Usher - Classic or Dud?

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[echos in ridiculous Migos voice] yeah youlovethat, yeah youintoTHAT? {into that!}

Evan R, Friday, 27 June 2014 19:42 (nine years ago) link

It took long enough but I now adore "Good Kisser."

guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 27 June 2014 20:08 (nine years ago) link

three months pass...

yay "i don't mind" might be a single now even tho the album got delayed?? https://soundcloud.com/usher-raymond-music/usher-i-dont-mind-feat-juicy-j

this version is slightly but not very different

dyl, Friday, 3 October 2014 03:32 (nine years ago) link

heard it on the radio and it sounded nice

goon kabuki (The Reverend), Friday, 3 October 2014 04:08 (nine years ago) link

really like that song. just nice and understated and kinda puts the songwriting up front.

snrub goin up on a tuesday (J0rdan S.), Friday, 3 October 2014 06:19 (nine years ago) link

nine months pass...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJqUAepUYAAo3Bm.jpg

just sayin, Saturday, 11 July 2015 23:04 (eight years ago) link

eleven months pass...

New song is really pretty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp_qAAi-T0E

rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Sunday, 26 June 2016 20:30 (seven years ago) link

agreed

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 26 June 2016 20:45 (seven years ago) link

this one is much better than "no limit"

dyl, Sunday, 26 June 2016 23:26 (seven years ago) link

two months pass...

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

attn alfred, "third world man" sample

who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Friday, 26 August 2016 18:20 (seven years ago) link

Been listening to a lot of usher lately. so much great stuff on Confessions and 8701

Spottie, Friday, 26 August 2016 18:34 (seven years ago) link

Loving Crash even tho it's so boilerplate.

Spottie, Friday, 26 August 2016 18:41 (seven years ago) link

ill p much love any song with that wobbly synth bass tho

Spottie, Friday, 26 August 2016 18:45 (seven years ago) link

attn alfred, "third world man" sample

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/batman/images/6/66/Bat_100.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20111216084322

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 26 August 2016 19:23 (seven years ago) link

Usher's bit on De La's "Grehounds" is essential imo

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 26 August 2016 19:23 (seven years ago) link

true

Spottie, Friday, 26 August 2016 20:11 (seven years ago) link

three weeks pass...

This new album is really good

Evan R, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 19:32 (seven years ago) link

It's as uneven as the last one, whose good to excellent songs prompted me to grade it on a curve.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 19:56 (seven years ago) link

It's about two sensational highlights short of the last one, but I can forgive that. He's mellowed out and he's not reaching as hard as he did on the last few. This feels like his first album as a former Really Big Star, as opposed to an artist still trying to be a Really Big Star

Evan R, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 20:01 (seven years ago) link

this album is way better than Looking 4 Myself imo

Best Beloved Trump-Pence (some dude), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 20:08 (seven years ago) link

as i've receded away from music criticism i think i've found that i have less use for an album like this -- which is a good album qua album w/ relatively few standouts -- than something like looking 4 myself, where half was pure trash but the 3 or 4 best songs were real standouts

J0rdan S., Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:14 (seven years ago) link

It really depends on the situation. If I'm cooking dinner or something I'll reach for this, but if I'm in car and can easily skip tracks I'll go for Looking 4 Myself

Evan R, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:21 (seven years ago) link

L4M keepers:

Climax
title track
I Care For U
Dive
Numb
2nd Round

H2L keepers:

Bump
Let Me
Crash
FYM
Hard II Love

I agree with Evan: nothing on H2L will embarrass Usher's family like the last album's "Can't Stop Won't Stop" or "Scream."

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:25 (seven years ago) link

L4M also had very good bonus tracks ("Say The Words" especially) that made its grab-bag feel a little more forgivable. It tempered the ratio of hits to misses and made the whole thing feel more generous

Evan R, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:32 (seven years ago) link

in "No Limit," does Usher sing:

Look my cat OD'd
No limit

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:32 (seven years ago) link

time out--the best song on L4M is clearly "show me"

anyway, hard II love is technically a better album, which i guess matter when you have to assign ratings to such things. but functionally i'm not sure it has more utility to my life than the grab bag.

J0rdan S., Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:36 (seven years ago) link

also "lemme see" is an underrated single, it's in one of those nguzunguzu mixes and sounds great

J0rdan S., Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:38 (seven years ago) link

show me def the standout for me outside the obv climax

Spottie, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:38 (seven years ago) link

idk they're both grab bags to me; Usher's singing and writing and choosing songs like a former megastar instead of thinking he's still a megastar kept him from including another "Can't Stop...," although we can argue about Young Thug's appearance, I guess.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:38 (seven years ago) link

"Show Me" is good; forgot it.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:39 (seven years ago) link

also "what happened to u" was pretty tight and would fit on the new record... this album is better than i remembered

J0rdan S., Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:39 (seven years ago) link

IFU beat is A+

Spottie, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:43 (seven years ago) link

"IFU" was the best song on that record imo

have you ever even read The Drudge Report? Have you gone on Stormfron (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:53 (seven years ago) link

well, u know i what i think.

as i've receded away from music criticism i think i've found that i have less use for an album like this -- which is a good album qua album w/ relat
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:14 Bookmark

It really depends on the situation. If I'm cooking dinner or something I'll reach for this, but if I'm in car and can easily skip tracks I'll go for Looking 4 Myself

― Evan R, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:21 Bookmark

lol i love this exchange. j0rd's provocatively salty framing checkmated by evan schooling on what true non-crit nothingness really be

r|t|c, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:07 (seven years ago) link

xp rico love produced that, did you hear his album from last year?

Spottie, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:09 (seven years ago) link

putting that noble idea of album as microwave muzak aside for a sec and considering the holistic artistic statement then i still think that, at the time, l4m said something interesting for itself as a grab-bag. there were plenty of other grab-bags then, disjointed and nakedly cynical - imo l4m managed to carry a rare thread of touristic enthusiasm thru its peaks & valleys of tasteful & trash

r|t|c, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:18 (seven years ago) link

that rico love lp was a such a uniquely weird faceless ventriloquist sesh.... rico act more like. serial rnb hit songwriter as cusack in being john malkovich

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

this one's like a seance. who am i speaking to i sense a great sadness

r|t|c, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:32 (seven years ago) link

llol, yeeeeeeah thats one of like three trx i didnt like on there

Spottie, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:34 (seven years ago) link

man that vid is embarrassing

Spottie, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:37 (seven years ago) link

I've pissed off Morbs and xyzz in film threads for admitting that I've watched Hou films while mopping.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:49 (seven years ago) link

lol i love this exchange. j0rd's provocatively salty framing checkmated by evan schooling on what true non-crit nothingness really be

― r|t|c, Tuesday, September 20, 2016 5:07 PM (two hours ago)

Man you really have it out for me lately, huh? Did I somehow offend you or something? You jump down my throat every time I post

Evan R, Wednesday, 21 September 2016 01:12 (seven years ago) link

Rico Love album rules, even the fake N.E.R.D. song lol

Best Beloved Trump-Pence (some dude), Wednesday, 21 September 2016 02:25 (seven years ago) link

Yeah, the Rico Love album was depressed loss-of-meaning r&b in the best sense. I can see why it did not sell though.

human and working on getting beer (longneck), Wednesday, 21 September 2016 07:28 (seven years ago) link

Man you really have it out for me lately, huh? Did I somehow offend you or something? You jump down my throat every time I post

― Evan R, Wednesday, 21 September 2016 02:12 Bookmark

man get a life. there is a discussion, you choose to contribute a point of view, i object to its flaccid suburban mediocrity, i pay you the courtesy of responding. that's how it works

is there an inviting, easygoing recent album you could maybe put on to unwind?

r|t|c, Wednesday, 21 September 2016 10:33 (seven years ago) link

what is "the best sense" of er, "depressed loss-of-meaning r&b"? i mean i got a lil nostalgic kick out of the n.e.r.d zombie too for a sec but to go so far as to say it rules just seems like being pugnacious about closing your playbook sometime around 2006

some of the album is nicely produced, some taxidermy is nicely enbalmed

r|t|c, Wednesday, 21 September 2016 10:52 (seven years ago) link

It's utterly disillusioned in a way that most quasi-nihilistic hedonist r&b doesn't even try to be. Hence more interesting.

human and working on getting beer (longneck), Wednesday, 21 September 2016 11:00 (seven years ago) link

It's not the young & trendy numbness of abel & co, but a beaten down, at-the-end-of-the-rope-so-I-might-as-well-laugh disenchantment. It felt refreshing to me, at least. I haven't listened to it in a while though.

human and working on getting beer (longneck), Wednesday, 21 September 2016 11:05 (seven years ago) link

http://i.imgur.com/NRb4TVn.jpg

i don't really recall discerning a strong consistent persona like that at all thru the karaoke smoke but maybe i'll listen again sometime

r|t|c, Wednesday, 21 September 2016 17:15 (seven years ago) link

three weeks pass...

wait why did this "girls just wanna have fun" song not end up on the album

dyl, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 17:28 (seven years ago) link

one year passes...

new album out at midnight, produced entirely by zaytoven

Machine Gunk Jelly (Spottie), Thursday, 11 October 2018 18:04 (five years ago) link


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