Hopefully this next album he will be able to find that medium in between, and if he can successfully do that without sacrificing his content (as he did on RvsR), then he will have finally cemented himself where someone his age in the business needs to be. The problem with Raymond Vs Raymond is that is too big of a step backwards from Here I Stand. The problem with Here I Stand is that it was too big of a jump forward from Confessions. You are: MonSTAR.” IE… We label these artists and brand them or attempt to fit them in a box and then when they deviate from our labels, we shun them. The creepy intro from the lady is a foreshadowing of its content: ‘You are. Say you want all of me now you got the other side.” & from the chorus: ‘Tell me how deep you want me to go (I’m back celebrate life), ” This is the resurgence of the illusion of what people think he is the ‘star’ and the conceptions that people lament on these entertainers. “Look at what you made me do babe, said you know me. And then when the artist gives too much - as he did during the Here I Stand era, they get annoyed and turn the back on the artist. The lyrics seem to be a reaction to the public demanding to know more of the star’s personal life and the obsession that we have over them with the blog coverage and so forth. Key note is to see it’s monSTAR not ‘ster’. It also offered the careful listener insight into how a person in the entertainment industry must react. Monstar was my favorite from the two, as it was very revealing and creative. Mars Vs Venus, Monstar, Pro Lover, Lingerie and Lay You Down (the last two which were not included). The duo really knows how to make timeless R&B music for him as we’ve seen with U Remind Me – 8701 Bad Girl among others w/ Confessions (lol I didn’t really get into that album due to the overhype so I can’t remember all of the credits) and the amazing tracks they did for RvsR. I think his best work to date has been all of the songs that he has recorded with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Or perhaps go deeper to uncover more depth… perhaps explore the WHY. At some point, you need to move on from that dilemma. He sings about the same themes - cheating has been revisited by him multiple times ever since the Confessions era. Usher is never going to get to the status that he wants because he is an artist who doesn’t really seem to know how to evolve. There are extremely bright spots, and then there’s extremely low spots - very rarely is there anything in between. Raymond vs Raymond is about a C as far as content goes. And the continuation of Burn is nearly 6 years too late. You’re right, it reminded me of songs that we’ve already heard him do.
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