Thursday, June 5, 2008 | midnight
Usher albums used to get you in the mood, but the Atlanta-based megastar is not exactly sure he should be doing that these days. Having married his much-older stylist since his last, deliciously sleazy album Confessions, Usher now plays the part of a committed husband and father. And so on Here I Stand, a man who once bragged about group sex insists he’s changed.
Needless to say, it’s quite awkward, and more than a little boring. Attempting to assure his fans he still keeps things exciting in the bedroom, he sings about role reversal (“I’m always on the top, tonight I’m on the bottom,” he croons on “Trading Places”) as well as mind-blowing orgasms (“We’re making moments that will outlast the world,” he asserts on “This Ain’t Sex”). The album works best when he resorts to his old tricks, however, such as on the anonymous, dirty premise of “Love in This Club,” a song as wonderfully audacious and giddy as its Polow da Don-contributed beat.
But elsewhere the CD has a hard time keeping the energy level high. “Usher, is this what it’s come to, man?” asks Jay-Z, another reformed newlywed, at the beginning of “Best Thing.” “Seeds becomes plants, boys become men. What are we gonna do?” Hopefully get divorced, because listeners probably won’t stand for another Usher album this dull.
The bottom line: **
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