Usher "Confessions" Album

	Title: Confessions Format: Album Label: La Face Released: 2004-03-23
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Tracklisting & Lyrics

Reviews

Most detracting factor is its length. At an hour in duration, it could be stripped of five songs and be far more powerful, especially since no one would have to do any wading to get to the meaty parts. On the other side of the coin, the smartest move Usher makes here is in allowing the Lil Jon-produced "Yeah!" to take its rightful place as the only club track; any attempt at doing something stylistically similar would've failed miserably in its presence. "Yeah!"'s crunk-meets-R&B foundation, featuring an instantly addictive eight-note keyboard vamp and one of Usher's most muscular turns, is so absorbing that Ludacris' 1500th guest verse floats by with little notice. The following "Throwback," produced by Just Blaze, sounds like it was made for the sole purpose of trailing Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name." Like that hit, "Throwback"'s sensitively treated soul sample provides a nostalgic tint that complements the wistful, regret-filled tone of the lyrics. A small batch of Jam & Lewis productions, including the effortlessly gliding "Truth Hurts," continue to help raise Usher's loverman stock. Another pair -- the upbeat "Caught Up" and the aptly titled "Burn" -- also rate as some of the vocalist's best moments yet. He's been doing this for ten years now. Numerous chart hits have spun off each of his albums. Needless to say, the time is right for the phrase "just another" to be banned from use when discussing him. ~Andy Kellman, All Music Guide.

If you didn’t know already, you will soon learn that former teen idol Usher Raymond once knocked up the girl he was “creepin’ with”; that he fantasizes about not candlelight and roses but “biting, scratching, spanking, screaming”; and that he buried Jimmy Hoffa in the end zone at the Meadowlands (just kidding). The purpose of these and other revelations, on Usher’s fifth album, seems to be to arrest his gradual morphing into his middle-of-the-road mentor, Babyface, at the still-tender age of 25. Yet while he bares his soul intermittently (if not entirely comfortably), and delivers his earthiest club jam yet with Lil Jon and Ludacris on the crunk-funker “Yeah,” the paradox of Confessions is that Usher has never sounded better on the very sort of polite, romantic R&B that this collection was intended to help him transcend. “Simple Things,” a classic Jam-Lewis confection, and the yearning ballad “Burn,” which chronicles the flameout of an affair, avoid trendy beats and trendier tales from the wild side -- revealing that Usher can keep whatever skeletons he has left stored safely in the closet. ~Dan Leroy, LAUNCH.

With the release of Confessions, Atlanta native Usher Raymond has gone from a mid-level soul/slow jam crooner to the biggest thing in current urban pop.
Confessions is jumping out of the CD bins, selling 1.1 million its first week and an additional 486,000 units in week number two. Not as strong as the initial week, but strong enough to keep Janet Jackson’s Damita Jo at a disappointing (for her expectations, anyways) #2 on the Hot 100 chart.
Now, before we get too excited; realize that Confessions is a good album, but it does not merit the inconceivable sales figures. Obviously the ultra-hooky and constantly played “Yeah” did help in racking up the numbers (and big props to Lil Jon and Ludacris for helping with that), but most of the constructed work that is Confessions will not light up your house party any more than a drowsy ballad from Ashanti.
Yes, there is some clever work on the disc; “Take Your Hand,” stands out with its sampling of old Philadelphia Soul tracks (who could go wrong there?) as does the guitar heavy git "Bad Girl" (which should be the obvious follow-up single to “Yeah”), as well as the Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis produced “Superstar,” which are in the same category of originality as “Yeah.”
But the revelatory tracks, which mostly concern the reasons for his much covered split with R&B chanteuse Chilli (from TLC), deal with his infidelity to her, an unexpected pregnancy, and the fact that he is a womanizer worthy of the busted playa in Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me.” The collected songs really make it seem as if Usher were publishing his very own tabloid rag.
With all the momentum from Confessions, Usher may very well end up being the heir apparent to the (now vacant) King of Pop throne (no Justin, you will never be the KOP…not matter what Rolling Stone proclaims). However, he has to overcome his vocal limitations and maybe avoid opening his personal diary to the universe, as sometimes confessing too much, can be painful. ~John Reed, Music-Critic.com.

A CD is always more compelling when you know it's lifted from the artist's autobiography, and that's certainly the case with Confession, Usher's first record since 2001's 8701. The Atlanta singer's string of hits over the past decade have been decidedly PG-13 rated, almost veering towards teen pop, but he's changed all that on this co-produced offering, which he claims is "the real him." It would be too simplistic to just brand this record a break-up record, chronicling his public split with TLC's Rozonda "Chili" Thomas; it is that, but so much more. It would be more accurate to call this Usher's coming of age record, bridging the gap from boy to man, as he navigates the emotional fallout from the disintegration of his relationship, and the events that led up to it--real or imagined. But other than a guilty conscience, it seems unclear why Usher feels compelled to disgorge his secret life, as he documents his infidelities, transgressions, and emotional perfidy in the album's prodigious seventeen songs that range from insinuating sultry R&B grooves to the decidedly crunky "Yeah," which pairs an insistent keyboard romp with Lil' Jon's assertive beats and Ludacris' rather humid rhymes. This tracks shines all the more since it's the only club track, but you find yourself pining for more, since most of the other songs tend to get bogged down in his lush, feverish balladry. That's not a bad thing, but the disc would have been better served by a few more muscular tracks. ~Jaan Uhelszki, Amazon.com.