And maybe “Lost Without U” fits so well on R&B playlists because it’s so reserved: in a genre dominated by loud beats and wailing pleas, Mr. Thicke’s gentle grooves you can hear echoes of Jamiroquai, Maxwell and lots in between. Thicke would remain a secret, beloved by a few R&B fanatics (“Have you heard ‘Shooter,’ his sublime collaboration with Lil Wayne?”) and ignored by their skeptical friends (“Slow jams from the son of the guy from ‘Growing Pains’? No thanks”).īut the secret spread. When he resurfaced last year with “The Evolution of Robin Thicke” (Star Trak/Interscope), it seemed possible that Mr. Thicke - calling himself simply Thicke - released “A Beautiful World” (Interscope), a breakout album that wasn’t, quite. Robin Thicke, a rising presence on the R&B charts, played Irving Plaza on Thursday. Thicke is married to Paula Patton, an African-American actress. And that question - the one that paraphrases the Rev. (By contrast, neither Justin Timberlake nor Eminem has ever topped that chart, which is traditionally dominated by black singers and rappers.) Black fans were probably the majority at Thursday’s concert. His breakthrough hit, “Lost Without U,” has topped Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for five weeks running. Thicke is a 30-year-old white guy - the son of the Canadian actor and songwriter Alan Thicke - who also happens to be the fastest-rising star in R&B.
THE EVOLUTION OF ROBIN THICKE ALBUM SKIN
And he got specific: “Would I have to change the color of my skin or the content of my character?” An unexpected question, perhaps, but not, in this case, an inexplicable one. He imagined a man posing that question to the woman he loves. Thicke wasn’t angling for applause - or, more accurately, he wasn’t angling only for applause.
“How much would I have to change for you to love me?” Robin Thicke was asking, and judging from the response on Thursday night at Irving Plaza, the answer was, “Not one whit.” (Or, to spell it phonetically, “Woooo!”)īut Mr.
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