The story goes that Confessions was completed already, but L.A. Everyone knows that track: it was and still is considered a club banger that gets the party started. Then it immediately switches gears with “Yeah!” featuring Ludacris & Lil Jon. Click on the album cover and take a journey through Usher’s Confessions.Ĭonfessions opens with an “Intro” that sets the tone for the album and subtly hints that this is a personal R&B album with depth. When this album came out, it was definitely heavy in my CD rotation because I remember loving so many songs on this album. In those days, TRL and 106 & Park were going strong, and his videos would literally top the charts every day. I remember when Usher’s Confessions album was originally released in March 2004 because you could not go anywhere without hearing massive singles from the album.

I have been an Usher fan since his very first album and my all-time favorite, “Think of You”. Needless to say, the time is right for the phrase 'just another' to be banned from use when discussing him.This month I decided to pull out an album from a not-too-distant past that I haven’t heard in quite some time. Numerous chart hits have spun off each of his albums. Another pair - the upbeat 'Caught Up' and the aptly titled 'Burn' - also rate as some of the vocalist's best moments yet. A small batch of Jam & Lewis productions, including the effortlessly gliding 'Truth Hurts,' continue to help raise Usher's loverman stock. The following 'Throwback,' produced by Just Blaze, sounds like it was made for the sole purpose of trailing Alicia Keys' 'You Don't Know My Name.' Like that hit, 'Throwback''s sensitively treated soul sample provides a nostalgic tint that complements the wistful, regret-filled tone of the lyrics. 'Yeah!''s crunk-meets-R&B foundation, featuring an instantly addictive eight-note keyboard vamp and one of Usher's most muscular turns, is so absorbing that Ludacris' 1500th guest verse floats by with little notice. On the other side of the coin, the smartest move Usher makes here is in allowing the Lil Jon-produced 'Yeah!' to take its rightful place as the only club track any attempt at doing something stylistically similar would've failed miserably in its presence. At an hour in duration, it could be stripped of five songs and be far more powerful, especially since no one would have to do any wading to get to the meaty parts. Confessions' most detracting factor is its length.

Usher confessions album playlist