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The global R and B superstar and the proposed new ‘King of Pop’, Usher, releases #6.
Usher is as synonymous for his exquisite performances as he is for his smooth
grooves. A man who has endured a lot of personal strife recently, this is an
album of stories, according to the man himself.
Opener, ‘Monstar’ announces the “three sides to every story” before launching into a progressively offbeat romp. This is more of a taster
than a song in its own as we move swiftly into ‘Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)’ – a love tune, including some typically graphic description. This is a typical
love ballad and doesn’t stray too far from safety. ‘There Goes My Baby’ is a great deal more successful, adding a smooth and memorable melody to what is
already a sweet song.
Upcoming protégée, Nicki Minaj, features on ‘Lil Freak’, which communicates the groupie lifestyle rather well. Polow da Don chips in
with a lively electro backing and this one works well. ‘She Don’t Know’ reduces Usher to the crazy shouting matches heard previously on ‘Yeah’, just without the undeniable genius backing. By the time Ludacris turns up,
this one has died long ago. Single release, ‘OMG’ goes for stadium sing-a-longs amongst an irrelevant beat and will.I.am. Maybe it
should work, but it just doesn’t.
Things get a little bit slow and lost on ‘Mars vs. Venus’, a chilled-out attempt at the male vs female argument. Then we’re hit by a reggae beat on ‘Pro Lover’ as the volume goes from zero to halfway. I’m assuming both of these tracks are an attempt at an interlude, because they
have very little musical purpose.
Jermaine Dupri is at the decks causing some reminiscing piano vibes on ‘Foolin’ Around’. This, along with ‘Papers’ seem to be a direct result of Usher’s recent divorce, probably explaining why the latter was a buzz release. Both of
them are highly-charged emotional affairs (excuse the pun) and a glimpse at Usher’s more traditional roots.
‘So Many Girls’ is more of your generic club tune, but in fairness, few deliver such a sound as
authentic as Usher and it’s enjoyable. T.I. does another featuring act on ‘Guilty’ and this is again a seemingly personal self-extraction exercise. There’s a few typical “oh!”s thrown in alongside boyband vocals – not great.
Usher experiments again with the dancier side of music on ‘Okay’ – a direction I personally believe suited him. It’s more of a chilled-out, end-of-the-night effort, but it’s pretty decent. ‘Making Love (Into the Night)’ goes a bit Boyz II Men in the cheesy love song status and doesn’t pull off anything remotely special to distance itself from that. Usher has the
audacity to leave off RedOne’s ‘More’ as the bonus track and I’d say it’s a mistake – there are a majority of final cuts this is superior to.
- There Goes My Baby
- Okay
- More
- So Many Girls
- Lil Freak
- Mars vs. Venus
- Making Love (Into the Night)
- Pro Lover
Where oh where is Usher going with his style? As they say, a jack of all trades
is a master of none and there isn’t a lot here to suggest there’s a definitive direction, amongst some safe stuff.
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If you haven’t heard of Justin Bieber and you have kids, you may well have done very soon.
Bieber shot to fame after YouTube performances, led to him signing a deal with
Usher. His debut record is pretty mainstream commercial teen pop, though his
voice doesn’t seem to have broken; so don’t be so surprised if you think, like me, he sounded like a girl.
Opening single, ‘Baby’ teams the Canadian pop sensation with Ludacris of all people. Bieber co-pens the
whole record and this one features happy strings, an addictive synth and the
writing talents of Christina Milian, Tricky Stewart and the Dream. It’s actually not bad, but this is mainly the production’s achievement.
‘Somebody to Love’ is an attempt at a quirky dance tune and the beat is certainly good enough for
that accolade. It’s a little weird hearing a 16 year old needing someone to love, but that’s teeny bop for you. ‘Stuck in the Moment’ goes for a more retro electro feel, allowing Bieber to take more of a central
role. The lyrics are a bit too clever for the average 16-year-old but in
fairness, it’s not delivered particularly badly.
‘U Smile’ is a more strategic attempt at world domination, being the custom ballad. It
does show some nice range to Bieber’s pipes and the piano-led production is once again, spot on. Easy to see why it’s a single, but it’s too cheesy for me. ‘Runaway Love’ brings in an unexpectedly dark synthesized beat. Bieber’s vocals go a bit too high and it does sound like a remix of early Hanson at
times. As it is, it works surprisingly well.
“Before they outlaw the kiss/give me one last hug” gets my vote for most amusing lyric on the bizarre love-ballad single and
resident cheese-fest that is ‘Never Let You Go’. Not every 16 y.o. needs to be nominated as a floppy-haired High School Musical
dropout and there’s no need for this. Jessica Jarrell , an unknown pop girlie appears alongside
him on ‘Overboard’. Please see above sentence for reasons why, or don’t bother cos it’s terrible.
Sean Kingston and a fair bit of the dreaded Auto-Tune co-exist on single, ‘Eenie Meenie’ and it’s a powerful pop belter. I’m sure Bieber would agree with me when I say, that this is more the direction he
needs to be going in. It’s just got successful pop tune written all over it, but he does sound remarkably
like a girl.
Bieber does the cheesy ballad much better on ‘Up’ for some reason and its remarkable how the simplicity frees him. ‘That Should Be Me’, however, about watching a love rival, fails, both in believability and
credibility; though excels in the annoyance category.
- Somebody to Love
- Runaway Love
- Up
- Baby
- Eenie Meenie
- Never Let You Go
- That Should Be Me
- U Smile
I have to say I’m impressed at how decent this is, compared to the usual pop starlet debuts. He
has talent and an incredibly talented, if over exuberant production team. I
think if they believed in him a little more, he might just show he doesn’t need the overwhelming glam to shine.
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(c) ChrisOnline.biz 2010
