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Usher’s latest album, Here I Stand, was something of a flop, despite him going to every show on the cable dial to promote it. (It’s sold a relatively paltry 948,000 copies in 10 weeks, and had no top-10 singles after the No. 1 hit “Love In This Club.”) So he’s fired his manager Benny Medina and lured his mom, Jonnetta Patton, away from her gig as a “full-time grandmother” and back to the role of his manager. Will this result in the album shooting back up the charts and selling as many copies as Tha Carter III, or even the nine-times-platinum Confessions? Medina sure doesn’t think so!
For his part, Medina defended the sales drop in his own statement to People.
“With an artist like Usher, the bar is set really high. Whether it was management, marketing or the music, we achieved a #1 single and a #1 album,” he said. “It is a completely new day and time in music now. In four years, his audience, demographic and musical direction has changed. Records like Lil Wayne’s ‘Lollipop’ are the type of phenomena that ‘Yeah’ was in 2004.”
Is that his way of saying that “Love In This Club” was kind of not as good as “Yeah”? Let it burn, Benny, let it burn!
“Moving Mountains” really is just horrifyingly bad, and I still have no idea what songs on the album could even work as a single.
There’s something slightly weird going on between this guy and his Mom but I guess you noticed that.
@Al Shipley:
What’s Your Name would probably do well in Europe. [Real talk.]
Love in this Club Pt. II if pushed a little better could do great on hip-hop and R&B stations, and could possibly shine real brightly on urban adult contemporary stations.
But then again I am in the camp that believes this is less a singles album like Usher albums past, and more of an album you press play on (sans the intro. I always start at track two, love in this club) and let it play. (and yes I admit it may drag a little in the end, but still)
But then again, I’m an albums guy.
On a totally unrelated note, did anyone catch Mr. Medina and Will Smith at the Teen Choice Awards on Monday. [Why are you looking at me like that?] They looked real comfortable on that front row couch. I also enjoyed Will Smith’s enthusiastic standing o at the end of Mariah Carey’s performance. Though I can’t talk shit about him for that one, cause I kind of got giddy like a school girl both during and after that shit as well.