Thumbs Up For Usher!

8701 was released back in July 2001 by a 22 year old Usher as his follow up from his previous two albums. He was only 15 when he released his first album back in 1994 and since then has gone right up in the chart ratings. He typically sang songs which was firmly within the r n b genre that would be sported by singers such as P Diddy and Ja Rule today yet he also shows hints of a more laidback pop genre as well in this album.

"I Don't Know" features P Diddy and as such that reflects the general mood of the track, it's much more gritty sounding and core hip hop than the previous track. It's very catchy and ideal for any r n b club as it would be a great one to dance to. "I don't know what you came to do girl, what you came to do tonight, but I came to party." The fourth track on the album is "Twork It Out" and has a much more relaxed feel to it than "I Don't Know." It's something that would be classic Craig David in his current era, it's very smooth and with a certain hint of sultry-ness also. It reminds me slightly of Craig David's "7 days" but is much softer and melodic in a sense. A classic love song without the soppy sentiments to it, in fact it's much more raunchy than that "Now that I got you all soaking wet, I bet you know what's coming next, gonna twork it out."

"If I Want To" follows on from the previous track with a classic Ashanti / Ja Rule type feel to the track. The music is fairly upbeat in the opening yet fades out to allow the rather slowed down lyrics to come in. The chorus is brilliant in this, "If I wanted I could take ya from your man, please believe it with my eyes closed, I could have you eating out the palm of my hand." There's quite a quirky feel to this track which also shows an element of sophistication that hasn't really been evident on the previous tracks. "I Can't Let You Go" summons up imagines of a mellow and relaxed track, well I was wrong! It's very emotive and is surely expressing feelings that the majority of people will have felt in the past yet it expresses them in an upbeat way so that you don't feel sorry for yourself! "So much love and hurt and hate, and people screaming it won't work, time and time I say I'm gonna leave, but I can't let you go."

Next up is "How Do I Say" which has a strong Latino/Spanish feel to it, Jennifer Lopez would maybe have been more at home singing this. However it's not he case, Usher does a brilliant job of toning down his voice and giving it a more wholesome melodic feel to it. "How do I say hello, when I just wanna talk to you, how do I say you're beautiful, when I can't take my eyes off you." "Hottest Thing" is up next and upon the opening I was worried it was going to be some hard core ghetto track but I was pleasantly surprised. It echoes all his tracks on the album, it's smooth and sophisticated and also shows that his voice does have range to it - he can go very low! "Oh you're the hottest thing, in the club tonight, having visions of making love tonight with you."