Songoftheday 11/29/23 - It seems like just the other day that we hooked up, I was drivin', you was walkin' and I swooped you up...

 

 

"How You Gonna Act Like That" - Tyrese

from the album I Wanna Go There (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 

Weeks in the Top-40: 20

 

Today's song comes from model, actor, and R&B singer Tyrese (Gibson), whose debut album in 1998 had scored a pair of crossover top-40 hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with "Nobody Else" and "Sweet Lady".  The following year, he joined fellow R&B singer heartthrobs Ginuwine, Case, and R.L. (the latter from the group Next) for the song "The Best Man I Can Be" from the movie The Best Man, which hit #20 on Billboard's R&B chart and #77 on the pop Hot 100. In 2000, Tyrese was featured on the single "Whatchu Like" by female rapper Da Brat that returned him to the top-40 at #26.

But when the singer returned with his sophomore effort, 2000 Watts, in 2001, radio was a little cooler, with lead single "I Like Them Girls" stopping at #48 on the Hot 100, and missing the R&B top ten at #15. Even though the album became his first to place in the top ten of the Billboard 200 sales tally, it sold about half of his first. It could be attributed to the decline at RCA Records, who eventually was absorbed into the BMG group which also had the label Tyrese moved to for his third release, Clive Davis' J Records. With Davis' connections in the industry and promotional push, Gibson released his third studio album I Wanna Go There at the close of 2002. The lead single from the set was the ballad "How You Gonna Act Like That", written by Tyrese with Eric Dawkins and producers Harvey Mason and Damon Thomas (as the Underdogs). The lyrics find Gibson blindsided by his partner leaving him, after he gave up the promiscuous life to settle down with them. He delivers an emotional (if though nasal) plea to why did she leave him this way, though the line "I messed up and gave up everything" is kind of ambiguous. The production is deceiving, as the theme of getting dumped is projected with such a sensual rocking groove that it may be Tyrese getting ready to woo the next one. The music video capitalizes on his looks as he gets the flashbacks of their relationship...

"How You Gonna Act Like That" became Tyrese's highest-charting hit on the pop chart, reaching the top ten on Billboard's Hot 100 in March of 2003, while spending two weeks at #3 on their R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the song climbed to #22 on the Mainstream Top-40 airplay chart, #4 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop airplay list, and #5 on the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format. But its biggest success was on the older-skewing Adult R&B station panel, where it topped the chart for four weeks. Internationally, the single reached the top-40 in the United Kingdom (#30) and New Zealand (#40). The I Wanna Go There album, released in December of 2002, came in at #16 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #2 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums list, going on to sell over a half-million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2004, "How You Gonna Act Like That" was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, losing to Luther Vandross for the sentimental "Dance With My Father". 

The second single from the album was "Signs Of Love Makin'", also with the Underdogs production team. It eschewed any drama to go to the fornication action, with the same tempo groove as its predecessor and a astrological theme. The song went to #14 on the R&B chart, and #20 on the Adult R&B list, but stalled down at #57 on the Hot 100. 

Tyrese's next move was another featured role on a rap single, this time "Pullin' Me Back" by Chingy, which got Tyrese back in the top-10 in 2006 (and will be featured in this series). That may have foretold what direction he was going in for his next project, Alter Ego. It was an ambitious double-disc set that had one collection of R&B songs and one having him rap (under the moniker "Black-Ty", mind you). Despite making the top-40 on the Billboard 200 at #23 (#4 R&B/Hip-Hop Albums), it was a bit much, with the lead single "One", another Underdogs production, was too squeaky-clean and generic. The song stopped at #26 on the R&B Singles chart, and only "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #122. The set would be the last with J Records. The following year, Tyrese would team up with fellow hunky R&B singles Ginuwine and Tank for the "supergroup" TGT, which released the single "Please Don't Go" which was a rework of a track from Tank's album at the time. The new collab helped the song climb to #2 on the R&B chart, and just miss the Hot 100 top-40 at #42. 

Gibson went to form his own label, Voltron, distributed by EMI Records. There Tyrese released his fifth album Open Invitation, which returned him to the Billboard 200 top ten at #9 in 2011. The first single from the set, "Stay", spent over a year on Billboard's R&B Singles chart just missing the top ten at #11, while topping the Adult R&B radio chart for eleven weeks. But at the time, ballad R&B was having a rough go on pop radio, and again the song "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #105. The Open Invitation album garnered a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album in 2013, which went to the jazz-rock stylings of the Robert Glasper Experiment for Black Radio. 

Tank, Ginuwine, and Tyrese finally put out a collaborative album Three Kings on Atlantic Records in 2013, which also got the Best R&B Album Grammy nomination (which went home with Alicia Keys for Girl On Fire). Despite not having a hit single, the record spent 21 weeks on the Billboard 200, one of them at #3. During this time Tyrese was more in the public eyes from appearing in a bunch of movies, most notable the Fast And Furious and Transformers franchise film series. 

The actor returned to music in 2015 with his Black Rose album (in my humble opinion his strongest record despite what "the Rock" says). The record became Gibson's first #1 on both the Billboard 200 and R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The lead single "Dumb Shit" with rapper Snoop Dogg absolutely stiffed, but he recovered with second try "Shame", which topped the Adult R&B chart for four months (16 weeks), and got to #32 on the main R&B chart while "bubbling under" the Hot 100 at #103. The song was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2016, losing Traditional R&B Performance to Lalah Hathaway's "Little Ghetto Boy", and Best R&B Song to D'Angelo for "Really Love". 

Most recently, Tyrese is releasing new music in anticipation of a new album. "Don't Think You Ever Loved Me" went to #2 on the Adult R&B chart, and #19 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart in 2023. A second single this year, "Love Transaction", so far has reached #20 on the Adult R&B list. 

As mentioned, Tyrese will be back to the series as a featured singer.

(6/10)

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Tyrese performed the song on Good Morning America...

Lastly, here's a live version from his AOL Sessions...

Up tomorrow: This "rap god" enters the DC Universe.