Usher - Classic or Dud?

I'm interested as to why you feel you should link to an article rather than make your own points.

I consider Timberlake a truly ironic joke. His music reeks of sheer deriviative crap, and I wouldn't be arsed to sit through more than 5 minutes of it.

No I do like it a lot but I'd been hoping that it did for either "Pump It Up" or "Song Cry" what "Yeah" did for "Get Low" and instead find that it's ear-tickling but very restrained.

and before someone mentions the whole "originality isn't a requirement" argument (one that I actually agree with), realize that's by far not the only problem I have with his retarded music.

Tim, what do you think of "Caught Up"? I thought that track was terrific!

"Uh," I'm interested as to why you are afraid to read the article.

It was written by someone who posts here occasionally.

I actually think Timberlake sounded great on Celebrity but on Justified he got WAY overconfident, the music is so non-mall that it needs a singer who's equally supple. Timbo just sounds like he's going to do the Urkel (though all the singles are enjoyable). He sounded a lot more soulful when he surrounded himself with guys like Lance Bass and Max Martin.

Afraid to read the article? Dee, I'm not sure what your issue is, but you seem to be unable to comprehend the fact that people don't like your favorite musical artists, instead choosing to believe that said people have some mental deficiency they were unaware of.

In any sense, I found the article to be somewhat stupid. It seems to be using one person's critique of Timberlake to represent everybody's, which is just stupid, plus the whole article is rather presumptuous about why people actually bash Timberlake in the media. It's a completely silly, elitist article, that fails to comprehend that just MAYBE the other side has a valid point.

I know I argue "rough" in here, but I would never SERIOUSLY attribute to someone a personal defect because they happened to like an artist I did. Half of my first posts were just for my own amusement.

Timberlake's pipes are just shitty as hell. I work with people daily that could blow him off of the fucking planet.

He gets blown plenty.

I'm sure he does, however, that doesn't change the fact that he still sucks.

the average Timberlake fan:

http://www.angelfire.com/band2/slayerrobfl/images/ugly3.jpg

alright new topic. What's everybody's favorite part of "Burn"? The spoken intro? The climax? The mood shift? The word "fifty-leven"? the hoo-hoo-hoo's?

These days its boo-oooo for me.

I like the breakdown in the middle. The cool descending synth-efx that sound like sweat dripping are really nice too. "fifty-leven" takes third place.

"SO MANY DAYS, SO MANY HOURS"!

Or I guess it's "how". Either way, it's awesome.

I like "Burn" and all, but I mean, without the completely spastic meter of the verses, it'd be a pretty unremarkable ballad. I guess that's kind of the point, though.

And did anyone else see Usher and Luda on SNL last night? Usher was fucking incredible.

I love that they did the bit with the different dances that Lil Jon does at the end of the video, that's by far my favorite part of the video.

THUNDACLAP!

It's a shame he didn't make a whole album of "Burn"/"Confessions" style tracks. This R Kelly/Joni Mitchell fusion thing he's got going is great!

Rockaway, Rockaway, Rockaway, Rockaway aaaaand cut.

I was talking to a friend about "Burn" today and he point out that it's reminiscent of Bone Thugs' "Crossroads", which is definitely a good point of comparison in certain parts of the song.

I realized recently, mainly because of the weird emotionally manipulative qualities of "Burn" and "Confessions part 2" that Ursher really reminds a lot of a psycho ex-roommate and I think that that's where some of my dislike of Usher is coming from.

''Al Green was a great performer and a great R&B artist, but in terms of TECHNIQUE, he was nothing amazing''

Surely performance and bringing a feeling to a song is a kind of technique all by itself. Most ppl can't evaluate or even care much for this def of technique you are talking about.

Usher getting busted staring at under-age boobies on national TV: Classic

I have always unabashedly and brazenly loved. Even when I was still a ridiculously indie-only fuxor.

I am mainly concerned with his hypnotizing moves, though, and can't really seem to recall any of his songs that ever really moved me at the moment.

(Hahaha Usher isn't going to be busting out any arias anytime soon but as far as contemporary R&B singing is concerned dude is pretty much on point in terms of consistency and pitch.)

I haven't listened to his earlier albums, but Confessions is good. It's better than Justified, but I would like to see that collaboration happen.

Also, the copy of Confessions I downloaded had Usher's cover of Phil Collins' "You'll Be In My Heart" from the Tarzan soundtrack hiding in it, which was special.

you know he's just doing the Disney tunes to get in good with Lohan.

consistency and pitch. wow. what an amazing endorsement.

especially due to how easy it is to fix wrong notes in the studio.

Even by R&B singing standards, he sucks. I'd rather listen to a Lenny Williams or a Philip Bailey or even a Luther anyday.

But the moves!!

seeing him in that Bam-Bam costume on Michael jackson's anniversary special was humorous

"Surely performance and bringing a feeling to a song is a kind of technique all by itself. Most ppl can't evaluate or even care much for this def of technique you are talking about."

Of course that's a large piece of being a good vocalist/performer, but in a genre that's so largely focused on the vocalist, it definitely can't be the whole piece of the pie. I don't feel Usher when he sings, either. I'm not saying he's soul-less, but he sounds that way because of his dynamic-depleted singing.

Well to most ppl it seems to be the whole piece. And like you said, you can fix bad notes in the studio.

(Hahaha we know how much I prefer studio babies to people who can sing live, don't we boys and girls?)

It's been your calling card all this time!

"Fuck Christina Aguilera, Britney and Justin can perform circles around her! And Alicia Keys can go sit on a pole, too."

Yea, but if the artist ever performs live, the fans will sure feel ripped off if they cannot pull the music off. I personally dislike abusing pitch correction, as I think it's better just to sing the passage over again, but I'll only use pitch correction on minor nitpicky things like being a tad flat or sharp.

We're getting off-topic, though. All I mentioned is that Usher was a flat, dynamicless singer. I mentioned notes being fixed in the studio to show that merely staying on pitch on recording doesn't mean you're on pitch when you sing, since the studio has helped even Anthony Kiedis sound on pitch at times.

Of course I'll get painted like technical geek now, but I don't think character is the whole piece of the pie whatsoever with an R&B performer.

I can be passionate about taking a dump, and really put my heart and soul into it, but the end result is still shit. Some genres do not require as much ability as others, but I'd prefer a more capable vocalist who has both the magic and the ability like a Lenny Williams.

What's with this overanalyzation of Usher, anyways? I could sum him up in very few words: tired, unenthused boredom.

I have no earthly idea what direction you're trying to take this thread, Venga.

for the record, I truly enjoy Alicia Keys (though I prefer her first cd.)

P.S., if anybody takes this as a slam on fixing mistakes in the studio, you've missed what I was saying. Studio recordings are separate entities from live performances, and I know that.

What I'm saying is that I am a big champion of people who can sing live. Usher can sing live. My comments about his consistency and tuning were obviously related to his live performances and not his studio performances because of the issue of pitch correction and multiple takes. I also like Christina Aguilera (particularly her material form her second album where she uses her melisma-madness in service of the music rather than in spite of it) and Alicia Keys for similar reasons; if you are going to market yourself primarily as a singer, you should be able to sing live.

The direction I was taking was mocking sarcasm at you for completely misrepresenting me, hoping you would pick up on the fact that you had actually gotten my stance completely wrong.

I truly did not know that you were invoking his live performances. Now that I know that, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I don't think merely singing on pitch makes a great singer, but I also don't think, from the live mp3s I've heard (of "My Way"), that he was any better than he was on recording.

Christina, on the other hand, I have respect for as a singer, but I just overall dislike her music.

I want to be Alicia Key's loveslave, though.

In what universe does "as far as contemporary R&B singing is concerned dude is pretty much on point in terms of consistency and pitch" translate into "OMG USHER IS AN AMAZING SINGER WOW WOW CAN U PIMP MY RIDE????"

It DOESN'T. But I was pointing out he was an unremarkable singer in the thread, average to mediocre at best, and you responded with the response that while he wasn't popping out classical arias, he was on point with consistency and pitch.

I inferred from that that you actually thought those two virtues meant a damn thing by themselves.

I don't think Confessions is as good as Timberlake's record simply because the Timbaland contributions that define JT's are absent from Usher's. The only song on par w/ "Cry Me A River," "What You Got" and the Nept's best contribution, "Rock Your Body" is "Yeah," and to a lesser degree "Throwback." I do think that Usher is a better singer (and I don't mean technically, I just mean I like his voice more) but his album isn't as good as JT's.

(and don't think I'm a strict geek...I prefer the Ozzy era of Sabbath and he was nowhere near the 'singer' Dio was, yet Dio's era was boring. it's all about fitting the mold.)

"Burn" is almost exactly the same as "U Got it Bad"...which as I may have mentioned I think is one of the most boring songs ever recorded. It's too bad, Usher has used up any amount of energy or goodwill that he built up with "Yeah!".

On paper, he has everything: looks, voice, dancing, etc. But something about him somehow manages to make all of these qualities dull and uncharismatic. Even with him talking up his new womanizer image, there's never any sense of danger, excitement, or sexuality to his songs.

His new womanizer image? Have we forgotten that the entire subtext of "My Way" is "HAHA I FUCKED UR GIRL"?

Yeah, but now he's talking it up as part of his image, whereas before he was more wholesome.

I don't know, I always thought his entire schtick was "looky me, I'm the baby-faced panty fiend" pretty much from "U Make Me Wanna" onwards. I mean, he basically made himself stand out by literally dancing out of his pants.