For a while, it seemed as if R&B singer Usher was nothing more than young Justin Bieber’s meal ticket to stardom. Sure, the fresh-faced little rascal is extremely popular now, but his career could take the child star route by crashing and burning on the mountain of fickle public opinion. Regardless of Bieber’s fate, the important question is for Usher: What’s happening with his career?
People may need a refresher course on Usher, whose latest news includes more gossip about his divorce than his own musical developments. But he’s had a lot of triumphs in his career, including eight No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits, five Grammy awards and a Billboard ranking as one of the top artists of the past decade. Still, it remains to be seen if his latest album, Raymond v. Raymond, will be part of the Usher success story. Though it is a good dance album, the LP may not have the hit singles to receive the rare RIAA Diamond certification, which 2004’s Confessions earned by selling 10 million units.
Raymond v. Raymond is an album of club tracks and dance beats, with the occasional vocal scat thrown down. Bizarrely enough, Usher makes a lot of musical choices on this album that may deter listeners away from otherwise fine songs. Listening to the record as a whole, the occasional slow-burn R&B tracks mix things up, but it’s pretty clear that the album’s intention is to get Usher fans moving after a couple of years of nothing.
“So Many Girls” is one of the fun dance tracks that dominate the album. As per the modern standard, the entire song is about Usher creeping on a multicultural smorgasbord of women in a club while protecting his “drank.” The lyrics are almost detrimental to a listener’s enjoyment of the song, judging by the silliness, and honestly, the creepiness of the lyrics, as Usher sings, “Asian, Caucasian, Bajan, Jamaican/ Brazilian, I swear I got a million/ Egyptian, do you fit that description?/ So many girls all over the world/ Can’t decide which one I’ll be taking home.”
Although the song’s lyrics are rather unsavory, its instrumental is a strong, thumping beat that supports a healthy dose of buzzing synthesizers and cinematic string arrangements.
This cinematic style is all over the album. Many songs are built around samples of cheesy sounding synthetic strings and horns. “Lil Freak,” which features an amusing, stuttering rap verse from Nicki Minaj, is perhaps the most cinematic. Its divergent styles make the track fit for an adventure film set in the urban jungle. The song is enjoyable on the first few listens, but becomes annoying after a few more, especially because it doesn’t have a catchy vocal hook.
But Usher’s collaboration with Will.i.am, “OMG,” actually does feature a strong vocal hook — the kind of chorus people may embarrassingly sing along to. The problem with this track is its seemingly faux live production during the chorus. The idea of having a large group of people singing along to a chorus sounds good on paper, and it sounds good during “Kernkraft 400 (Sport Chant Stadium Remix),” but its use in “OMG” just robs the chorus of all the power built up in the verse. The song is catchy but poorly executed.
Raymond v. Raymond is filled with out-of-place features, but unlike many albums with quirky-yet-positive elements, Raymond v. Raymond‘s eccentricities are usually frustrating. The otherworldly swirl of infinitely reverberating keys and harmonized vocals that describe the music of “Mars vs. Venus” are certainly interesting, but the song is just as Usher sings: slow and predictable. He tries to hide the song’s weaknesses behind walls of production value, which only serves to make it tackier. The song has a good melody that simply gets lost, once again, in the weird production.
For listeners interested in a more experimental sound, some of Usher’s odd choices produce sucessful results. The first minute-and-a-half of opening track “Monstar” is a swarm of real and electronic voices whispering conceited and sometimes crude miscellanea as they fire back and forth across the stereo spectrum. Usher reveals an infectious, danceable song led by his vocal melody. The impenetrable wall of noise that plays before the song truly begins may turn listeners off, but when that is considered simply an intro, the groovy “Monstar” is easily one of the album’s best songs.
Cavorting around with teen sensation Bieber may have been fine for the past few months, but it’s time for Usher to step back into the solo spotlight with his new album. Raymond v. Raymond certainly isn’t the best music Usher has ever released, but at least it is solid enough to prove that he has longevity — unlike Bieber.
RATING: 2 stars out of 5
diversions@umdbk.com
