Although T-Ache was initially hesitant to undertake a sound he accurately assumed was a fad, snap music clearly suited his model—a sugary, Auto-Tune-drenched trill that gave the impression of Megatron singing freakishly candy love songs. Once more, on the album’s second single, “Bartender,” synths gleaming like starlight, he recounts an evening out with the brevity of a blues singer, parroting his personal traces: “Broke up with my woman final evening/So I went to the membership.” So flawlessly does Akon harmonize with T-Ache on the hook that it’s straightforward to neglect he sings the third verse (many DJs seemingly lower the track off earlier than then), taking part in a sober wingman requesting T-Ache’s permission to bounce with a brand new good friend.
In singing concerning the euphoria and delirium of nightlife, T-Ache nods to his Tallahassee roots on the early album lower “Church,” a countrified battle track crammed with banjos and handclaps, and “Present U How,” which feels just like the soundtrack to a rodeo or reward dance. He deploys his rap alter ego, Teddy Penderazdoun, to pursue the scarlet-letter lady on the town, taking part in off the ho-into-a-housewife trope, annoyingly. However it’s additionally… candy? “Inform ’em kiss yo ass/’Trigger on the finish of the day, you bought a spot to/Lay down and let me lay with you,” he sings. All a part of his life’s work. His rap personas (the opposite one on the album is Teddy Verseti) exist primarily to indicate his versatility, and he’s entertaining and sometimes dexterous as a lyricist however significantly better at bellowing candy nothings than powerful discuss.
The occasion vibe in T-Ache’s music is usually thick to the purpose of overshadowing the enjoyable. The darker aspect of his debauchery is “Tipsy,” the place the temper feels coercive, to say the least: “I knew you wouldn’t be the freak that you’re until you tipsy,” he sings (in a Juvenile-esque decrease register), proving that the booze-and-a-good-time goal has an outer restrict. As T-Ache explains it, although, he celebrates loads as a result of consuming and merriment really feel genuinely restorative, and that’s the best way of the South. “I believe individuals relate to my songs extra as a result of I’m not attempting to be overly intelligent. It’s kinda simply regular dialog,” he informed NPR in 2014. “It’s simply, ‘Pay attention. Right here’s the scenario. Right here’s a melody to it. You prefer it? You don’t? Right here it’s.’”
Epiphany is filled with odd surprises. “Time Machine” is a delightfully bizarre sci-fi ballad wherein T-Ache portrays a robotic named Tebunon Pedalophagis from Planet Teleguston, singing like a tragic Iron Large about returning to less complicated occasions earlier than his profession took off: “Illudium PU-36 explosive house modulator/Goin’ on a visit, I’ll be again/Homeboy, I’ll so long,” he laments, permitting himself to dream, Auto-Tune on the zero-est setting. (Planet Teleguston begs for a visible therapy.) The observe is, in fact, rapidly adopted by a sensual homage to Pilates-toned abs, “Yo Abdomen,” the type of absurd T-Ache track you’ll be able to most likely hear earlier than really listening to it. There, and on pleasure-seeking information like “69” (no guessing what that’s about) and “Put It Down,” his vocal texture is each easy and gritty, like a pitcher of lemonade with sugar grains on the backside.
