INTERVIEW: Keith Sweat On 'Dress To Impress' | Music You Should Know

After 25 years of making soulful R&B music, at this point, Keith Sweat and the genre are one in the same. With a staggering number of No. 1 Us R&B Billboard singles like "I Want Her," "Make You Sweat," and "I'll Give You All My Life," and more under his belt, Keith is set for his new music to top the charts too -- some of it already has! "The Sweat Hotel" host has released his 12th studio album on July 22nd, titled Dress To Impress. This is the Harlem-born singer/songwriter's first album release in five years, and follows his 2011 record Til The Morning. Dress To Impress features 16 new songs, including a posthumous performance by Gerald Levert, and collaborations with well-known R&B musicians like Dru Hill, Silk, and Takiya Mason. The album's first single "Good Love" reached No. 1 on the Urban AC chart, and the record's second single "Just The 2 Of Us" was recently world premiered on iHeartRadio.

We recently caught up with Keith during an exclusive interview, where he opened up about his new album, what it was like to write/record, the collaborations featured on the record, and more.

[Buy Dress To Impress on iTunes]

Keith on his album-making process

Keith's writing process is a little different from what you might expect. He says, "I'm not pressed on putting an album out every year or every two, or every three years. I normally just drop an album when I feel like I want to [and] express myself for real." So over the last five years, from 2011 (since he released Til The Morning) until now, Keith has been writing new music. "What I normally do is just continue to write until I come up with songs that I think are the best songs for a new album, whenever I decide to drop that album."

On the meaning behind the album title 'Dress To Impress'

With his new album, Keith wants to leave a lasting impression on his fans. And that's where the concept of album's title, Dress To Impress, comes from.

"I call this album 'Dress to Impress' because people's first impression of you is always their lasting impression. When people first meet you, that's what they always remember about you. So for me, certain songs on this album will be everlasting impressions that people may have of Keith Sweat. So I put my best foot forward on this album to dress up and impress people, on the album."

The first single released off of Dress To Impress was "Good Love." The track was released back in January, and Keith explains he chose "Good Love" as the first single because he believed that was the song that would capture people, and even had a feeling that it would go number one.

On his single "Good Love"

"The song 'Good Love' reached number one on the adult contemporary charts, and out of all the songs the album, I just felt like that was the one that would capture the people, and capture the moment that I was trying to create. The lyrics in the song said a lot of things that most people can relate to, and the melody and the music, it had a certain type of vibe to it, and it just felt good. I had a very, very, very good feeling that the song would go number one."

"Good Love" is only one of 16 new songs on Dress To Impress, and Keith recently dropped his latest single off the album "Just the 2 of Us." And according to the R&B superstar, there are even more songs on the record that you could be hearing on the radio. In fact, he describes his music as "classic Keith Sweat."

On what fans can expect with his new songs on 'Dress Impress'

"There's a few other songs on the album that I think are great songs, which I think people will be impressed about. 'Can't Let Go,' 'Just the 2 of Us,' 'Sliding Back and Forth,' those are songs that are on the album that I believe will be potential singles. So for those that wonder why they should go buy the Dressed to Impress album, it's because I think it's classic Keith Sweat, and I think it's that classic good music that people have been longing for and wanting for a while. They say R&B is dead. I don't believe that. It's just that a lot of people are not making R&B like they used to. But, for those that will go out and buy the album, they will be pleasingly satisfied. Guarantee that."

There are several collaborations on Dress To Impress, including a posthumous powerhouse performance from the late Gerald Levert. It's the last song on the album, and it's called "Let's Go To Bed." Keith explains that the track, which is now on his album, originated out of a song that Gerald had recorded years ago. Sweat then recorded a verse, which is the first verse on his version of the tune. Sweat describes Gerald as a "great friend of [his]" and to be able to include "Let's Go To Bed" on his new album is something he holds "dear to his heart."

On his posthumous Gerald Levert collaboration "Let's Go To Bed"

"The song that I had with Gerald Levert was a song that Gerald Levert had previously recorded back in the day and all I did was basically put my verse where his first verse was, and collaborated with him on the song. Gerald and myself were very, very, very good friends. So, being able to recapture a moment in time and grab something that I hold dear to my heart, he was such a great friend of mine. And to be able to make it feel like he's still here, or presently, even though he's here spiritually, I just felt it would be a good look for people to hear something that brought them in the mind of a LSG project. But, it made me feel good to be able to revive a song with my boy Gerald Levert."

A collaboration with Dru Hill called "Missing You Like Crazy" also appears on Keith Sweat's Dress To Impress. According to Keith, he originally recorded the song solo, but decided he wanted to include an artist who he "helped introduce into the music business." On Dru Hill's 1996 self-titled debut album, Keith co-wrote and produced two songs, "Share My World" and "Love's Train." Since then, Keith and the group have remained close, which is how they ended up collaborating on "Missing You Like Crazy."

On his collaboration with Dru Hill "Missing You Like Crazy"

"The song I had with Dru Hill was when they came into the studio where I had written the song, 'Missing You Like Crazy.' I initially recorded the song on my own, by myself, but I just felt like it would be good to have someone that I helped introduce into the music business. I did two songs on Dru Hill's first album, so me and Dru Hill have been very, very close, ever since that time. So I just wanted to really do something with them. We had the show called 'Platinum House' out, which was a reality show that they were involved with me on and I just felt like out of all of the groups that's out there, that's one of my favorite groups, and I just wanted them to be a part of this album. So I called them, they came down, we were all in the studio at the same time, and we recorded 'Missing You Like Crazy.'"

Listen to Keith Sweat's "Just The 2 Of Us" below!

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