the way you make me feel
daily dos
sat 6/27/2009
Listen to "Better On The Other Side," a tribute to Michael Jackson by The Game, Chris Brown, Diddy, Polow Da Don, Usher, Mario Winans and Boyz II Men.
splitsville
daily dos
tue 6/16/2009
R&B star Usher has filed for divorce from his wife Tameka Foster. The couple have two children together and have lived separately for a year.
up in smoke
daily dos
fri 2/13/2009
Usher's wife, Tameka Raymond, is recovering from a heart attack she suffered before undergoing "simple liposuction” surgery in Brazil.
like hotcakes
daily dos
tue 7/15/2008
Usher takes time off from the club to team up with Nelly on a new song, "Long Night."
Coldplay, Lil Wayne, Usher, N.E.R.D. and Katy Perry
the music press
mon 6/16/2008
- Coldplay make their inevitably big return to the charts with the Brian Eno-produced Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends. The Village Voice observes "Viva La Vida is the moment where they want to be taken seriously, and they've used just about every bell and whistle at their disposal to reach that goal." The Chicago Tribune struggles to compliment the album as "a big, stadium-sized rock record" with "nuances." NME makes peace with the band's debt to U2, calling the second half of Viva "stratospheric," "magnificent" and "overreaching" -- but in a good way.
- The preternaturally prolific Lil Wayne finally releases... an album: Tha Carter III. The Guardian UK gushes that "trying to keep up with Wayne's mind... is a thrill." Entertainment Weekly is less enthusiastic, lamenting it's not a "thought-out lyrical masterpiece... [t]hough it certainly way better than most rap albums in the past year." Remarking that his album proper is less cohesive than the 77 songs he released last year, the Washington Post speculates "Perhaps he's become a little bit bored by his own brilliance."
- After complimenting Here I Stand, Usher's follow-up to the hit Confessions, as "consistent," the LA Times notes "Usher might be naturally gifted, but he's not a visionary like Prince or prime-time Jackson." The New Yorker magazine finds a similar vein to tap, describing the album's pleasures as "rarely raw, surprising, or complex, but they are reliable." Even BallerStatus joins the choir of "ho-hums" with the feint praise: "So here Usher stands, proving that he has every right to still be... standing."
- N.E.R.D., Pharrell Williams and his on-again, off-again partner-in-crime Chad Hugo, deliver their third album Seeing Sounds. Rolling Stone takes a closer listen to the album's vocals and asks for a do-over: "[I]f they want their rhymes to keep up with the strength of their tunes, they need to dig a little deeper than this." In a review that borders on self-parody, Pitchfork wonders if "every track [is] a battle to see whether P first gets bored of his lyrics or his melodies." The BBC, however, finds more than a few moments of genius shining through calling Seeing Sounds "beautiful in places."
- With her video for "I Kissed a Girl" predictably drawing millions of oglers on YouTube, Katy Perry is poised to make a big debut with One of the Boys. Billboard is positively ecstatic: "Not since Jagged Little Pill has a debut album been so packed with potential hits." Not so much is Rolling Stone which offers a tart: "Perry has a heart, but it sounds like her bustier's too tight for her to use it."
dying to live
daily dos
fri 6/6/2008
Usher's Here I Stand, featuring the single "Love in This Club," earned the second highest first week sales of the year with nearly half a million copies. Only Mariah Carey's E-MC2 moved more units its first week of release.
going for dolo
daily dos
wed 5/28/2008
YouTube user browniiiiiiiiiiiiii claims the beat for Usher's "Love in this Club" was made with two (royalty-free) GarageBand samples. (via The Daily Swarm)
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