I know, I wasn’t expecting it either. I didn’t even know Usher was still releasing new music— let alone a 20 song album the same week as his Super Bowl Halftime performance. This coincidence of timing made me think the album exists just as a precursor to his performance on the big stage. But on a closer look, Usher also has been on a musical drought, with no significant releases since his 2018 collaboration with Zaytoven. Oddly, his Super Bowl performance didn’t include any of his new songs and the broadcast included few references to the new project’s release. Usher did however recruit the former headliners of Hip-Hop for his show, including Lil Jon, Alicia Keys, will.i.am, and Ludacris. He also invited H.E.R. on stage, who was born in the same year that Usher charted for the first time with songs like “You Make Me Wanna…” and “Nice & Slow.” Usher not only dropped his first album in years and performed on one of the biggest stages in the industry, but he also finalized his marriage in the same weekend. With that said, let’s answer the other part of the question: was this album real new music?

Overall, very few of the songs in the album were bad, though not many of them were standouts. Plenty of the songs sound just like the ones before them, with the same generic R&B + pop radio hit feel. There were however a few songs that stood out for different reasons. 

While the album didn’t feel carried by the featured artists, “Coming Home” (ft. Burna Boy) was a solid choice for an opening track, highlighting Usher’s smooth style perfectly and blending it with Burna Boy’s soothing voice (and his Nigerian accent). “Good Good” was Usher’s highest charting song in years and utilizes effective features from Summer Walker and 21 Savage to catch listeners’ attention to the feature front-loaded album. “Risk It All” brings in H.E.R. for a solid collaborative effort of two artists very comfortable with their R&B identities and it shows in this well-put-together song. These songs each needed their featured artists to be more meaningful additions to the album. 

“A-Town Girl” continues the now common trend of major artists recreating older hits, with the newest victim being “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel. Aiming to capitalize on the nostalgia and familiarity of songs like these, Usher and plenty of other artists seek to make more powerful songs that can evoke more emotions, but in most cases (this one included) it doesn’t work in the way they intend it to. While certain remakes like “Creepin’” by Metro Boomin, the Weeknd, and 21 Savage enhance their source material, “A-Town Girl” falls flat – between Usher’s clunky lyricism and a superfluous Latto feature, this track comes off as a cheap parody of the Billy Joel classic. 

Finally, in “Margiela” Usher is much more experimental, and it pays off. This song is my favorite off the album, with Usher using his R&B experience as well as his faster-paced lyricism in one song over an uptempo synthy beat. This song felt like new music, but unfortunately, it was one of the few in the album that felt that way. While I wouldn’t call the album brand new real music, it’s by no means a bad album, and there are songs with good replay value. 

Featured image from Mega/Gamma