Though the past few years have brought testing times for Robin Thicke – both personally and professionally, there’s no denying that he’s all sorts of gifted.

This week, From The Vault reacquaints with the crooner’s breakthrough single ‘Lost Without U.’

Serviced as the second single from the star’s 2006 sophomore set ‘The Evolution Of Robin Thicke’, the love-lorn song was written at a time when Robin felt insecure following the underperformance of his debut LP and its singles. Thankfully, history had not repeated itself with this single as it was a sleeper hit in the US peaking at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Hip Hop/R&B tally – which had not happened for a White artist since George Michael almost twenty years prior. The cut also reached the 11th spot of the UK Singles Charts.

Because he thought it could be his last video if the song tanked, Thicke chose to cast his then-wife Paula Patton as his love interest in the track’s Benny Boom lensed visual.

Needless to say, the chemistry displayed throughout the sensual video veered off the Richter scale. Bittersweet, somewhat, given the eventual fate for the much-loved (and “in love”) couple.

With ‘Blurred Lines’, Robin Thicke managed to gain a new audience. Yet, as many loyalists would agree, he (in the process) also lost that particular qualitative aura that was omnipresent on previous projects. We hope next go around he manages to mix and match the playful Pop elements of the ‘Lines’ album with some heartfelt and vulnerable moments akin to his first few bodies of work.

Sure, he’s already had a few missteps on that path, but songs like this remind us why we’ll willingly wait.

Your thoughts?