Usher albums in order9/16/2023 ![]() “Mars vs Venus,” a very slow jam, soars, while “Pro Lover” is a breezy, casual number filled with sweet dub accents. Two of the best happen to be collaborations with Jam and Lewis and the Avila Brothers. (The combination is as wrong as Eugene McDaniels' “Compared to What” and a soft drink commercial.) Otherwise, the slow jams and the few moments when Usher sounds as if he's having actual fun win out. (Either way, it’s evident that long-term relationships might not be for him.) The sleek dancefloor track “So Many Girls,” one of a few songs in which Usher sounds dead in the eyes, going through the motions, desensitized by the bounty of women at his feet, is followed by the sarcastically titled “Guilty,” where he whines “I guess I’m guilty for wanting to be up in the club” - which warrants a response like “Yes, attached 31-year-old man, that’s correct.” A few songs before that is a quasi-redemptive ballad “Foolin’ Around” he humbles himself, seems to take responsibility for his actions, then casually drops “Guess that’s just the man in me, blame it on celebrity.” The album’s catchiest uptempo song, “Lil Freak,” featuring Nicki Minaj, is effective despite itself, swiping the synthesizer line from “Living for the City” - a classic containing Stevie Wonder's most angered social commentary - for the sake of Usher’s lesbian tryst. Many of the songs on the album have to be taken on their own, stripped of context otherwise, determining what applies to Usher’s real and fantasy lives can be problematic. BINGO Acts who have peaked at every position in the Top 10. He pours himself into that song more than any other on the set, and breakup lyrics don’t get much more specific than “You don’t think I know what’s up, but sweetheart that’s what ruined us” or “I done damn near lost my mama.” The song was awarded the top spot on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, most likely for its lyrical uniqueness since the song does not break out of an exceptionally repetitive twiddle. Number 1 Flashback, 2004: Usher beats Girls Aloud to the top. The List of Usher Albums in Order of Release Having sold over 100 million total records sold worldwide, including more than 23 million albums in the United States alone and over 65 million albums worldwide, Usher is one of the best selling music. ![]() “Papers,” the early buzz single for Raymond V Raymond, bears the closest relation to the turbulence he experienced. Calling it revolutionary is disingenuous.The making of Usher’s sixth studio album was inevitably affected by the end of his marriage and its aftershocks. There's no shame in riding the wave, especially when you can do it better than anyone else. While Usher's talent as a vocalist adds some depth to the producer-driven field of dance music, he's more of a creative force when he's working with slower, soul-rooted material. Ironically, that's the singer's boldest move. The easygoing yet emotive title track, a cross between new wave and soft rock with an appearance from Luke Steele ( the Sleepy Jackson, Empire of the Sun), could pass for a cover of a missing track from the back half of the first N.E.R.D. "Lemme See," featuring Rick Ross, is a slithering, low-slung jam - one of Usher's best. It's more moving than what precedes and follows, but there are other highlights and a couple pleasantly surprising twists. Next is the stellar Diplo collaboration "Climax," a bittersweet, 100% modern ballad that creates tension with space. "Can't Stop Won't Stop," a typically savvy production from will.i.am and partner Keith Harris, incorporates flashes of commercial dubstep and a synthesized version of that escalating wordless melody from Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl." The Max Martin/ Shellback-produced "Scream," a Top 20 hit by the time the album was released, is a pummeling dancefloor track with a mindless seduction theme. ![]() The set is front-loaded with two such numbers. Compared to Usher's previous album, this is weighted more heavily toward dance-pop, much of which is functional and well made but unremarkable. With rare exception, revolutionary pop as presented on Looking 4 Myself sounds just like contemporary pop-oriented R&B, or European dance-pop, or some combination of the two. Usher was pushing his "revolutionary pop" concept as early as 2010, when he told StyleList, "I love that people are talking about the new hair, it represents who I am now and the creative movement of revolutionary pop." Prior to the release of his seventh studio album, he was doing it more than ever, quite likely encouraged by a Top Five Hot 100 collaboration with mainstream dance kingpin David Guetta ("Without You").
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