Send "Usher " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Ew |
 The man whose career-defining album was called Confessions is clearly no Greta Garbo when it comes to his personal business. Usher's sixth album has been billed as his most intimate yet, but aside from the last-straw slow jam ''Papers,'' which explictly details the dissolution of his marriage, and heartfelt cheater's mea culpa ''Foolin' Around,'' Raymond v Raymond doesn't offer much real revelation. Its main aim is more standard issue: Sleek, grown-and-sexy R&B tuned to seduction, not divorce court. B–...full text |
| Leisureblogs |
| When Usher Raymond began his career in the mid-‘90s, he was still a teenager celebrated as much for his athletic dance moves as the pick-up lines in his frisky R&B songs. He sold millions of records by passing himself off as a less-threatening R. Kelly, a coltish crooner with a humming libido and A-list producers. His biggest hit, the 2004 Lil’ Jon crunk-pop confection “Yeah,” firmed up Usher’s club-trolling persona. On the 2008 release, “Here I Stand,” he shifted gears, with an emphasis on ballads reflecting his newfound status as a husband and father. The album flopped, at least by his multimillion-selling standards, and his marriage collapsed. Two years later he’s back with his sixth album, “Raymond v Raymond” (LaFace), and it’s back to business as usual: More songs about “So Many Girls” and the burden of being a “Pro Lover” on the prowl. “Daddy’s home,” Usher announces, as if returning from the exile of domesticity. But the songs brimming with booty calls (“ain’t nobody do your body like this”) are starting to sound a bit stale on the 31-year-old singer. Similarly, the production choices fall short: will.i.am offers another formulaic chant (“OMG”) tricked out with Auto-Tune. Sean Garrett’s “She Don’t Know” recycles “Yeah,” and then compounds Usher’s problems when Ludacris’ cameo rap upstages the star. Similarly, T.I. hi-jacks “Guilty” with a rapid-fire guest spot....full text |
| Latimesblogs |
| The title of Usher's strong new album alludes to his recent divorce from Tameka Foster, whose brief marriage to the Atlanta-based R&B star (born Usher Raymond IV) provided much of the fodder for his domestic-minded 2008 album "Here I Stand." But "Raymond v Raymond" carries another meaning as well, one seemingly directed toward Usher fans disappointed by the change in direction his wedding inspired: Here's a battle, the title suggests, between the faithful husband of the last few years and the wily lothario of yore. With tracks like "Lil Freak," "Foolin' Around" and "So Many Girls," the album isn't coy about which Raymond comes out on top. Over a thumping Eurodance groove in "OMG" he describes an encounter with a woman in a club that's unlikely to last beyond tomorrow morning. The reggae-scented "Pro Lover" offers a cheerful justification for the one-night stand: "I'm better when I'm touch and go." In "She Don't Know," Usher makes the connection to his earlier work more explicit, ending most of his lines with a spirited interjection that openly echoes his up-tempo 2004 smash "Yeah!" Near the end of "Raymond v Raymond," the singer temporarily slows the beat for "Papers," a sleekly produced ballad that appears to address the causes of his divorce: "The only time you're here for me," he sings, "is when the bottles popping and everything is sweet."...full text |
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