![]() He essentially boiled Confessions down to its worst elements and released it - 14 variations of Confessions’ most digusting song, “That’s What It’s Made For”.īecause, let’s remember, consumers rejected his grown and sexy and romantic look on Here I Stand, so clearly he had to go for juvenile, gross, and tawdry here. It exploits his personal life for profit, selling you on the notion that you are going to get a peak into Usher’s inner emotional life even though you are not, and it does it with some of the most aggressively misogynistic and silly lyricism that Usher’s ever sung. Raymond is that it replicates the most tasteless and least admirable aspect of the Confessions era. What’s most frustrating about Raymond vs. Danja’s track for “So Many Girls” is easily his best work since Trey Songz’ “Wonder Woman”, but it basically sounds like a reject from Justin’s FutureSex/LoveSound. The only song that comes even remotely close is “Guilty”, which works because Usher’s singing is unadorned. That “Monstar” opens the album and there is nothing to rival it is a real shame. In addition, Ursh’s singing is urgent, present, and flawless. It actually sounds similar to Jimmy and Terry’s early work for Janet, and that’s a very, very good thing. It is monstrous and melodramatic - but it’s also compelling. “Monstar” is the best of the three, and it’s also the best song on the album, by far. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis basically save the album from complete ruin with their three songs: “Monstar”, “Pro Lover”, and “Mars vs. The most interesting songs work because of great production, since no one seemed to pay much attention to melody or using Usher’s terrific vocal abilities this go-round. There is simply no other reason for its inclusion here. Usher’s eye is so glued to the charts that I wouldn’t even be surprised if “She Don’t Know” is the next single. And “She Don’t Know” is the pretty much the exact same song as Beyonce’s “Diva” (so much so that Ludacris name checks her). The song manages to be both dull and interminable. Then there’s “OMG”, the latest incoherent madness from will.i.am. He just ends up sounding like a dirty old man. Kelly schtick on “Lil Freak”, featuring the latest terrible female rapper, Nicky Minaj. Clearly, aging out of the industry’s targeted demographic has got Usher shook. To be fair, there are some nice moments here - “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)” and “Fooling Around” are pleasant, if forgettable, and “There Goes My Baby” features some nice falsetto work from Ursh - but most of this album feels like an artist struggling to hold onto relevance. Before this album dropped, I would have said that Usher was the most consistently brilliant pop star in a generation, able to perfectly marry commercial ambition with superb songcraft. That they are true is what makes listening to this cynically commercial and desperate album such a tremendous disappointment. Raymond is an album that was created as if the three points I raise above are not true. Here I Stand failed commercially for one reason, and one reason only: his fanbase hated his wife. It was a huge artistic leap forward that managed to transform the R&B king into a stone-cold soulman. Here I Stand was a damn near flawless album, with 8 perfect songs (“This Ain’t Sex”, “His Mistakes”, “Lifetime”, “Will Work for Love”, “Trading Places”, and especially “Love You Gently,” “Revolver”, and the title track) and at least another 4 or 5 pretty good songs. But promoting it as such did make it a huge commercial success.Ģ. Confessions really was not all that confessional. ![]() As of 2016, he has recorded more than 150 songs.There are three important things one must recognize in order to properly understand why Usher’s latest album, Raymond vs. Usher has recorded songs with other popular artists including Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber, Pitbull, Afrojack and Wiz Khalifa among others. His songs have been released on other compilation albums, including Disneymania, a compilation of Disney songs covered by popular artists. He has also appeared on 22 albums released by other artists. He has released 7 studio albums, 9 compilation albums and 52 singles. Usher Raymond IV is an American singer and songwriter. This is a list of songs recorded by Usher.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |