"Confessions" is one of the most popular R&B albums ever, and has Usher on top of his game in 2004. This album when on to sell in excess of nine million worldwide, far outdoing anything which he had done prior to this. Unlike most in the UK, I was into Usher's music long before anything in this release, and actually preferred things from "My Way" and "8701" to his switch to Crunk & B, however this is when his big break came through.
1. "Intro"
2. "Yeah!"
This was the massive single off the album, and the one which estbalished Usher's position of the mega force in music, and not just one of the top performers in R&B. Here, after gaining the help of Hip Hop's Ludacris and the Atlanta producer, Lil' Jon, Ush is able to come with an amazing fusion, making Crunk & B, which Ciara did a little earlier, and was able to appeal to people who listen to various genres of music, including the mainstream pop one.
**Four Stars**
3. "Throwback"
You get Just Blaze on this one, and you should be aware of the fact that he's a top producers in Hip Hop. For this one, it seems as though he didn't make too much of an effort to swicth his style up to fit in with the fact that Usher is an R&B singer, however I thought that it worked very well with how Usher sings; comign up with good things from them.
**Four Stars**
4. "Confessions" (Interlude)
5. "Confessions (Part II)"
For me, this song is heavily overrated, as I don't really see a lot to it, and since a lot of its power
comes from the backstory relatign to why he intially wrote the song. However, even with my prior knowledge of this, I was unable to get itno it as many did, since it was able to shift so many copies of this record and top the charts in its own right as a single.
**Three Stars**
6. "Burn"
This is a big follow-up tune to the massively successful "Yeah!" and has him performign in a way which contrasts heavily from his club-suited Crunk & B work, making him concentrate on his roots as a soulful R&B singer. Here he goes into an emotionally-charged break-up song which is bound to get you involved if you are able to relate to the feeling of falling out of love.
**Four Stars**
7. "Caught Up"
Usher went for another up-tempo track for the fourth single off the album, and unlkie the other ones whihc came off this album, I enjoyed this one much more thna the rest as it wasn't overplayed as the others were. Ush works alongisde Dre & Videl for a classy track and has him work extremely effecitively, as his past two singles were full of depression over relationship break ups. thsi is a great uplifter and just what you need at this stage in the album.
**Five Stars**
8. "Superstar (Skit)
9. "Superstar"
On this one you have Usher doign some role reveral as he decides to give his girl a cahnce to feel what it is like to be a star and receive attention in the way which he gets it on a regular basis. It is something different, but for me it took too much effort to follow, I would rather listen to sometihng more straight-forward.
**Three Stars**
10. "Truth Hurts"
Dre & Videl show what they are about in this one as they come up with a interesting composition, which has them turn up with a great piece of Hip Hop production. I think that usually, Usher is able to work with these, however I thought that he didn't stick to this strongly enough to let it work with him, so it sounded all over the place.
**Three Stars**
11. "Simple Things"
I was really into the song-writing here, and you get to here some of the best on the album here as he sings about the finer things in life which we don't tend to think of that onften. I thought it may have been slighly let down by the simple beats, which did little to aid it and make it stand out on the record.
**Three Stars**
12. "Bad Girl"
Here is a tune which you may recognize at it is featured at the start of the single "My Boo", and this is the song in its entireity. This is one of the best songs on the album and has Ush in his club mode, and following on with the type of thing which you heard on "Caught Up" as he goes for something classy, but suiteable for the mainstream R&B fans.
**Five Stars**
13. "That's What It's Made For"
On this one you get even more incredible beats, and this time you get it from the duo of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (who have worked with Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson in the past). The come up with something funky and fresh for Ush, and he comes with a nice, sensual one for the listeners. I think that it was slightly too lively for the subject, but it's still good stuff.
**Four Stars**
14. "Can U Handle It?"
This one was porduced by one of the big R&B acts of now, Robin Thicke, and you get similar beats in this one, to what you get with his songs. This one is filled with bass, and it contrasts heavily from the soft voice of Usher during this one. He keeps it all high in this one, and it emphasises how deep the beats are.
**Three Stars**
15. "Do It to Me"
It is all about the beat in this one as Jermaine Dupri pounds away in this one, and allows Usher to come out with sound great melodies to show off how well he has trained hios voice to do exactly what he wants to in order to make the lyrics work as best as they can. This one stands out, because of its production, showing JD is able to grab your attention with his originality.
**Four Stars**
16. "Take Your Hand"
The person who produced "Crazy In Love" does the beat in this one, and Rich Harrison seems to be able to come out with another classy joint for this album. I thought that it had to be considered one of the best one off this release as he comes with sometihng funky and new. It really should have been a sinlge, because it is just so exciting to me.
**Five Stars**
17. "Follow Me"
This one has an incredible beat from Dre & Vidal, and they insure that you aren't able to pick out anything worng with the tune, because, as always, Usher performs excellently and was able to cope well with what was given to his. He works so well in this one, and it ends the album on a high, which is reassuring, considering how varied it as for me.
**Five Stars**
I think that this is a more mature album for Usher, and this may be where I am losing him at times, but on it, you get the sense that he was going with something new as he had a set direction with this album and he really wanted to make sure he could put this first, and then make it commerical after. He was clearly able to win over millions with this album, and come up with a future classic in R&B albums (for which there are very few).
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
A CD is always more compelling when you know it's lifted from the artist's autobiography, ... more
and that's certainly the case withConfessions, Usher's first record since 2001's8701. The Atlanta singer's string of hits over the past decade have been decidedly...
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Oct 20th, 2008
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