copies sold and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), proving a minor success with mainstream audiences. Acclaimed on release, Love/Hate is regarded by critics as an influential and definitive R&B album from its era as well as a guilty pleasure for its qualities of silliness and catchiness.