“Hard II Love” is filled with synthesizer bass lines and the shallow, spattering percussion of trap, and Usher uses his share of Auto-Tune and choppy digital edits his songs are aimed at radio.

“Crash,” one of the album’s first singles, brings out Usher’s gentlest falsetto over a subdued synthesized march as he implores, “Would you mind if I still loved you?” On “No Limit,” Usher displays hip-hop credentials by mixing extravagant promises with references to No Limit, the New Orleans hip-hop label that thrived in the 1990s.īut Usher’s deeper charm is a more old-fashioned sense of yearning. In video clips and in his songs, Usher situates himself in an Atlanta of skyscrapers and strip clubs, and he can be as brazenly materialistic as his hip-hop contemporaries, singing about luxury cars and Champagne. But although Usher welcomes up-and-coming Atlanta rappers on “Hard II Love” - Young Thug on “No Limit,” Future on “Rivals” - they are clearly on the sidelines. The album, titled Confessions, featured a whole slew of actual confessions in every song. Back in 2004, Usher was already a hit, but his forthcoming album would set off a fiery career thats still smoldering in 2021. Some have tried to recast themselves as macho guys or moved toward clinically explicit sex songs others have been demoted to singing hooks while rappers grab the spotlight. The fact is, Confessions was ever about Ushers relationship he just sang the songs. The hip-hop era hasn’t been kind to R&B crooners such as Usher.

Usher confessions album explicit