Having followed Usher from his once humble beginnings, I’d become increasingly tired and disillusioned by his musical offerings in recent years.
With the rise of contemporary and ‘younger’ artists like Chris Brown, Mario and even Justin Bieber (the first and only time his name will be mentioned in my reviews) coming through – all of whom seemed to have modelled themselves on Usher himself, the r n b star seemed to have lost his way somewhat. Rather than grow as an artist, he opted to keep his sound the same, even employing producers from the same stable as the aformentioned. It all started to sound just a little bit familiar, the trouble being that the now veteran of the genre was singing about the same things.
At 32, he is of course in his prime, but it smacks of desparation when men of a certain age talk about frequenting clubs on the prowl for young atttractive girls. The ‘Music Knights’ of old would know all too well.
This why Usher’s 2012 song Climax has come from absolutely nowhere.
From the title of the track which refers to the demise of a relationship rather than anything else, to the truly original production work from DJ supremo Diplo, Climax may well be Usher’s best work for a very long time. Vocally and musically the record surpasses anything he’s released since at least the ‘Confessions’ era, perhaps even before.
Over the last few years, Usher has been married, become a father for the first time and now experienced divorce. It may be that he’s now choosing to express himself and share his life experieces through his music. He wouldn’t be the first and won’t be the last. Some of the best songs written have been born out out of pain and personal tradegy.
Whatever the background of the song, Climax sounds personal rather than contrived. The sheer originality of the sound make it a tricky one to really categorise but with the artist said to be deep in a recording studio honing a new sub genre of music, the anticipation for his next full release Looking for Myself (for me at least) is once again high. My fingers and toes are well and truly crossed. 4 out 5 musical shields out of 5 – if we did that kind of thing.
This post is written by Andy Clarke. Andy is the soulful member of the panel, and loves his RnB, hip-hop, and well as his singer-songwriters. With a keen ear for unsigned artists, Clarke can often be found chatting to local buskers in the hope of getting them on the show.
