Pitchfork

Two leading candidates for the summer of 2007's most ubiquitous pop vocalist collide. First he wanted to "Buy U a Drank", now T-Pain wants to get with the drink-seller, or at least ask "Shawty" her name. "Ooh, she made us drinks/ to drink/ we drunk 'em/ got drunk," the Tallahassee native hums with uncanny concision on newest single "Bartender", from Epiphany.

The vocoder-loving hip-hop and r&b vocalist sure sounds lonely, but he isn't alone. Akon, of "Don't Matter" and "Sweet Escape" and everything else fame, shows up for silky synth-textured production and a verse where he comes to the hopelessly besotted (and befuddled) T-Pain's rescue-- designated driver, dudes. For getting less drunk on vocoder power, Akon looks like the winner here.

Stream:> T-Pain: "Bartender" [feat. Akon]

[from Epiphany, due 6/5/07 on Konvict/Jive]