Confessions: Special Edition - Usher (CD 2004)

Oh to be young again, to have nothing on my young mind but sex. To have it rule me, pull me, direct my (almost) every thought, deed, and impulse. To be hyper stimulated almost every (almost) waking moment. To lust, be fulfilled, and then toss her aside to lust after another, and then another, and then another until new life is takes a breath after just one careless night of casual (precious) seed sowing. Such is the way of millions young men coming of age across America, but they don t have the luxury of putting their exploits to slickly produced music I sure didn t but teen pop idol Usher did; Confessions is the surprising result.

Confessions is Usher's first record since 2001's 8701, and in many ways this CD mark the Atlanta artist ascension from boy to man, from an immature player to a responsible young man willing to wear the hat of imperfection. Usher s thread of R&B hits over the past decade have been decidedly rated PG-13, but with Confessions he has flipped the script co-producing a mature CD that he claims is "the real him." But ultimately Confessions and Usher falls short of the mark.

Indeed a CD is always more compelling when you know its lyrical inspiration has been shifted from the shards of the artist's own shattered love life and that is certainly the case with Confessions. Much has been chronicled and said about Usher s very public split with TLC's Rozonda "Chili" Thomas and clearly the first third of Confessions speaks to this debacle in uncompromising detail. But, this CD is more then just a simple a break-up record, it is Usher s announcement to the world that he has arrived; he is now a serious player ready to wax poetic about very adult issues even if it means hanging own very dirty laundry out for us to peer and leer at.

After listening to all 21 songs on this CD however, I have wonder why other to assuage a guilty conscience that is, a practice best done in private or at the very least with a priest Usher felt compelled to spew out his secret life in verse and hip-hop laced music. While the first half of Confessions was interesting, and listening to Usher document his infidelities, transgressions, and emotional duplicity in oft glaring unflinching detail in cuts like the Yeah, Throwback, Confessions Interlude, and Confessions Pt. II, made for a fascinating ride to work, I soon grew tired of listening to it all. After about the tenth track the songs started to all sound the same, and I soon became bored with it all. One song blended into another creating a monotonous deluge of unsavory sexy tinged music. Perhaps when I was younger I would have appreciated the testosterone inspired numbers more, but now they just seem self-serving and a bit trite.

To be sure the tracks on Confessions are well engineered and produced; this is a busy CD; that is there is a lot to follow on each track, so much so, that some of the instrumentation is unrecognizable. And in the cacophony oft time over produced tunes Usher is sometimes washed out, lost, his otherwise beautiful voiced upstaged by digital mishmash and over zealous engineering.

There is only one song on the entire CD I can lay claim to completely liking, out of Confession s prodigious twenty one songs. And interestingly enough, its Yeah, which pairs an unrelenting keyboard backbeat with Lil' Jon's assertive crunky beats, and Ludacris' rather misogynous and oddly infectious rap lyrics. Perhaps the bass prone beat, or rusty voice insertions by the self-styled King of Crunk (new word?), but I find myself listening to this track over and over again, and liking it more with each airing. Perhaps it is my guilty pleasure of the month.

Track seven Caught Up deserves honorable mention in so far as the beat is contagious. The theme is decidedly the same as the rest of the CD, barely masked lust put to lyrics and a very danceable melody, with driving bass, but I liked it.

One other song That's What It's Made For piqued my interested, but it was not for the obvious reasons. In unabashed homage to his burgeoning manhood Usher let it all hang out, so to speak, in this rather salacious romp of a song. And at the end he and his CD paramour leave little doubt as to the object of their joint affections. Now I am not prude (read my poetry) but this sort of overt sexuality in a mass market is a little over the top. And the English, no matter our children can form a coherent sentence.

Partial Lyrics: That's What It's Made For

Figured I'd hit it and quit it just one night
Got so good to me doubled back twice, I
Musta been outta my mind
Knowin' I don't wanna
I'm about to nut up
Guess it's too late to turn back now
Can't appologize (sic) cuz (sic) that ain't my style
Shorty rainin' wet
Up in my ear talkin' 'bout
I got what you came for
This here got your name on it

Go on and hit it
That's what it's made for
We got protection
That's what it's made for
Boo are you trippin' now
You know i got it
That's what it's made for
So I can do you like this, baby
So I can freak you like this, baby
Know you gon' felt it like this, baby
Girl I forgot it
But we gon' still get down like this

Game rules, no cap no cut
But even Superman couldn't turn your love down, I
Slipped up, slipped in
Hey man what the hell you doin?
Raw dog is a never
I know I know better
Heard her whisper
Dont worry I'm safe
Didn't matter cuz it's already to late
I was lost in the sauce, dead wrong
And I ain't stoppin' now
Parleein' in the bush again
Didn't think about what I was puttin' in it

Go on and hit it
That's what it's made for
She said, "You got somethin on right?"
That's what it's made for
Boo are you trippin'
You know I got it
Thats what it's made for
So I can do you like this, baby
So I can freak you like this, baby
Know you gon' felt it like this, baby
Girl I forgot it
But we gon' still get down like this

Best stay where you are
That's what it's made for
Playa playa put it down
That's what it's made for
Oh baby turn around
You know I got it
That's what it's made for
So I can do you like this, baby
So I can freak you like this, baby
Know you gon' felt it like this, baby
Girl I forgot it
But we gon' still get down like this

[Usher and girl speaking]
[Usher:] I gotta go
[Girl:] Mm mm, you ain't gotta go nowhere
[Usher:] Look baby I, something's comin' up, I gotta--
[Girl:] Mm mm, just get it up one more time, let me touch it
[Usher:] Again?
[Girl:] Again and again and again
[Usher:] Baby look--
[Girl:] Come on, you know that's what it's made for
[Usher:] You want me to sweat it out?
[Girl:] I want you to sweat it all out
[Usher:] I'mma get it baby
[Girl:] Get it, take it
[Usher:] Ok
[Girl:] Take it
[Usher:] I'mma get up inside

That s What its Made For
2004 EMI-April Music Inc.

One last barb before I close: did you know that User is now hawking Master Cards? Yes there, inside the CD jacket where the liner notes are supposed to be in a crass melding of commercial consumerism and artistry there is a fold out with Usher telling us the You Gotta Have One! referring of course to the Usher Debit Master Card, replete with his likeness on the plastic. Turn the insert around and you can take your pick of User t-shirts and tank-tops.

In the final analysis Confessions is not a CD I can recommend with a clear conscience. What started out as an honest sincere, albeit very public apology to the woman he wronged, quickly tuned into a journey into the mind of a very horny man who really hasn t learned his lesson. By the end of the CD he has come full circle, the playa once more. Usher has indeed become a man, but not the sort of man any self-respecting woman would claim as her own; his lyrics reflect a semi-maturity that should be far from endearing.

Confessions is mostly a collection of over produced misogynistic nonsense. We can only hope for something better next time after Usher from A-Town matures just a little more, and really makes the journey from boy to man.

Tracks:

Intro
Yeah
Throwback
Confessions Interlude
Confessions Pt. II
Burn
Caught Up
Superstar Interlude
Superstar
Truth Hurts
Simple Things
Bad Girl
That's What It's Made For
Can U Handle It
Do It To Me:
Take Your Hand
Follow Me
My Boo
Red Light
Seduction
Confession Remix