Usher - Classic or Dud?

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.

I'm gonna have to try to catch it. Every time I catch a promo with him in it I'm wowed by how damn cool he is. Never seen more than a few minutes of the show so I don't really understand how it works, but the idea of being mentored by Usher is a really fun fantasy

imo its easily the best of vocal judged shows. The 'blind auditions' portion (the first half of the season) is really great. They don't waste time with crappy singers. The judges just have fun. It's not a labor for them and they don't take themselves too seriously.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/05/usher-4th-of-july-fireworks_n_3549899.html

Indeed, the show -- which was broadcast by NBC -- was legendary, but perhaps for the wrong reasons. Usher's 4th of July Fireworks playlist included Jimi Hendrix's take on "The Star-Spangled Banner," Kanye West, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, Frank Sinatra, and four songs performed by Usher: "Euphoria," "Yeah!," "OMG" and David Guetta's "Without You" (with vocals by Usher). Usher's focus on his own music didn't go unnoticed by many a Twitter user

lol what a stupid 'controversy.' giant music star asked to participate in cross-promotional event that trades heavily on his name recognition, and he has the gall to incorporate some of his gigantically popular hit songs into the program, jeez.

4 of his songs for this is a little much imho. Although I was more annoyed by the DC fireworks where I heard only vanilla-- Lumineers, U2, pop country and the 1812 Overture. No Ray Charles doing "America the Beautiful." A shame.

i dunno, it says there it was 4 songs in a row, but was it like entire songs or more of a medley thing?

i mean the whole thing was aggressively advertised as being curated by Usher, if you don't like Usher's music why would you watch or watch and expect not to hear some of his music

When I got home from the DC fireworks, I saw they were rebroadcasting the NYC fireworks on NBC. I turned it on to see the NYC fireworks, and had not seen any ads earlier for the Usher aspect. It appeared to be 4 complete Usher songs. This was not just some tv special, this was the 4th of July fireworks over the river with the NYC skyline in the background. I'm a sucker for a good fireworks show.

ehh that's NBC or Macy's problem if it was a bad call to invite Usher to be such a big part of it -- all this 'lol Usher you're so self-centered and unpatriotic' stuff is dumb, that's clearly what he was hired to do, lend his name and his music to the proceedings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ50gHyaD5c

cautiously optimistic as always

dude shot himself a zone commercial for whatever reason

http://www.complex.com/music/2014/06/usher-ft-juicy-j-i-dont-mind

love that

yeah i'm into it

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

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

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

heard it on the radio and it sounded nice

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

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

New song is really pretty

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

agreed

this one is much better than "no limit"

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

attn alfred, "third world man" sample

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

Loving Crash even tho it's so boilerplate.

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

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

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

true

This new album is really good

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

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

this album is way better than Looking 4 Myself imo