For the sake of full disclosure, I am a super fan of The-Dream. I have been waiting for this single since he promised a fourth album by singing “6/7/2011, I’mma drop that Love Affair” on 2010’s “Sex Intelligent (Remix).” June 7 of that year passed and there was no new record. Many release dates and album title changes later, we got a free mixtape that he dropped under his real name, Terius Nash. 1977 was a fine holdover, but it isn’t packed with the space-age R&B that we’ve come to expect from The-Dream. Now he returns with “Slow It Down.” It’s a plinking pop track that harkens back to “Shawty Is The Shit,” the song that put him on the radar as a solo artist in the first place. If you’ve been waiting for some kind of revelatory Dream moment, you’re not going to get it here. The song is great, but he’s not advancing his sound, as listeners have come to expect. But if the past dictates the future, then a first single featuring a guest verse from Fabolous begets something along the lines of “I Luv Your Girl,” which still feels ahead of its time, even four years later. Check out “Slow It Down” below.

The Dream – Slow It Down (Feat. Fabolous)

Fourplay is out 5/7 on Def Jam.