Just realized it's the U-Chain

One of the most iconic necklaces ever lol

Unpopular opinion, but Here I Stand is Usher's best album. It's his most mature work, and he went against the trends of the industry by releasing such an adult and slower R&B album while everyone else started turning to pop/EDM.

The intro is the best intro on any album. Then LITC and This Ain't S***are bops. Then we get into songs like Here I Stand, LITC remix, Trading Places, Best Thing, Appetite, His Mistakes, Moving Mountains... such a beautiful work of art

And it just wasn’t for show, it was a prop when he was on stage. Just another reason why he’s a genius.

Bad Habits is gaining traction. I think on Thursday at this time it only had 38k streams on Spotify, now it's at 517k. Pretty decent start for him. His songs always start slow and get bigger after a few weeks. Hopefully he sends it to all the radio stations, even pop and rhythmic cuz it could get heavy play there.

Not on here often sorry.

But like I said in another post R. Kelly was always my favorite so I used to listen to him more during the confessions/Here I stand/RvR/L4M etc eras so that's why I probably didnt appreciate those that much.

Then H2L just really had songs I liked a lot all on one album so it kind of just became my default favorite.

Bump
Crash
Need U
Rivals
Let Me
Make U a Believer
FWM
Stronger

Yea, like I said unpopular opinion byt that's what it is I guess.

I forgot this was around the time when EDM and pop started getting super popular..

Trading Places and Moving Mountains

I'm happy Bad Habits is good man. Gives me high hope's for the album. I know he has at least one more classic in him.

I think people are excited cuz we know he has more top level music left in him, especially since he's working with JD on this one.

JD wants to help Usher make a Mariah TEOM level comeback and I think they can. Bad Habits was the perfect single and if they do everything right, he'll have a classic on his hands. Plus, if Usher comes back on top with real R&B, then the music industry is about to be restored with more real singing R&B artists in the forefront again

I think with H2L it got more attention internationally than here. I know Crash was a top 10 hit in Australia

Need You, Missin U, Crash, Bump, and Tell Me are all gems.

And I might have to take back what I said about Here I Stand being his best cuz I re-listened to Confessions and that album is perfect. There's a reason no one has topped it since, even himself. Greatest R&B album oat. 8701 puts up a good fight too. How Do I Say, U R The One, Can U Help Me, U Got It Bad, U Remind Me, U Don't Have to Call, Twork It Out, I DOn't Know, I Can't Let U Go... all this just proves how goat Usher is.

If he gets back into this bag for just one more album I

Yup...just wish he did more videos and pushed more singles harder from this era in the States.

Any particular feats you wanna see on this upcoming album?

I wanna see Mariah and Beyonce. Maybe Drake, but I want something much better than Slow Motion, If not Drake then idk who the rapper should be. They should be current, but not too new. We gotta know who they are and know a few hits with their name.

His best work is solo, so I never want a bunch of collabs from him.

Yea definitely at his best solo and I wouldn't be mad at all if this upcoming LP had no feats like After Hours.

That said I wouldn't mind Chris Brown, maybe T.I again . Mariah and Bey would be a knockout though at this stage in all their careers as well.

I thought of Chris, but I don't think their voices blend well. On top of that people would just talk about how Usher "washed" Chris vocally and then turn the music video into a dance battle

But I remember he was in the studio with Mariah last year, so I guess she's already on it. Imagine those vocals

A Bey collab would be fun. This time it should be an uptempo track with a dance battle in the music video. Something more lighthearted and fun from both of them would be nice.

Hm interesting about their voices not blending together..what did you think of 'No Flame' or 'All Falls Down'?

I think Usher was just too strong vocally. They have good chemistry on the stage but in the studio it doesn't always end up right imo. Like Usher loves doing a ton of riffs and runs and going into falsetto then belting. Chris is a much more simplistic singer.

"Chris is a much more simplistic singer"

Lol even though hes in my top 3 cant argue with this.

I think Chris is a slightly better solo performer on stage no doubt but yea vocally Usher is league's better

I always gave Usher the edge in performing just cuz he's more complete. Not that Chris lacks anything, I just think Usher does better with having completely different musical arrangements, studying the lights and technological aspects, the dancers are always in sync etc. All the little details that change it more than just a great show. But Chris is def #1 for his generation.

LITC on the URX Tour transformed into a whole new song

The original is a classic, but nothing amazing. But this version>>>

When it comes to just dancing, I never thought about it. I think Usher is more professional. He's equally great at freestyling and choreography while Chris is more of a freestyler and doesn't do as much choreo. I think Chris' downside in performing is just not studying enough. I love his free spirit, but it's a little too free to master the small details sometimes, which is okay. Everybody isn't supposed to be the same and we all have different opinions

Bad Habits has the potential to be a hit if pushed right. I really like it. I love the Zap flip, and his vocal performance is great. Usher deserves all the praises and more. I can't wait for the album.

I hope he pushes it right. It has the perfect sound for an Usher single right now. It hit 1 million on YouTube in just 4 days. I think it took a good 3 weeks for DWMT to get there so I think this is gonna be the big lead hit for the album.

Agreed. It has the perfect blend of his old sound without it sounding dated, and some elements of the new current R&B sound. He sounds fresh and like he's making the music HE wants to make. I hope they don't fumble this! He is really about to enter another prime

I hope this all goes perfectly. I think the people are ready for him to come back too, so the timing is right. We just gotta speak it into existence

From everyone's reactions, even if they don't like the lyrics of Bad Habits, I haven't heard one person say it's not good. Everyone loves it, so I think it'll do well. I hope the next single is Believe or something like Yeah. Something we haven't heard before.