dvsn and Ty Dolla $ign Share Opulent Album "Cheers to the Best Memories"
Following hypnotic singles like “Memories” and “I Believed It,” lauded Toronto R&B duo dvsn and multiple GRAMMY Award-nominated hitmaker Ty Dolla $ign share their hotly anticipated collaborative LP, Cheers to the Best Memories on OVO Sound.
Photo Credit: Blair Brown
The full record cements their team-up as a textured, visionary, and sometimes dark take on R&B, soul, and a host of other emotional, intimate sounds. The body of work is full of intricate, otherwordly arrangements and intensely emotional vocals. The recently released single “Memories” is an obvious stand-out that shows the group’s breadth and depth.
The track finds dvsn singer Daniel Daley and GRAMMY-winning producer Nineteen85 showcasing their attention to detail, crafting a sex-dripping slow jam that provides the perfect base for Ty’s honeyed vocals. Thickening the arrangement is the addition of dizzying vocoders which flips the sultry swagger of Silks’ 1992 cut “Freak Me.” The track arrived alongside a celebratory, low key but flash-filled video given an appropriately vintage treatment.
Cheers to the Best Memories covers rich, diverse ground sonically and topically. “Don’t Say a Word” is a sultry, synth-dripped paean to keeping it on the down-low, while “Somebody That You Don’t Know” serves up Spanish guitar and a dembow beat, channelling vacation vibes as our heroes wonder what could have been with a “stranger,” toying with the literal and figurative definitions of the word.
Elsewhere on the LP is the stirring “I Believed It” featuring the late Mac Miller. This track is equally thrilling and heartbreaking, a captivating performance but also a reminder of the talent lost in Miller. The single is indicative of the sort of powerful songs dvsn and Ty are capable of, proving yet again that they’re some of R&B’s most direct writers.
This record marks the start of an exciting era for dvsn, who released their third album, A Muse in Her Feelings, in April 2020. Ty appeared on that set among an all-star cast of collaborators that included Future, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Popcaan, Buju Banton, Summer Walker, and more. dvsn built upon that momentum in January 2021, releasing the expanded version, Amusing Her Feelings, on OVO Sound.
Both dvsn and Ty Dolla $ign have established themselves as eclectic hitmakers of the highest order, and their recent efforts show just how gifted they are at drawing the best work out of their collaborators. The swooning bounce of “Memories” and the dark emotive power of “I Believed It” helped make Cheers to the Best Memories one of the most highly anticipated projects of the summer. Now that it’s. out, the set will surely only lead to more fans discovering the magnetism of the music each artist makes — both separately and together.