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Usher unleashed his eighth studio album ‘Hard II Love’ on the masses last week. And though the final tally has yet to be counted, the official sales forecast sent the net into a flutter.
For, the set – led by singles ‘Crash’ and ‘No Limit’ – is on course to debut with 25,000; the lowest US numbers of the crooner’s career.
Given the unforgiving nature of today’s age and the fickleness of select fans, some have deemed it “the end” for the 8-time Grammy winner.
We’re not so sure about that, but can’t distract from the fact that something is…off.
Join us below as we unpack the problems and size up the solutions…
First up is his…
Confusing Brand:
He Doesn’t Stand For Anything In Particular
Even at his height, there always existed this nagging feeling that Usher’s lack of iconography and definitive sound would become an eventual issue. Which it now has.
Let’s briefly examine his peers.
Beyonce, for instance, is synonymous with female empowerment, ferocious performances, and a sound that is rooted in live instrumentation. Rihanna, conversely, is the “bad gyal” whose island roots are ever-present in her output. While Bruno Mars manages to give a nostalgic nod to eras of past in the most contemporary of ways.
Usher, however, has glided by on good music and solid performances. A deluxe combo that worked once upon a time, but one that is simply not enough in isolation these days.
As this snowballed into a bigger issue, it led to a situation which saw the star become one who…
Chased fluffy hits that didn’t build a foundation for the future.
‘OMG,’ ‘Scream,’ and ‘DJ Got Us Falling In Love.’
All Pop smashes, yet are undeniably songs that helped hasten the predicament he finds himself in today.
To his credit, each track is tied to an LP that was solid and largely Urban flavored. Crucially, however, each song ended up as the face of their housing albums (thanks to their aggressive push and immense success). Thus, they collectively assisted in the rapid dissolving of his Urban core. Dangerous, as that group are the primary purchasers of his projects.
Indeed, so loud was the backlash from his R&B base that…
He Began To Second-Guess Himself.
The first draft of ‘Hard II Love’ was initially due in 2014 with a working title of ‘UR.’ Upon the launch of its campaign, the project delivered a strong one-two punch in the form of ‘Good Kisser’ and ‘She Came To Give It To You.’ Neither single pointed to perfection, but they did – with their cohesive sound – suggest he was on the cusp of turning in a funkified album; one that would finally gift him a lane he could call his own in the 2010’s.
Perhaps haunted by descending sales, Usher undermined the fact that both songs (though not smashes) provided momentum enough to tour the world. Instead, he delayed the album and toyed with two years. And now he has little to show for it.
The lesson here? Trust your gut and strike while the iron is hot, warm, or at the very least on. The frosty commercial response to ‘Hard’ suggests he hit the switch entirely too late.
So, What’s The Solution?
Put away the gavels and leave the black dresses in the drawer; this isn’t a funeral for his career. Think of it as a potential cornerstone. Much in the way ‘Charmbracelet’ was for Mariah and ‘4’ was for a certain Mrs Carter. A commercial dip for sure, yet one that provides a blank slate to repaint the picture.
It goes without saying that 20k is a quite the depth to climb back up from – but it is doable. The Diamond-selling days may have long lapsed, but hit songs and higher charting LPs are plausible should Usher make the right plays moving forward.
Musically, ‘Hard II Love’ is exactly the opposite of its title. It’s slick, hip, and a deliciously cohesive slice of contemporary R&B. In many ways and more than any of his post ‘Confessions’ efforts, the material this go round is not the problem. A stance many reviews of the album echo.
There is, though, an undeniable disconnect.
Thus far, there have been growing murmurs surrounding the LP’s lack of promotion – which is difficult to ignore. Especially given the major machines in Usher’s corner – both management and label side (see: Scooter Braun and Sony Music). Could changes on either of those fronts be on the horizon?
Pending answers, here are 3 adjustments he could and should make to rise from the ashes…
Get Personal Again…
We exist in an era where the record-buying mass want to know the artists they root for. This reality has seen even the most reclusive of stars begin to commoditise their truth.
Usher’s most profound success came when he did exactly this on ‘Confessions.’ And though subsequent attempts with albums such as ‘Raymond vs Raymond’ have felt half-baked, he’d be well advised to revisit this approach with increased vigour. He recently got married…so why not sing about it?! A useful way of doing this is to…
Embrace Themes
Hyper-masculinity has seen output from male R&B stars become increasingly mono. Like a lot of their Hip-Hop counterparts, the demand for a “harder edge” has seen themes of sexual prowess and fishing for females become the dominant subject matter. Usher need not fall further into this bracket of artist.
Sure we enjoy ‘No Limit,’ but hearing him sing about “that ghetto D” – while amusing – felt a little beneath him. Particularly at this stage of his career.
For many, the 37-year-old is cut from the qualitative cloth sewn by Michael Jackson. Hence, he should borrow a page from MJ and up the ante thematically.
Each project should see him commit to a concept and ensure that it’s threaded through everything from the lyrics to the outfits to the artwork.
Justin Timberlake achieved this flawlessly with ‘Suit & Tie’ and its parent project ‘The 20/20 Experience.’ A reality that grates because Usher could and would have delivered that era – musically and aesthetically – with an authenticity JT would not be able to rival.
Still, Mr Raymond is not above taking notes – be it from legends or contemporaries.
Above all, he needs to…
Remember He Is…Usher
So-so sales or not, the fact remains that Usher is one of the most successful male artists of all time.
In recent album cycles, it appears as though he’s used this as a crutch for complacency. When, in theory, he should be using said status to experiment and consistently up the levels for himself, his fans, and for the culture.
Having birthed the careers of Chris Brown, Trey Songz, and countless others, it’d be awesome to see Usher continue to serve as the blueprint for male R&B in the modern age. To do this, he’d need to successfully demonstrate how to mature in said arena. Something we hope he’ll be able to pull off upon his next swing of the bat.
*************
Usher unleashed onto the world the nightmare that no alarm clock can seem to end that is Justin Bieber. This is karma.
Because he aint selling s e x no more
Yep. This is Karma for signing Bieber to continue the “while boy does r&b” trend. He knows 100 black guys better than Bieber but wasn’t brave enough to sign them because he saw dollar signs with Justin. Now that same Justin is part of the reason no one is interested in him.
You can thumbs me down but the proof is in the pudding.
This right after Chris Brown and Rihanna thing usher too dumb to bring white boy music industry instead help little brother Chris Brown to help.
It’s all about the singles. Crash and No limit shouldn’t have been them. It should’ve been Missing U to replace No Limit and Hard 2 Love to replace Crash. Because Missing you is still that trap soul upbeat sound he is going for but it’s more mature for his core audience but still fresh enough to grab the young bucks. Hard 2 Love is that crossover song that can hit all the radio markets easily From Rickey Smiley to Ryan Seacrest.. lolol just my assessment…
Commercially successful R&B music has always had to work harder and SMARTER…it almost HAS to have TOP NOTCH songwriting, TOP NOTCH production and TOP NOTCH vocal performances…Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson established the blueprint for success…you ever notice how multiplatinum R&B albums always sound like a greatest hits album? lol…frankly, I don’t buy LAZY R&B albums chile…and if the album is average, at least ONE SONG has to be CLASSIC or timeless! R&B albums without a classic song, lazy production, lazy songwriting, and lazy vocal performances get left in the store or in the digital store…gone with THE WIND lol
U said that ! And I totally agree
The biting truth indeed.
Meh..he flopped, get over it. Still an R&B legend nonetheless.
All of his albums certified after confessions. This is his slip up. He is allowed one but not as often as Ciara’s numbers. He is a icon…20 yrs deep! Still a superstar with real talent.
Poor C-Error. She really set the benchmark for consistently flop albums.?
When did Looking 4 myself go Gold?
I’m not impressed that “all of his albums certified after confessions”. Barely. They were all still poor sellers – especially for someone who was on the level that they were. A certification doesn’t negate a flop. Usher’s post Confessions fall has been a catastrophic one. You don’t go from US Diamond to barely doing above 1 million only 4 years later, and then every album after selling a lower and lower. Every pop star flops eventually, but Usher has failed to rebound to a respectable plateau that he can maintain. It just gets worse and worse for him. Now he’s doing worse than some indie acts.
So this is the first song i’ve worked on in while, i was inspired by Countess Vaughn and Momma Dee to try again and made a soundcloud for it so if any of you would be willing to listen and tell me what you think, i would appreciate it, trolls and all 🙂 https://soundcloud.com/happyredfridays/calmurmind
Have you ever heard of second hand embarrassment? Bless your heart ❤️
*see’s who’s commenting, rolls eyes*
You should have kept it sis.
Sounds like one of those songs you’d hear in a red neck club
???
Well, considering your influences…?
lmao, whatever
Usher lack of growth… if after that many years he want to stay relevant he need to grow just like his fanbase…
The album is cute and would be a good album for a 22 years old newbie artist. But we except much more from Usher.
He need to take lessons from Yoncé, JT, Kanye west ect…
coming from the school of mj and jj like yonce…he should’ve done a political album by now…..that would’ve held on to his Adult crowd while successfully still being relevant to the young crowd due to the timeliness of the subject matter
Usher comes off like a man in midlife crisis. He becoming like an old guy at the club, wearing a gold chain and earring, trying to mack on women young enough to be his daughter. I’ll cut him some emotional slack. I know that it’s probably hard to reconcile being at the top and then steadily slipping while a bunch of kiddy newcomers ascend, but he needs to get over it. Hard II Love, IMO, is his last free pass on this. I want the ATL/R&B Usher back. Not EDM-Usher…not Trap-Usher…not Gaga-Usher…not Drake-Usher. Usher Usher. Else, I’m just gonna use his old music and disregard his newer stuff, like everyone else seems to be doing. That being said, my advice to him would be to simply reboot this album while it’s still early. Go over the tracklisting and remove any obvious rubbish, add some brand new quality songs. Take a new album cover shot. The rerelease the album with a solid new single. Then FIRE everyone on his marketing team and replace them with people who know what they’re doing. And get off The Voice. No one takes reality TV stars seriously.
Whom are these kiddies that have ascending Usher??? Lets be real. Chris, Trey, Bryson, PND, Frank, and whoever still are Usher’s sons. Check his stats in pure album sales, tours, awards, ect…dont the social media fool ya
Usher has nothing left to prove . All he has to do is keep releasing music . I love his new album idc how well the album does
Hmm… “confusing brand”, “themes”… is it really that deep? this was a poorly promoted project because of all the delays. no wonder it is flopping. Usher is known for being a stage slayer, he just needs to get it right when it comes to marketing and he’ll be ok.
I’m yet to listen to this album, tho, but I like what I’ve heard so far. just wish Good Kisser would’ve truly led the album cause that song is amazing
Usher’s problem was that somewhere around 2008-2011, when music started to shift away from where it had been during his May Way-Confessions peak, for the first time since after his debut his name wasn’t enough to guarantee that everything he did would be an automatic smash. Desperate to stay relevant, he started doing things that were beneath him and tampering his music with bunch of unnecessary experimentation and pandering. Even though he was able to score a few more hits, it disheveled his organization and cost him his identity.
Regardless of album sales, Hard To Love is dope. And I’m not just saying that because I’m a die-hard Usher fan.
People blaming Usher’s music and genre switching for the failure of this album but lets be honest…its really not about the music. I always compare Usher and Beyoncé because I feel like they were each others equivalent, both R&B royalty. If you look at beyonces album, homegirl experimented with trap and urban tones to appeal to the younger generation. Her songs consist of lyrics like, “watch my a** bunch to the next d**k boy”, “slay trick or you get eliminated”, and ‘suck on my ballz”. So in other words, nothing she is recording is groundbreaking…but its her delivery and album campaigns that excels each time. For a global act like usher, his team was lazy and completely dropped the ball. He did nothing legendary or ground breaking, on top of the music being so-so. So I really expected it to flop.
“Watch my ass bunch to the next d*** boy.”
And here I thought she was saying “as I march to the next d*** boy.”
It’s “watch my fat ass twist boy. As I BOUNCE to the next d*** boy.”
Y’all put too much thought into Usher. His glory days are long gone. He may drop a cute single here and there, but he does nothing to excite the masses.
Basically. What’s happening to Usher was something that was bound to happen at some point. Every 40 year old was once 25. No pop act keeps their “It”-factor forever. They all become dated eventually. Long time fans just need to accept that it is now becoming more about if you actually LIKE the music, as opposed to it being a soundtrack of the times.
#usherneesdtoretire
He doesn’t have the x factor, star quality, etc, check Google trends, people will only care if the single is a smash. Confessions went diamond at the back of amazing hits, he needs to build a brand and some controversy, black live m. Elevator fight or something like that.
As Usher hits this phase he can mix his genres but when he does his core R&B he must lead by example and get these singers back on the love making train rather than the bang fk lyrical trends.
I’ve not heard Hard II Love yet so not judging the content but as a maturer artist his sound needs to set trends rather than fall into them.
Promotion is soo vital and to be honest I’ve heard a lot more about him playing Suga Ray than Hard II Love and thats the biggest shame.
Usher should be cash rich enough where he shouldn’t have to rely on a label to fund the promo run, especially as he has a status where most if not all shows would have him on.
What he needed to do was to to release this as a surprise album, thats what britney should have done and thats what alicia keys should do. beyonce opened the way for veteran artists need that surprise factor to sell. beyonce led the way those who dont follow have oviously failedi i.e usher, britney
beg to differ. that works for artists whose fans are constantly on their toes and/or at the top of the game and none is the case with Usher. Britney would have probably benefited from that as her Bots ride hard for her.
This is the dumbest s*** I’ve seen all Damn day!
they need that surprise factor to sell
He needs Brian c**, Jermaine Dupri and Polow. The still standing formula.
He doesn’t need a bunch of outdated collaborators who’ve barely worked since the last time he worked with them. He already got the best of them. What can they do for him today, other than try to rehash what was already done? They need him more than he needs them.
STOP STealing my name punk! And i agree Usher should have stuck to his formula that is his sound his FANS want to hear. Theres no point in trying to attract new fans he is an OLD MAN now leave that to the yungins. KMICHELE SOLD 59K Let that sink the f u c k in.
bottom line u cannot have home-less broke new writers writing for u, all they s*** flop. Few are gifted like the english dudes that wrote for Sam Smith or the dudes that Wrote that Zayn Malik track Pillowtalk. Usher is dumb & his Team led him astray. i feel for him this is embarassing.
He needs a story, and once he has that story, they can help him tell it the way the world once heard usher.
Manuel Seal also…
Usher will remain the king of R&B of this generation. He has nothing else to prove , his album is amazing I think it could still do good as soon as “Rivals” catch on to radio that song is a smash. Usher has of course pandered to the younger artist but why wouldn’t he do that ? That’s what’s kept him relevant throughout these years is growth and progressing. Beyonce is doing the exact same thing but she Knows how to sell her music
I just listened to the album and it’s not at all bad. In fact, it’s very good. It’s the best thing he’s done in over a decade. He thankfully stayed away from the Max Martin Eurodance/EDM crap this time and basically returned to R&B, but added creative/progressive elements to it. It’s almost like a R&B version of Madonna’s Ray of Light. His problem is strictly promotion and a horrible roll out. Under better strategic marketing, this could’ve been his renaissance album.
What Usher should do is get an all new team. New management. New publicists. New label. New everything. His biggest problem is that he’s stuck at the overcrowded RCA. They’ve got too many acts on their roster, don’t know how to promote most of them and only really care about the guaranteed sellers. I don’t see why he doesn’t put in a transfer to move over to Epic, so he can work under L.A. Reid again. They always worked well together and it’s the same company (Sony), so he wouldn’t be totally jumping ship. I hope he remains committed to pushing this album for a while, before walking away from it.
The album is horrible. Except for one great track (tell me), a few average tracks (hard II love, crash), the album is horrible. Who wants to hear Usher singing over these generic af trap beats. They all sound the same.
Charmbracelet was not a good album at all imo, but 4 was like Bey’s best album, it’s just a joke that it didn’t sell, it just goes to show that her fans don’t like real music, and that they’ll only support her if she does a visual album or makes some fake story about Jay cheating on her. Too bad her fans can’t just like her for the music. If it went that way, then Lemonade would’ve flopped, and 4 would’ve been her best selling album. 4 is her best body of work, right up there with BDay! If it wasn’t for the visuals and Jay-Z lyric drama Lemonade would’ve flopped big time! Nobody even cares about the music on Lemonade cause it’s not that good.
The album is out and there isnt much he can do to change the music on it, so he needs to change his apporach to how he delivers the songs. make bomb ass music videos. and no plain background and 6 back up dancers, i mean theatrical music videos that have a budget and makes people want to watch over and over. his past few videos have been nothing to truly rewatch for, omg is one of his last GOOD music videos. he needs to make himself seen more in the media and not just on album release week. we see it all the time, here for 4 to 7 days then disappears. he needs to make his face, album cover and music known. there is 0 reason he is selling this low, and i fee half of the reason is no one knows the album is out. had he promoted the songs as album tracks and not just random singles, people might of caught on better. remixthe songs for different radio formats and do real remixes and not just rap in the studio 2 weeks from now or dj changing the beat. give us a remix how jlo remixed im real. totally different song.or how love in the club part 2 was a brand new song compared to the original. a slip up can be fixed and sells can roll in if the artist takes the proper steps to fix the problem. he has 20+ yrs in and a label that should want to back him, as his brand is still usable.
I’m the biggest Usher fan on line planet so it pains me to say the only thing Usher can do is die, he won’t be truly appreciated and acknowledged until He’s deed and gone
Every since here i stand people been complaining and under appreciating his music, wanting him to stay in 04 and make another confessions. DAMN did MJ or Prince try to do the same thing over and over again?? NO they experimented and tried new things that’s what makes them ARTIST if the music is good who cares what genre it is. Stop putting people in a box
Um, MJ spent the rest of his life trying to top or match Thriller. And when he finally realized he couldn’t, he started putting out repackaged/remixed special editions of it. He even put out a duets version of it with Kanye West, Fergie, Akon and Will.I.Am. Usher is suffering from basically the same neurosis. Trying to stay relevant by doing things to appeal to the little kids who listen to Katy Perry and Taylor Swift.
Actually MJ bad album you know the one right after thriller had more number one’s on it and sold millions and Usher’s new album is about love reget heartbreak s** and emotions so I’m pretty sure he didn’t make it trying to appeal to kids.
It’s a shame how the general public let him down, but they can always redeem themselves by purchasing Tour tickets and filling those arenas for him.
EXACTLY
He should be selling out stadiums across the globe like Bey and Rih, but who am I to talk? Ges simply not on the level that he should’ve reached years ago and it’s truly a shame.
Couldn’t have said it better
Usher should have stuck to his formula that is his sound his FANS want to hear. Theres no point in trying to attract new fans he is an OLD MAN now leave that to the yungins. KMICHELE SOLD 59K Let that sink the f u c k in.
bottom line u cannot have home-less broke new writers writing for u, all they s*** flop. Few are gifted like the english dudes that wrote for Sam Smith or the dudes that Wrote that Zayn Malik track Pillowtalk. Usher is dumb & his Team led him astray. i feel for him this is embarassing.
Usher’s best album is 8701
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This album is bad and forgettable, everything after Raymond vs Raymond has been lackluster except for Climax
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Welcome to flopvillie
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Tinashe, Britney, Xtina, Fistopher, Roundy Songs, Goat Alsina, Selena Gomez all recide here and welcomes thee
SCREAMING at you thinking anybody cares about your opinion. get a career first then we can start taking you seriously.
God forbid but if Usher died today this album would be number 1 everywhere and everyone would be saying how great his last work is. Mtv would be praising him but they’ve gave Kanye rihanna and jt the vanguard award before Usher WTF. Billboard would be praising him but they’ve gave brittney and jlo the icon award before Usher when they named him artist of the 00’s decade SMDH
Don’t won’t because might give to Chris Brown.
That partitions yall to ask mtv usher mj vanguard award they don’t give a f*** yall usher fans is unless now.
It’s that album cover, giving Mark111 T’s
Im dead I can’t!!!
Oh but do you like J-pop? The Korean girls give me to much fake Ts like they are so unauthentic to me. I mean they slay but they act and move black if you know what I mean and Asians just aren’t like that hardly ever.
Screaming! I know exactly what you mean. But I kind of like it. I like kpop accross all the platfforms. Like GFriend to Jay Park.
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Could never really get into Jpop. The closest thing to Jpop I have is Girls Generation Japanese albums and Cross Genes albums.
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Also I just think it’s rooted in me and my heritage to not be that much into jpop
No lie, I saw the title of this post and was ready to argue my stance against Sam’s. Usher is one of my biggest inspirations and I assumed this blog was going to put him down… Instead, you actually offered some insight. I agree with everything except for… Nah, I agree with themes. I would just say be very careful with them though. Because he’s Usher he needs to be very careful and avoid looking thirsty/ gimmicky. Sasha Firece alsmost did it to Beyonce. However, she cleaned that s*** up with lemonade. I so agree with you about the funky sound of good kisser and she came to give it to you. Man…. It was a huge switch from his previous efforts but with the right commitment, convection, and promo he could’ve def killed the game
And etched his grown man lane. However, Hard II Love is just as good but more current urban R&B. I wasn’t sure he would be able to pull it off but this album is very good. It’s cohesive and has some elements of his old R&B sound with hints of his more pop interest. It’s one of his strongest albums and def his a mature perspective. As a man who loves urban pop and R&B, I can relate while still feeling young. He needs to promote and drop a powerful visual for two of the next signals
The album was trash. Period.
Guess what it missing real R&B SONG HIM AND CHRIS BROWN ALL FALLS DOWN too bad teambreezy lake the song out.
i think grace miguel dont want usher to be a s** symbol at this point. Ever since she took his career under her hands usher has been potrayed opposite to what he is.
Yeah usher garbage now and overrated too.
After last concert i was disappointed cause Usher was doing everything on automatic pilot, singing half the songs, let audience sing big part of the songs, weird remixes versions of his old songs live, irritated d fk out of me. I was done…band was a mess.
The reason for me not to listen to this album is this horrible album cover. I dont know what thats supposed to be. Nothing fresh