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 (eight 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 (eight years ago) link
Loving Crash even tho it's so boilerplate.
― Spottie, Friday, 26 August 2016 18:41 (eight years ago) link
ill p much love any song with that wobbly synth bass tho
― Spottie, Friday, 26 August 2016 18:45 (eight years ago) link
― 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 (eight years ago) link
Usher's bit on De La's "Grehounds" is essential imo
true
― Spottie, Friday, 26 August 2016 20:11 (eight years ago) link
This new album is really good
― Evan R, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 19:32 (eight 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 (eight 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 (eight 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 (eight 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 (eight 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 (eight years ago) link
L4M keepers:
Climaxtitle trackI Care For UDive Numb2nd Round
H2L keepers:
BumpLet Me CrashFYMHard 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 (eight 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 (eight years ago) link
in "No Limit," does Usher sing:
Look my cat OD'dNo limit
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:32 (eight 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 (eight 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 (eight years ago) link
show me def the standout for me outside the obv climax
― Spottie, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:38 (eight 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 (eight years ago) link
"Show Me" is good; forgot it.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:39 (eight 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 (eight years ago) link
IFU beat is A+
― Spottie, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:43 (eight 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 (eight 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
― 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 (eight years ago) link
xp rico love produced that, did you hear his album from last year?
― Spottie, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:09 (eight 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 (eight 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 (eight years ago) link
llol, yeeeeeeah thats one of like three trx i didnt like on there
― Spottie, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:34 (eight years ago) link
man that vid is embarrassing
― Spottie, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:37 (eight 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 (eight years ago) link
― 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 (eight 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 (eight 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 (eight years ago) link
― 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 (eight 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 (eight 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 (eight 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 (eight 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 (eight years ago) link
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
new album out at midnight, produced entirely by zaytoven
― Machine Gunk Jelly (Spottie), Thursday, 11 October 2018 18:04 (five years ago) link
Usher's dropping a new album at midnight, produced entirely by Zaytoven. pic.twitter.com/OrsAV8h6ec— Meelz 💪🏾 (@MeelzTV) October 11, 2018
sounds like he's trying to be future :-/
― J0rdan S., Thursday, 11 October 2018 18:50 (five years ago) link
This is going to be bad I’m sure
― Machine Gunk Jelly (Spottie), Thursday, 11 October 2018 20:20 (five years ago) link
Zaytoven is a hilarious name
― niels, Friday, 12 October 2018 06:40 (five years ago) link
pretty forgettable on my initial couple listens
― Machine Gunk Jelly (Spottie), Friday, 12 October 2018 18:19 (five years ago) link
His new single with Ella Mai is fantastic
https://youtu.be/MMitI4VbSuo
― self-clowning oven (Murgatroid), Friday, 13 December 2019 05:20 (four years ago) link
actually pretty hyped that he's doing the Super Bowl halftime next year
― Murgatroid, Sunday, 24 September 2023 19:27 (eleven months ago) link
I wondered why people I knew suddenly wanted to discuss how awesome they found Confessions in 2004.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 24 September 2023 19:33 (eleven months ago) link
i can never not hear it luda style as ursher and well reality is confounding in a lot of ways. like why the fuck is urshur at the big game TM?
*i think i said this before better scan*
And now I'll always have a little voice say "Ursher" in my head. That Yeah song. Urg.― Hunter (Hunter), Sunday, February 22, 2004 8:58 PM (nineteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink
omg i am dying right now second time today it is sad rip me
― Hunt3r, Monday, 25 September 2023 03:16 (eleven months ago) link