Usher - Classic or Dud?

i'd say usher singles>>justin singles, but i'm sure justin's albums are better, and i will say, i don't think justin would have given as listless a performance on such a stage as usher did on snl

the first parental advisory album i ever remember my mom letting me get was 'my way'

back when blockbuster was still selling cds

maybe it was specs actually

i'd say usher singles>>justin singles, but i'm sure justin's albums are better,

I'd actually say it's the other way around, even though I think Justin Timberlake is an insufferable douche he has some unfuckwithable singles ("Like I Love You", "My Love," "Until The End Of Time", "Lovestoned," "Senorita").. as does Usher obviously, but a lot of his best songs are album tracks ("Can U Help Me," "Throwback," "Before I Met You," etc. etc....) and I think Confessions & 8701 (his best album) are >>>>> FS/LS and Justified. Not to say Justin doesn't have his share of album tracks ("Sexy Ladies", "Last Night,"), but yeah. Also, Usher is a waaaaaayyyyyy better vocalist, better dancer and just better all-around personality... I think Justin's album's are carried by the Production - he's pretty expendable, and actually a lot of his shit would be better if sung by someone else because his voice is REALLY annoying sometimes - whereas Usher takes command of his material.

but I've never forgiven Justin for boob-gate so I may be biased

really though what Timberlake song is fucking with this one:

really it may just come down to what you want in your music, obviously Timberlake is more "pop" so.... it's kind of not a good comparison besides the obvious MALE SUPERSTARS WHO DANCE thing.

honestly Tape Store I'm curious do you think Justin Timberlake is a necessary part of FutureSex/LoveSongs or that another capable vocalist could sing those same songs and it'd still be your fave album of the decade? Because I don't feel like his voice is special, and if anything his 'persona' detracts from the songs a little bit (to me anyway, I always have trouble buying Timberlake as the cool womanizer he paints himself as in a lot of songs...)

FutureSex/LoveSounds**

im sorry if this was posted elsewhere but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b90Cf6ARscc

And now I'll always have a little voice say "Ursher" in my head. That Yeah song. Urg.

― Hunter (Hunter), Monday, February 23, 2004 3:58 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark

^^

so fucking weird that this thread was revived today but not because of "Papers"

we talked about it on the r&b thread dude

i know but...and no offense to cad, but that rockafire thing was all the rage on this board 2 years ago, it's just funny timing, what are the odds

"papers" is seriously the shit though

xp that's fine i had never seen it because i don't really pay attention to youtube but i was in tears earlier tonite

http://www.mtv.co.uk/artists/usher/news/229041-usher-slates-uk-rb-acts-again?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Legendary R&B singer Usher has said that the recent acts from the UK to top the American charts are bringing the value of R&B music down.

The OMG hit-maker said that British acts such as Taio Cruz and Jay Sean should be classed as pop music and leave R&B to the big boys.

He told The Daily Star: "There’s a very fine line between what’s R&B and pop these days. Just because it’s sung by a male minority doesn’t mean you’re urban or R&B. Those artists are pop. The true value of R&B has been brought down."

OMG, what a cheek!

r&bism

ushering in a new age

well, he's otm about taio cruz, that's for sure -- i guess "down" could be considered r&b, or at least i heard it on r&b stations -- all of that aside from the obv irony of his whole statement

i like what hes saying, but you cant really make that criticism if youre usher. or if youre trying to make R&B in the modern era. the lines are impossible to draw. down is def R&B though. cruz is just shit.

Usher the first (and only) celeb to give up on that ridiculous "dead twitter" AIDS charity drive: http://twitter.com/UsherRaymondIV

Here's his "last tweet and testament" video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ27TmEjLzY

"It's truly a battle of AIDS vs. Raymond"

Usher's first tweet yesterday after announcing his death on the 30th: Twit fam, I'm whack for being late, I need your help. Twit,Happy Birthday Rico Love!!! He is the man that wrote you "There goes my baby"

Alicia Keys' latest tweet: @aliciakeys is dead but Bashir, father of 7 is ALIVE thanks to KCA. http://bit.ly/e8pa0VText ALICIA to 90999 & reply YES to give $10

Raymond v Raymond's "Pro Rated" snuck up on me tonight.

The new Usher & Diplo track really has some fun playing with/defying expectations for what an Usher & Diplo track might sound like. Huge improvement over Usher's recent hits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRJb_2bOjcg

loving his vocals on this one

this is dope

yeah I heard this last night. Not a fan of Usher or Diplo but this is pretty sick

Diplo is on a roll

beat really reminds me of something tho

sounds like something from the Araabmuzik album, maybe.

Loving it tho.

the beat is by diplo?! shocked

i love it - it's v "moments in love" right? reminds me of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYEJvTI2qRY

amazing song, loving this more than i can say, really shocked that this is usher and/or diplo

"express yourself" (diplo & nicky da b) is pretty great, too, tho more what you'd expect of a diplo track

quoth a commenter on the soundcloud page:

no, it's not Usher, this actually has soul and its not overproduced/ overrated. This sounds more like The Weeknd

l∞l

http://i.imgur.com/Apddw.jpg

I really hate that "Scream" is going to be the crossover "Climax" wasn't.

yup

haha, usher's ex OTM

i don't know -- if i was a "climax" fan i'd be pretty happy that it did as well as it did. usher's entire career for the past few years has followed that forumla, big dancey pop smash with some r&b songs to stay current on urban radio. the only one to crossover iirc was "omg" and "climax" is a lot better than "there goes my baby" and stuff like that

i mean if someone had said "hey usher's new single is produced by diplo with contributions from nico muhly" i would've put it at 40% odds that it would've ended up as a "promo single" after two weeks

yeah "Climax" totally surpassed any reasonable expectations -- clearly occupied the same role in the album campaign as "Papers" but did better than that

Katherine St Asaph calling it "deliberate troll baiting" was otm.

although it should be said that labels can't completely control which song is the pop hit and which one is the buzz single -- "Look At Me Now" was supposed to be the urban radio flipside to proper lead single "Yeah 3X" but "Look" ended up being more of a crossover hit.

Hark.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb1nswEcy21qazvpdo1_500.jpg

Usher is apparently a judge on The Voice now. Is he any good? I imagine he'd be super charismatic, but it's funny; for as much I follow his music, I have no sense of what his off-stage persona is.

i haven't watched the show regularly since the first season, but i saw a few minutes of it last night and kinda liked seeing Usher and Shakira on there, they seemed to fit in well. Xtina was always the most boring of the mentors and Cee-Lo was always the most obnoxiously over the top.

Usher did really well. He's smooth.