Solid underrated song

Hmm just tried this out and I don’t see the connection

The element of surprise brings different feelings though

For me, musically it came together. Lyric wise, no. I was just shocked how it still sounded good. It probably wouldn't be the same if Yeah or Red Light was played right after it tho lol

All Night is amazing. Too bad it's a leak. Prolly won't be on C2 now

I think this would have fit somewhere in H2L actually

Does Usher even know what exactly he wants? So much has happened in the past few years that makes me so confused. Like he fired his mother as his manager. He could have gotten someone who would still do it well, but he chose Grace who did a terrible job. Like with the breaks he was taking between his albums, there should have so much hype for Hard II Love, then it didn't do well. Then the whole herpes thing, he should have done something to address it, not just let it drag on for 2 years. Now he's being the butt of a whole lot of jokes. Like I could see if he had it, but it;s been like 3 years now and he still hasn't said anything about it. Just admit if you have it cuz I can't believe it if he doesn't No lawyer is gonna tell you to wait this long to say you don't have it. To be honest, that news should have never even got out. His team should have kept it under wraps and handled it a while ago.

Then this whole things with Chris Brown this weekend. Chris Brown shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as Usher, let alone some people actually thinking his own "son" could beat him in a verzuz battle or compare to him in any other way. It sounds harsh, but look at Usher's impact and all the stats and they just don't compare But here we are. I understand he's humble and wants to be kind to the younger generation, especially the black and R&B acts, but he shouldn't be going beneath his level so often like that. Like doing songs with Kid Ink? What is even is that? Tinashe? Wtf is his team thinking? Then Chris basically dissed him and Timbo went right behind him, when all of Twitter showed he should have went behind Usher. he fact that Isher still follows him after Chris sat there and dissed him like that is just weird. And the Weeknd thing, there was no need for the tweet. Just sing the song and go. I know he wants to have fun, but it just feels like everything he worked for for 30 years, THIRTY YEARS is fading away just cuz his team isn't doing right. He still gets awards, sells out stadiums, known for all his hits, is relevant etc, but the public's view of him is starting to get lost. At one point he was the biggest name on the planet. Even MJ was starting to get a little bit jealous of his success. I know he knows that you can't stay on top for forever, but he should be trying a little bit harder. Like the way everything is folding out and the way he's been attacked so much just in 2020 alone shows that something's off.

Like his true peer at this point is Beyonce. He outlasted all his other peers like Monica, Aaliyah, Brandy, Ginuwine, Tevin, Alicia, a lot of them legends and stars in their own right but he outlasted them kinda easily. And at one point he said he knew the screams were going to die down, maybe he just feels that way now? But the public perception of her is a little bit different because she doesn't lower herself and her and her team knows how to make the right decisions It feels like he has made some of the same mistakes over and over again. It just feels like he's losing his direction and everything's all over the place.

He needs to have a team that does a MUCH better job of putting them out there. Like he was trending for a good 3 days straight on Twitter, why not release a single for this album? Why have there been no talks of this album outside of that Confessions part 3 snippet months back? Like nothing makes sense. He could have easily gotten another hit releasing a single yesterday or the day before, maybe even today, or at least announce on for Friday, but it's just silence. I remember JD did more promo for DWMT than he did. He was talking about it like every week, Usher did like one tweet and one IG post and that was it. At 41 it's gonna take a lot more than that. He's been doing nothing with all this hype surrounding him as a legend and people talking about him and it just makes no sense to me. Before, if you were a legend you'd be respected and no one would really come for you. But in this daya and age your image is still important. There is no reason he should be in this weird spot right now. It almost pains me to see how he's had a phenomenal almost 30 years, for any artist. He could have retired 15 years ago and still be a legend but kept going strong. I just don't get what he's thinking. I just wonder where his head is at. Like what is he thinking about everything?

I know this was a rant, but it's just frustrating seeing everything half way together, half falling apart. Like it doesn't make sense. If he gets everything together he could really have another big hit. And by big hit I mean like an actual smash hit. Not Yeah level but I mean an actual smash hit song and album if he were to get his stuff right.

IDK everything he needs to do, but hiring his mom back or getting just a phenomenal manager to do as good a job as her would help. Like Beyonce is literally his friend. He could just straight up ask her about some tips for getting back to that level where people actually see him where he is, above all the other guys. Her team is spot on with everything. He himself needs to get back to that type of team. Not saying he should have a ton of media hype and all, but someone on his level would have that "machine" to really keep him going. The sad thing is, he had hits this last decade and people act like he was flopping everywhere. He was still going platinum easily. Had 2 #1 albums, even a #1 hit. Several top tens, not too long ago actually. Even solo. How he handles things is the issue here.

Okay rant is over. But I can't be too wrong.

@AP3 @zenereura wtf should he do? NOthing is organized right now, despite hos he still is respected in the industry, for the most part.

A while back fans were trying to get a whole MTV Ivon thing like they did for Janet in 01 and it just fell on deaf ears. He deserves his flowers. Like MTV, Billboard, AMAs, BET. Somebody. I know he's 41 and a young legend, but some of this stuff is jus atrocious. He should've gotten the Vanguard Award in like 2005, we shouldn't be here saying "he should have gotten before artists x y and z". There's so much of a disconnect in everything. I'm hopeful he'll make a solid comeback, Cher had her biggest hit at 53, several decades in. Tina Turner had her biggest album in her 40s and it was one of the greatest comebacks ever. He just needs the right team, and reshape his image cuz the music is spot on.

That Zaytoven mixtape is so underrated. It’s not even funny.

It is a frustrating that he seems lost, because like you said he still has the opportunity to make another smash. But honestly he’s a made man and can do whatever he wants at this point. Personally, I really don’t care if makes another hit, that’s not what I want from Usher at this point of his career. I would like to see more mature r&b that’s reflective of being in the game 30 years, however that’s not something that “sells” records and still wants his new records played at clubs. To me he’s at a crossroads, yeah he still got the juice to do those type of records, but are the younger fans really gonna grasp that and his OG core fans are older and not typically at clubs. “A” is a prime example, while the music is great is that what people want from Usher?

True. No one actually said A was bad, it's just not what we want as his fans. I feel like DWMT was the perfect direction honestly. It's a banger and it may deserve more, but it's the type of music that Usher does best at. And I do get it's extremely challenging to try and appeal to both audiences (younger people and the older fans). Barely anyone can do it perfectly, and he proved the past 10 years he can do it very well.

I just want him to win lol. I just don't understand exactly what happened to go into this awkward phase. Maybe it's just apart of being someone who lasted so long.

I just know whenever he releases Believe I'll be satisfied no matter what tho. 'I wanted to Believe, I wanted us to make it baby.."

His career would be so much different if he didn't marry Tameka at the height of his prime. Messed up to say but it's true At this point, they should just release the next album so he can prove once again why he was on top. I don't like naming it Confessions 2 but if that's what it takes to get his core back

anyone know who produced this?

I think B Cox said in a interview Usher didn't want to name it Confessions 2, but it'll still work as the sequel.

And that Tameka story is sad cuz Here I Stand is one of his best albums. I think the worst part about it was he went so hard for her, even shut down fansites, then divorced her in like a year

Yes and no with Tameka, it did seem like she took Usher superpowers because he s***symbol image was at an all time high. However what changed his career was crossing over on the EDM wave. Most core r&b fans never really forgave him for that.

I mean honestly Usher kinda has been washed since Here I stand, which itself was significantly his worst project at the time

He tried to be more mature but he wanted to have it both ways with Looking 4 Myself, and I feel at this point, he is long past his prime but still trying too hard to follow the kids and not himself

I hate how people despised him for it, but he kinda had to. R&B wasn't pushing big numbers like it was before. His R&B hits weren't nearly as big as his EDM singles, even tho the albums were mostly R&B.

On top of that he was closing in on 20 years so he was basically a old head who was expected to keep up because of previous success (kinda like where Bey is now). He had to adapt to the new styles to keep up. Luckily he never left all the way. He came back with Good Kisser. It didn't chart that high initially, but it's a R&B classic now.

Usher Chris and Rihanna were all doing EDM at the time, but I wish they controlled the trends with their single choices. Beyonce fired her dad as her manager and made her best bodies of work

4 deserves so much more

A prime example of an artist taking control of their own vision and never looking back

Yeah I hated it too because L4M is a really good album for what it is.

Good Kisser is the reason why I say Usher should stop chasing commercial success. Everything about that rollout was designed perfectly for Good Kisser to perform well on the charts. He didn’t have any negative headlines, good promotion, and it is a really good song with the video to match. It didn’t happen...it’s been a amazing 20 years of commercial success it’s time to let that go. He can still win back the core r&b fans at least by making a more grown up album in sound and lyrics. The frustration with r&b fans is they know what he’s capable of. He just chooses not to do it because that approach won’t get played at Magic City and it will chart even less than what he’s currently doing. However he’d regain his proper respect that he deserves.

THIS

It's not like he's a complete failure or a disappointment cuz all his albums have those gems, it's just everyone knows what he can do but it feels like he doesn't. He's given us enough to know he still has it with songs like Good Kisser, Tell Me, Need U, but he hasn't gone all the way in like he used to.

I hope he is with the new album. He himself said it's a classic and JD and B Cox were the ones who proved his potential with his My Way to Confessions run. I hope he's realized it and gives us what we want, cuz it'll end up being what he wants. He's still respected, but if he does everything right with this one album it will change everything for him. It will cement his status even further as a legend and a complete artist who can stand the test of time. It will prove that he still has that spark that made him Usher in the first place. I do have faith that's what he's doing and I'm excited for it and I think this album/era will be what everyone's been waiting for.

Good Kisser
Slow Motion ft. Drake
All Falls Down ft. Chris
She Came to Give It to You ft. Nicki
I Don't Mind ft. Juicy J
Clueless
Believe Me
Cuz We Can
Milk Carton
Necessity

If this was an album where would it rank among RvR, L4M, H2L?

RvR
H2L
hypothetical
L4M

I like all the songs on this one (Idk the last 3 on the list) but this would be a good album. It would be one of those albums where every song is good, but there isn't much of a story to wrap it all together. Kinda like Rihanna's Anti or Beyonce's Bday. No skips but comes together musically more than lyrically.

Edit: Idk about the order tho. I'd have to listen to them all in that order then switch some around. It's a shame how we could have ended up with this, but got H2L instead. Idky he scrapped UR

Agreed, his 2014 output was great musically. Hard 2 Love and Flawed (UR) coulda been two good albums for that era

The last 3 are on a youtube playlist titled Flawed