Idolator: Usher

Usher Vs. Timberlake: The Battle Begins (In Bed)

Dan Gibson — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Usher has weighed in one of the great debates of our time: Do you take your sex with music or without? I'm not entirely surprised Usher is pro-musical accompaniment—nor that said music has to be his own. "I made love to a few songs. 'Love You Gently' is one of my favorites. Make her call you 'Daddy' when you put that one on," he told Britain's version of Marie Claire. But in the interest of starting a scrap, the Daily Record has pointed out that Justin Timberlake has, in the past, begged to differ—because his musical genius ends up getting unnecessarily distracted by any mood music. "I have trouble having sex to music because I start picking out the chords," he told the British magazine Dazed & Confused around the release of FutureSex/LoveSounds. Maybe now that he isn't so distracted by making a record, he too can enjoy Usher's mountain-moving songs while in flagrante? [Glasgow Daily Record]

Weezy Envy Has Usher Screaming For His Mother

Anthony Miccio — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:30:00 EDT

For over a year, career artists have been gracefully accepting the state of the music industry, and the possibility that sales of their new releases have little chance of topping previous milestones. Then Lil' Wayne had to go and sell over a milli of The Carter III, leaving some to wonder why they had to take a sales hit and not this gratingly-voiced punmaster. And when we say "some," we mean Usher. Word is that Usher's blaming Here I Stand's weak showing compared to Weezy on Benny Medina, the manager he replaced mother Jonetta Patton with a little over a year ago. While the "full-time grandmother" has kept herself busy by knitting booties, running a label and managing other artists, its doubtful she'd reject her precious baby's cries of "Mommy!!! Mommy!!! Make me No. 1 again!!!"

Medina, who's an expert at holding artists' hands, reassured Usher that his latest sales were nothing to be ashamed of, considering the current climate of the record business. But then, three weeks later, Lil Wayne's album, "Tha Carter III," sold more than one million copies its first week out.

"Usher was livid!," claims an insider. "He threatened to fire everyone."

Also troubling were the ratings for the BET Awards. While the show pulled 6.3 million viewers when Beyonce opened it last year, the Usher-headlined show drew only 5.8 million.

"People have been telling Usher to listen to his mother," says a source. "Nobody knows how to sell him better than she does. Usher can be stubborn. But he may be ready."

But even if Ush does return to the bosom of she that birthed him, it's worth noting that those currently receiving her attention—Natasha, Dante, Kwiet Storm, JLack, and JPat Records—aren't exactly setting the charts on fire. Even with her guidance, there's no guaranteeing that Usher's moment in the sun will fully return. At the very least, one hopes she'll get him to rock the shades a little less and let people see her little sweetie's eyes.

Usher mulling the return of mom-ager Jonetta Patton [NY Daily News]

Least Shocking News Of The Day: Coldplay To Debut At No. 1 Next Week

Dan Gibson — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:30:00 EDT

Most people figured that Coldplay would have the top-selling album on next week's charts, but would Viva La Vida reach Lil Wayne's cool million in first-week sales? Looks like the answer is no, but the 700,000-sale tally that HITS is projecting brings back brief memories of when albums had impressive sales, and a week where 200,000 copies were sold wouldn't necessarily result in a spot in the top ten. Weezy looks to add another 300,000 to his total, while the Jonas Brothers-accented Camp Rock soundtrack is set to begin its stay on the charts at No. 3, likely selling around 200,000 in its first week. After the top three, it's back to reality: NOW 28 is on pace to just break the six-figure mark; Usher and Piles will likely sell in the 60,000-copy range; The Offspring continue to befuddle me with their continued popularity by selling a projected 55,000 albums; Judas Priest and Katy Perry fight over Nos. 8 and 9 spots, with each on track to move about 50,000 copies; and the Rihanna screw-the-consumer reissue and Disturbed fight it out for tenth place. Only 50,000 album sales for Katy Perry, after all we had to suffer through? I'm simultaneously disappointed and pleased. [HITS Daily Double]

Usher Blames Lesbianism On Lack Of Good Men, Hopes To Rectify Situation By Example

Anthony Miccio — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:30:00 EDT

As his recent TRL appearance would imply, Usher's had it up to here with people questioning his marriage. He told Vibe that we should be commending him for providing such a sterling example of heterosexual fidelity. "Am I so much of a bad guy because I decided to get married? Am I so much of a bad guy [because once I got in the situation], I decided to stand for something, build a foundation, and think about my future? As a man, you would respect me for not turning my back on it. ... It can never be bad to have a foundation as a man — a black man — in a time when women are dying for men. Women have started to become lovers of each other as a result of not having enough men. Are you not studying the stories? Wake up! Black love is a good thing."

Usher isn't just looking out for all those women forced into sapphic unions for the want of a man like Usher. (Are you not studying the stories? Wake up!) Despite rumors that he fired his mom after she spoke ill of his wife-to-be, he says he released her of her managerial obligations so she could be a "full-time grandmother" and knit booties and shit.

"I love my mother — she's the only one I have," he said, pausing for a moment before continuing. "I decided to not fire, not get rid of, but to give [my mother] the ultimate compliment — to retire her to be a full-time grandmother. My mother and I decided to change her situation, together. There was a conversation. I didn't write her a letter or pink-slip her."

Not that she's actually been parked on a rocking chair, telling Tameka Foster what a colicky baby Usher was.

For her part, Patton noted in the article that she's still a very active executive. "I'm managing Natasha, an artist on Jive Records, a guy group called Kwiet Storm, and a solo artist, Dante," she said. "I started my own record label — JPat Records. I also manage [my younger son], producer JLack — he's signed to Usher's production company."

If only every woman could have an Usher in her life.

Usher Sounds Off About Marriage, His Mom And The Challenge Of Being A Superstar Dad [MTV]

No Surprises: Lil Wayne > Mariah Carey

Dan Gibson — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EDT

With largely positive reviews and the benefit of months and months of pre-release hype, HITS is predicting that Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III is "on track to be the biggest debut of the year by far." That being said, the debuts this year haven't been all that impressive, with Mariah still reigning at the top after 463,000 first-week sales. Of course, even if Weezy pulls off a half million plus between now and Sunday, Coldplay is likely to destroy his numbers the following week. All of this news is making Usher very, very sad right now. [HITS Daily Double]

Bobby Brown And "Little Mini Me" Usher Have A Complex, Violent Relationship

Anthony Miccio — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Bobby Brown's autobiography, The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But... should have been out by now (Amazon has its release date listed as June 1, but lists no copies as currently available), but there's tragically been no word on when the book will actually hit stores. Blackvoices.com has an advance copy, though, and they're sharing some interesting observations and anecdotes of Bobby's about Usher, the "little mini me" who "basically did my whole show." But that scuffle they had a while back? Please, it was no more of a fight than when Rick James and Charlie Murphy would get together.

"When I walked into the party I ran into Usher and we immediately gave each other a hug. While he was holding me, he turned to the side and kinda put my neck in a playful choke hold and started squeezing me."

"I tried to tell him that I couldn't breathe but he couldn't hear me because the music was loud. It didn't help that he was drunk. I was yelling, 'yo, yo, yo let me go! I can't breathe!' He was excited to see me and he was just expressing himself with this gesture. He was so drunk he didn't realize what he was doing."

"I picked him up and held him over the DJ booth which had a nice little drop down below."

"When I did this, I guess his body guards felt like I was threatening his life so they came to his rescue. They came and pulled us apart which looked like a scuffle to the people around looking on."

Usher's take, as shared in this MTV interview, is a lot vaguer.

What happened with me and Bobby Brown? Nothing. Nothing. Bobby showed up at my party and the party was over. People kind of alluded to the fact that maybe there was a fight or something like that. We never got like that. That's it. He just got onstage and said some words. No, actually I said some words to him, or actually to the audience. That was it. Really, that was it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it [laughs].

I wonder if Bobby was basing his "he stole my show" comments on the actual medley of Bobby Brown hits that Usher used to perform on stage. Nice shirtless sleeves, Ush! If only you'd donned suspenders and Lycra shorts with USHER written on the side.

"I think you take parts of whoever is the hottest act of that era and you incorporate that into your own style. It's just like taking buttermilk, eggs and corn meal, you whip it up, bake it and you have cornbread." Very perceptive, Bobby. Now where the hell is that book? Are you waiting for a postscript from your equally classy son?

Bobby Brown: The Truth About Usher [Blackvoices.com]
Usher: Souled Out [MTV]
Bobby Brown Medley [YouTube]

Usher Accidently Disses John Mayer, Intentionally Disses Chilli

Anthony Miccio — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:30:00 EDT

You really didn't think the release of Here I Stand signaled the end of Usher's recording for the album, did you? Fans should look forward to plenty of remixes and collaborations on its inevitable special edition, though Usher's indifference to all things not named Usher may have accidentally crushed the possibility of one artist he'd like to work with. "It would be nice to work with some British artists- be on the look out for remixes. I'm going to do a lot of unique stuff on this album. I'd like to do something with John Mayer on the song 'Something Special.' I'd love him to play piano." So would his mom, I'm sure, but Mayer's instrument of choice is the guitar, Ush. Though if there's anyone who should feel slighted by Usher's interview in RWD it's ex-girlfriend Chilli from TLC, whose claims that she still loves the family man-of-the-moment receive one of the coldest smackdowns I've ever had the pleasure to read.

Chilli was quoted as saying you were the one she 'truly did love. I'm not in love with him anymore, but I can't say I don't love him.' Do you think it's appropriate for her to make these comments considering you're married with a child?

Usher: I mean, I think it's a little unrealistic, I'm married (laughs), I'm not a boy. It's been three years past, you know? But we all have unrealistic goals too. Like shoot, I will always forever love Katie Holmes and Halle Berry. I don't feel anyway about it. It does appear maybe to be a plug for something. She got a record coming or something?

Oh snap! Who's got it bad now, huh?

TXT BACK: Usher [RWD Magazine]

Usher Stands Tall, But Mariah Teeters Over Him

Maura Johnston — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Usher's Here I Stand was widely expected to take the top spot on this week's albums chart, and it did. But its seemingly endless promotional blitz, which stretched from Dancing With The Stars to the morning shows and back to crazytown, resulted in 443,000 sales—a respectable total when you think about the fact that this week's No. 10 album (Death Cab For Cutie's Narrow Stairs didn't even sell 10% of that figure, but just shy of the 463,000 first-week total for Mariah Carey's E=MC². (I knew he should have brought the ice-cream truck to TRL!)

Biggest Debuts: At No. 2, yet way, way behind the Usher album, was the soundtrack to Sex And The City, which sold 66,000 copies to people who just had to acquire that crummy Fergie song legally. Al Green's Lay It Down entered at No. 9, selling 34,000 copies, and further down the chart, Cyndi Lauper's actually-quite-good foray into AutoTuned electro, Bring Ya To The Brink, sold 12,000 copies and debuted at No. 41.

Notable Jumps: Speaking of that Fergie song, did you know that The Dutchess just got reissued, because apparently 3.6 million record sales weren't enough for the people at Universal? The reissue resulted in 15,000 new sales—good enough for a leap to No. 28 and a 131% overall jump in its 89th week on the chart, but it can't help but seem kinda paltry when you think about it in the context of the album's sales before it got its shiny new cover and Nelly collaboration. And when you think about the fact that the EP consisting of just the bonus tracks sold 11,000 copies of its own.

Dropping Off: Last week's No. 1, the new self-titled album by 3 Doors Down, dipped 59%, selling 63,000 copies, and fell to No. 3.

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: Oh, come on. Like this would go to anyone but Fergie this week, given that "Labels Or Love" somehow manages to be 80x more annoying than the characters it's attached at the expensively sheathed hip to. (Sure, Taylor Swift's self-titled album has now been on the chart for 84 weeks, but how can you think of her success as "inexplicable"? She's so cute!)

The top 20 albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Usher, Here I Stand (443,000)
2. Sex And The City soundtrack (66,000)
3. 3 Doors Down (63,000)
4. Bun B, II Trill (40,000)
5. Leona Lewis, Spirit (39,000)
6. Frank Sinatra, Nothing But The Best (37,000)
7. Duffy, Rockferry (36,000)
8. Mariah Carey, E=MC² (36,000)
9. Al Green, Lay It Down (34,000)
10. Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs (33,000)
11. Madonna, Hard Candy (32,000)
12. Taylor Swift (29,000)
13. Jason Mraz, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things (27,000)
14. Toby Keith, 35 Biggest Hits (26,000)
15. Neil Diamond, Home Before Dark (25,000)
16. Julianne Hough (24,000)
17. Now 27 (20,000)
18. Flobots, Fight With Tools (19,000)
19. Carrie Underwood, Carnival Ride (19,000)
20. Kid Rock, Rock N Roll Jesus (18,000)

The top 10 digital albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Usher, Here I Stand (44,000)
2. Sex And The City soundtrack (27,000)
3. Fergie, Dutchess EP (11,000)
4. 3 Doors Down (10,000)
5. Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs (9,600)
6. Jason Mraz, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things (7,500)
7. Duffy, Rockferry (6,600)
8. Al Green, Lay It Down (5,800)
9. Cyndi Lauper, Bring Ya To The Brink (4,800)
10. Juno sountrack (4,700)

So, How Many Albums Will Usher Actually Sell?

Dan Gibson — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:00:00 EDT

With decent reviews and interesting public appearances, Usher is virtually assured of next week's number one spot on the album chart. The question is, however, how many copies will he actually sell?

The biggest first weeks of the year so far have been Mariah Carey's E=MC2, with close to 475,000 sold, followed by the Jack Johnson album I'm too indifferent about to look up the title for with 380,000. You'd have to think Usher will top Johnson for certain, and likely Carey as well, but when Confessions opened with nearly 1.1 million in 2004, that topping the half million mark first week is a question says something about the last four years for the industry.

So, Idolator readership, where will Usher end up next Wednesday?

Usher Finally Gets A Little Excitable During The Promotion Of His New Album

Maura Johnston — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:30:00 EDT

While on TRL earlier today, Usher wrested control of the show from the host, bum-rushing the camera Totally Pauly-style and using the opportunity to tell the world that he loves his wife, and that she isn't 40 years old or responsible for his mom. Some are referring to this as a Mariah-on-TRL level meltdown, but I'll hold off; Usher wasn't exactly doling out the frozen treats at rant's end, although that could be why he was going off about how he wasn't done as the show quickly cut to commercial. (Fast-forward to the 2:30 or so mark to see Usher go off. Tangentially related: Is MTV seriously using Lucida Script as one of its display fonts now? I know creativity and budgets are tight over there, but man, surely there have to be some free typefaces that floating around that aren't just ripoffs of the Hootie font.) [DailyMotion via ONTD]

Speaking of Usher, some 555,000 people torrented ...

Maura Johnston — Tue, 27 May 2008 10:15:00 EDT

Speaking of Usher, some 555,000 people torrented "various incarnations" of Here I Stand between last Monday, when the album leaked in full, and Friday, according to BitTorrent statistics obtained by Digital Music News. And those numbers don't even include the many Rapidshare/Sendspace/Megaupload locations of the album, numbers that have probably put even more of a dent in the pre-release acquisition total since clicking on a link to some vaguely legal file-sharing site is way, way less bandwidth-taxing than the whole "steal and steal alike" setup that BitTorrent is based on. [Digital Music News]

Usher Takes A Bold Pro-Nightclub Sex Stand

Dan Gibson — Tue, 27 May 2008 10:00:00 EDT

From time to time, we like to round up the all-important, all-summarizing last sentences of the biggest new-music reviews. Under consideration today is the new full-length by Usher,Here I Stand, which hits stores today:

• "The litany of mediocre relationship songs—'Before I Met You,' 'His Mistake,' 'Love You Gently'—doesn't help matters any, though the yawning 'Lifetime' does offer a possible new outlet. Instead of being the soundtrack for the clubs, Usher could turn much of Here I Stand into the soundtrack for any number of Lifetime made-for-TV movies." [Newsday]

• "Because the bylaws governing current hip-hop soul music clearly state that one must use every second of disc capacity available, Stand overstays its welcome. There's fuzzy filler from will.i.am ('What's Your Name') and a few too many slow jams. Among the weaker tracks is 'Club.' With its quivery groove and exhibitionist (not to mention unsanitary) come-on, it fails to ignite as either dance track or sensual fantasy. But the even mellower remix, 'Love in This Club Pt. II,' featuring a sleepy rap from Lil Wayne and a vocal from Beyoncé, must be heard for the lyrics alone. At one point, Beyoncé hilariously trills, 'I strongly doubt this velvet rope would hold me up.' We'd prefer not to speculate on that matter. But with one foot in the glittering nighttime world and another in his lifetime pledge to home and hearth, Usher has found solid ground on which to stand." [Boston Globe]

• "Even as the quality of the material fluctuates, you can count on Usher's singing to provide something memorable—sweetness and power on the anthemic ballad 'Moving Mountains' or relaxed intimacy on the light, minimalist Motown homage 'Something Special.' Usher might be naturally gifted, but he's not a visionary like Prince or prime-time Jackson. With an eye on Broadway, a foot in hip-hop, his pelvic region in an R. Kelly-like erogenous zone and his heart in buoyant pop-R&B, he's aiming to forge an all-purpose entertainer. But these ambitions just seem to fence in what could be one of pop music's great free spirits." [Los Angeles Times]

• "Through it all runs a voice that has become more self-assured and adventurous, paired with a charismatic sex appeal all the more potent for its new subtlety. ('This album doesn't call for me to have my shirt off,' Usher has said, but that doesn't mean he no longer has killer abs.) Here I Stand isn't a home run; no album with lyrics like those on 'Trading Places' or a gratuitous cameo by will.i.am (on 'What's My Name?') could be. But it certainly adds to the argument that 'Same Girl,' the 2007 Kelly/Usher collaboration, was in fact a passing of the torch." [Chicago Sun-Times]

Usher Braves The Green-Screen Elements

Maura Johnston — Fri, 23 May 2008 08:53:00 EDT

Wreckage! Rain! Snow! Wind! Possibly overextended metaphors that liken broken relationships to hurricanes and the Great Depression! The video for Usher's "Moving Mountains," the second single from Here I Stand, has all this and a perhaps-unwitting homage to Madonna's video for "Frozen" (around the 1:30 mark). And it also has a marketing campaign involving rumors about Usher and his wife, Tameka Raymond, splitting after just nine months of wedded bliss! Looks like someone's getting a big bonus just in time for the long weekend... [YouTube / E!]

Did The World Really Need A Jazz-Handy Version Of "Yeah"? (And If It Did, Why Was Lil Jon Nowhere To Be Seen?)

Maura Johnston — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:00:00 EDT

You know, between his tepid performances on the Saturday Night Live finale and the above reworking of "Yeah!" on last night's Dancing With The Stars—which turned the song's club setting into something more resembling an ersatz tap-dancing studio to which Lil Jon and Ludacris obviously "lost" the directions—I'm starting to think that maybe Usher should hold off on the live TV appearances to promote the release of Here I Stand. I mean, what's he going to do on Good Morning America next week, a ballet interpretation of that song about him letting his ladyfriend pay for meals and be on top? Or an oompah remix of "Love In This Club" filmed live on location at Astoria's Bohemian Beer Hall, in which our hero tries to mack on a lady while wearing lederhosen? Actually, come to think of it, that would be kind of amazing, so feel free to swipe that idea, producers. [YouTube]

The BET Awards Promise Big Stars, Big Hits And The Word "Feat."

Anthony Miccio — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT

As the MTV Music Awards become clumsier with every passing year in a less-than-subtle expression of how much acknowledging musical accomplishments has become an annoyance for a network that would much rather chase teenagers around with cameras, the BET Awards stand as the only place where you'll see the biggest acts in pop music (Lil' Wayne, Usher, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey and Nelly are already scheduled to perform) presented with production value and professional competence, acknowledging elders (Al Green and Quincy Jones will respectively receive lifetime achievement and humanitarian awards) without turning into a hoary grandpa fest. "Best Group" seems a little duo heavy, and it's funny to see T-Pain lead the nominations solely on guest spots, but it's refreshing to see a "Best Female Hip-Hop Artist" category. A list of the awards and nominees below.

Video of the Year
Ashanti "The Way That I Love You"
Alicia Keys "Like You'll Never See Me Again"
Mary J. Blige "Just Fine"
UGK feat. OutKast "Int'l Player's Anthem (I Choose You)"
Kanye West feat. T-Pain "Good Life"
Erykah Badu "Honey"

Best Female R&B Artist
Alicia Keys
Mary J. Blige
Keyshia Cole
Rihanna
Mariah Carey

Best Male R&B Artist
Raheem DeVaughn
Trey Songz
Ne-Yo
Chris Brown
J. Holiday

Best Group
Danity Kane
UGK
Day 26
Playaz Circle
Gnarls Barkley

Best New Artist
Flo Rida
Estelle
Chrisette Michele
Soulja Boy
The-Dream

Best Female Hip-Hop Artist
Kid Sister
Trina
Lil' Mama
Missy Elliott
Eve

Best Male Hip-Hop Artist
Snoop Dogg
Jay-Z
Lil' Wayne
Common
Kanye West

Best Collaboration
DJ Khaled feat. Lil' Wayne, Big Boi, Ludacris, Fat Joe & Young Jeezy-"I'm So Hood (remix)"
Keyshia Cole feat. Lil' Kim & Missy Elliott-"Let It Go"
Kanye West feat. T-Pain-"Good Life"
Flo Rida feat. T-Pain-"Low"
Chris Brown feat. T-Pain-"Kiss Kiss"

Viewer's Choice
Chris Brown feat. T-Pain-"Kiss Kiss"
Lil' Wayne feat. Static Major-"Lollipop"
Keyshia Cole feat. Missy Elliott & Lil' Kim-"Let It Go"
Alicia Keys-"No One"
Soulja Boy-"Crank Dat (Soulja Boy)"
Jordin Sparks feat. Chris Brown-"No Air"

Lifetime Achievement
Al Green

Who Cares About Talent? [Bossip]

Usher Engages In A Little Gender-Bending Action

Maura Johnston — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:45:00 EDT

ARTIST: Usher
TITLE: "Trading Places"
WEB DEBUT: May 8, 2008

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: With a musical bed clearly influenced by Prince's "The Beautiful Ones," this slow jam from Usher's upcoming Here I Stand reminded me of that terrible book Porn For Women, in which "beautiful PG photos of hunky men cooking, listening, asking for directions" are accompanied by captions like "I love a clean house!" and "As long as I have two legs to walk on, you'll never take out the trash." Here, Usher decides to let his lady friend do all the things that men usually do in the relationship—pay for a date, enjoy breakfast in bed, insist to Usher that the sex isn't over until she's satisfied, dammit. The lyrics manage to be both over-the-top and mundane at the same time in many spots, which I guess is Ush's tribute to married-life copulation. (My particular favorite is the line where he talks about how his paramour will "order Chinese food right before you do me.") But wait, what's this at the end, when Usher closes out the song with a promise that part two will have Usher "put it on your ass"?! I guess all that Folgers-making does come with a price.

WHERE TO FIND IT: Music Is The Heart Of Our Soul.

Usher Remixes His Spring Jam Into One For The Summer

Maura Johnston — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT

ARTIST: Usher featuring Beyonce and Lil Wayne
TITLE: "Love In This Club (Part 2)"
WEB DEBUT: April 23, 2008

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: Just in time for it to fall from the top spot on the Hot 100, Usher has put out this remix of his comeback single that features much better collaborators than Young Jeezy—Beyonce and Lil Wayne, to be exact. "Part 2" of "Love In This Club" is slowed-down and a bit more restrained than the Godzilla-storming-the-dancefloor original, and while I don't want to make everyone all giddy by mentioning "Ignition (Remix)," because peccadilloes of its performer aside it is pretty much the shining example of the "theoretical slowed-down remix genre," I will say that "Part 2" musically reminded me of R. Kelly's Murder She Wrote-hailing banger, even with the raspiness in Lil Wayne's voice reaching Waits-like levels. And for that reason alone, I'm pretty sure that this song is going to blare from every car in the land well into, say, mid-July.

WHERE TO FIND IT: Ali's Blog.

Usher Haunted By Hotties

Anthony Miccio — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:00:00 EDT

I'm not totally sure why Usher bothered making an expensive video for "Love In This Club" when the song it promotes is already a No. 1 hit, but who am I to question the choices of a performer that makes Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, and the like look gawky and amateurish? In the clip, Usher is trapped in an empty nightclub that suddenly fills with sexy apparitions, porn stars, and celebrity rappers like Rick Ross, Diddy, and Kanye West. Usher repeatedly tries to canoodle with Keri "The Way I Are" Hilson ("who are you?" "Your every desire..."), only to have her evaporate before he can mount her.

Usher doesn't bother dancing until five minutes into the clip, and the moves are more Rhythm Nation 1814 meets Soulja Boy than the 21st century MJ he's occasionally capable of. But you can't show off all your new tricks at once, can you? His new album, Here I Stand, is currently scheduled to be released on June 8.

DUBCNN.com: Usher & Young Jeezy - Love In This Club OFFICIAL [YouTube]

Touch Their Bodies, Eat Their Dust: Two Queens Dethrone The King

Chris Molanphy — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Ed. note: Chris "dennisobell" Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week's Billboard charts:

So momentous was the news of Mariah Carey's triumph on the Hot 100 with "Touch My Body" that Billboard leaked it on Wednesday, a day early. Chart freaks talk about acts beating small records all the time. But it's not every day that someone beats a mark on the all-time list that involves something as iconic as career No. 1 hits. And it's even rarer when that record is four decades old and involves the King of Rock & Roll.

And hey, Elvis was only ranked second on the list for total No. 1 hits. (He was, until this week, first place among solo acts.) Even sadder for Presley fans, this same week, another lady bests a record he had all to himself—this time, for most Top 10 hits. As "4 Minutes" makes a 65-point leap to No. 3, Madonna pulls out of a tie with the King, leaving him all shook up with 17 No. 1's and 36 Top 10s, to Carey's 18 chart-toppers and Madge's 37 smashes.

There's no joy in Graceland today. And if you're near Abbey Road right now, don't be surprised if folks there look a bit twitchy, too.

As Carey's "Touch My Body" rises to No. 1, Billboard is already speculating that she will at least tie the Beatles' all-time record of 20 No. 1 hits before Island Def Jam is even done with her new album.

Two more chart-toppers off E=MC²? It's fair to discuss, but as mighty as she looks this week, Carey's not the unwavering hit machine she was a decade ago. Whether she beats the Fabs before 2008 is over will depend on a lot of variables.

As recently as two albums ago, Beatle geeks like me had all but written off this possibility, so deep was Carey's early-millennium slump. As of 2000, she had stalled at 15 No. 1's. Then Glitter, um, happened in 2001; and even after IDJ picked up her mangled career a year later, they couldn't seem to rid her of the stink of failure. 2002's Charmbracelet produced no Top 40 hits, let alone No. 1's.

But 2005's massive, summer-dominating "We Belong Together" changed all that. And by early '06 she'd tied Presley with a 17th No. 1, "Don't Forget About Us." (Carey could have beaten the King right then and there, if the song that came between those two hits, fall 2005's "Shake It Off," hadn't been bested by Kanye West's "Gold Digger," which shot to No. 1 the week she was supposed to and held her back at No. 2.)

You can review the complete list of Carey's No. 1 hits, broken down by album, thanks to this very helpful Idolator commenter. As you see, on each album, when Mariah's on a roll, her chart-toppers seem to multiply. Not counting the forthcoming album, only two of Carey's discs have produced a lone No. 1 hit; she usually gets two or more, or none at all. (It could even be argued that the two CDs with a sole chart-topper were aberrations. Her 1991 sophomore album Emotions was clearly released too soon after the first one, a tactical mistake; and 1992's MTV Unplugged was a live EP, impressive for producing any hits at all.)

Still, the other pattern that emerges is that Carey is long, long past the days when three No. 1s per album were de rigeur. Butterfly (1997), Rainbow (1999), and The Emancipation of Mimi (2005) each produced only two. And that last one is a cheat: IDJ reissued Emancipation in late 2005 with "Don't Forget About Us" added to it. If they're going to pull three No 1's from the new album, they're going to have to get even luckier than they did in 2005, which was very lucky indeed.

If it seems like the Pop-Industrial Complex is impatient for Carey to take the all-time record this year, it's probably a bit of longing for the days when the industry spun hits—even forgettable hits, like "Thank God I Found You"—and broke records regularly. Also, and it's rude of me to bring this up, this will likely be the last studio album Carey releases before she turns 40 in March 2010, and not even L.A. Reid knows how marketable she'll be in early middle age.

Then again, her fellow Elvis-beater on the charts this week is months away from the half-century mark. So if, like me, you're futilely hoping Carey doesn't ever beat the Beatles, let's at least not be spiteful enough to wish the curse of ageism on her.

Here's a rundown of the rest of this week's charts:

• About that 49-year-old Elvis-beater: "4 Minutes" is not just Madonna's first Top 10 since "Hung Up" in 2005, it's her biggest hit since "Music" went to No. 1 in the fall of 2000. Apparently, 2000 wasn't just a start-of-slump year for Carey, because Madge has been stalled at 12 career No. 1's ever since, tying her in fifth place on the all-time list with the Supremes. If she and new bump-n-grind pal Justin Timberlake can claw their way to No. 1, she'll move up to fourth, tying Michael Jackson with 13 chart-toppers. But I wouldn't count on that happening anytime soon: airplay for "4 Minutes" is growing strongly but is a fraction of what "Touch My Body" or Usher's "Love in This Club" are receiving.

• Last week's No. 1, Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love," takes a pretty sizable hit, falling to No. 4. Clearly her Oprah-fueled sales are starting to tail off—digital downloads are down 17% this week—and her airplay still has to catch up. She'll probably have a bit of a comeback in a couple of weeks, after the album drops and gives the single a pop on iTunes. It's notable that the song she ousted from No. 1 last week, Usher's, holds at No. 2 thanks to his strong airplay, while she drops past him. As we say here all the time: sales give you a big hit, but you need airplay to hold onto it.

• Actually, Usher has a pretty good week in general—not only does "Love in This Club" hold at No. 2 on the pop chart amidst the Mariah/Madonna onslaught, it also ascends to No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart, ousting seven-week ruler Keyshia Cole's "I Remember."

• This week's song-booster from the world of TV isn't Oprah, it's the Donald. After taking second prize on Trump's Celebrity Apprentice, Trace Adkins has a big week in both sales and airplay. "You're Gonna Miss This" blasts to No. 12 from No. 40 on the Hot 100, fueled by more than 72,000 downloads; and on the all-airplay Hot Country list, which is unaffected by iTunes sales, Adkins ousts Alan Jackson from No. 1.

• Songs boosted on iTunes thanks to performances on American Idol's "Year You Were Born" week: "Billie Jean," both the original by Michael Jackson (up 24% to 12,800 copies) and the David Cook-bitten cover by Chris Cornell (14,900 copies, its first time on the list); "Alone" by Heart; and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler (each up nearly 250%, to about 8,000 copies each). We're pretty sure that the obscure, cruise-ship-quality David Foster tune sung by David Archuleta is out of print; otherwise, God only knows how many doting grandmas would've downloaded it...

• The top debut on the Hot 100, based entirely on iTunes downloads, is Fall Out Boy's cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It," which features everyone's favorite we-like-you-but-not-your-schlocky-music guest star, John Mayer, on guitar. Debuting on iTunes just ahead of the band's wittily-titled live album ****: Live in Phoenix, the track sold 88,000 downloads in its first week. Expect it to drop back next week, now that the initial wave of FOB fans have purchased it—but the forthcoming release of a music video might fuel a comeback in a few weeks, once the TRL set starts voting for it in droves. Then we'll have to see if it can eventually outdistance the No. 12 peak of the all-time greatest version of "Beat It."

Top 10s
Last week's position and total weeks charted in parentheses:

Hot 100
1. Mariah Carey, "Touch My Body" (LW No. 15, 7 weeks)
2. Usher feat. Young Jeezy, "Love in This Club" (LW No. 2, 7 weeks)
3. Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake, "4 Minutes" (LW No. 68, 2 weeks)
4. Leona Lewis, "Bleeding Love" (LW No. 1, 7 weeks)
5. Jordin Sparks with Chris Brown, "No Air" (LW No. 6, 13 weeks)
6. Ray J & Yung Berg, "Sexy Can I" (LW No. 3, 9 weeks)
7. Lil Wayne feat. Static Major, "Lollipop" (LW No. 9, 3 weeks)
8. Chris Brown, "With You" (LW No. 4, 18 weeks)
9. Sara Bareilles, "Love Song" (LW No. 5, 22 weeks)
10. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain, "Low" (LW No. 7, 23 weeks)

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
1. Usher feat. Young Jeezy, "Love in This Club" (LW No. 2, 8 weeks)
2. Keyshia Cole, "I Remember" (LW No. 1, 22 weeks)
3. Mariah Carey, "Touch My Body" (LW No. 8, 8 weeks)
4. Ray J & Yung Berg, "Sexy Can I" (LW No. 5, 12 weeks)
5. The-Dream, "Falsetto" (LW No. 3, 17 weeks)
6. Alicia Keys, "Like You'll Never See Me Again" (LW No. 4, 23 weeks)
7. Mario, "Crying Out for Me" (LW No. 6, 31 weeks)
8. J. Holiday, "Suffocate" (LW No. 7, 26 weeks)
9. Mary J. Blige, "Just Fine" (LW No. 9, 27 weeks)
10. Chris Brown, "With You" (LW No. 10, 18 weeks)

Hot Country Songs
1. Trace Adkins, "You're Gonna Miss This" (LW No. 2, 17 weeks)
2. George Strait, "I Saw God Today" (LW No. 4, 8 weeks)
3. Chris Cagle, "What Kinda Gone" (LW No. 3, 37 weeks)
4. Alan Jackson, "Small Town Southern Man" (LW No. 1, 21 weeks)
5. James Otto, "Just Got Started Lovin' You" (LW No. 6, 24 weeks)
6. Jason Aldean, "Laughed Until We Cried" (LW No. 8, 34 weeks)
7. Taylor Swift, "Picture to Burn" (LW No. 9, 12 weeks)
8. Rodney Atkins, "Cleaning This Gun (Come on in Boy)" (LW No. 7, 28 weeks)
9. Carrie Underwood, "All-American Girl" (LW No. 5, 18 weeks)
10. Phil Vassar, "Love Is A Beautiful Thing" (LW No. 10, 22 weeks)

Hot Modern Rock Tracks
1. Foo Fighters, "Long Road to Ruin" (LW No. 1, 23 weeks)
2. Puddle of Mudd, "Psycho" (LW No. 2, 22 weeks)
3. Atreyu, "Falling Down" (LW No. 5, 10 weeks)
4. Seether, "Rise Above This" (LW No. 6, 6 weeks)
5. The Bravery, "Believe" (LW No. 4, 26 weeks)
6. Linkin Park, "Shadow of the Day" (LW No. 3, 26 weeks)
7. 3 Doors Down, "It's Not My Time" (LW No. 10, 6 weeks)
8. Foo Fighters, "The Pretender" (LW No. 8, 35 weeks)
9. Seether, "Fake It" (LW No. 7, 31 weeks)
10. Panic at the Disco, "Nine in the Afternoon" (LW No. 12, 9 weeks)

He Makes Us Wanna...: Usher's Our Flo Rida-Killing Hero

Chris Molanphy — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:00:38 EST

Ed. note: Chris "dennisobell" Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week's Billboard charts:

Forget what I said last week: apparently there was pent-up demand for new Usher material.

Even after three intervening years that saw little more than a flop vanity movie and some wedding-related tabloid embarrassment, Mr. Raymond remains beloved by pop and R&B radio and, most importantly, consumers—198,000 iTunes buyers can't be wrong.

Well, maybe they can. Let's be honest: "Love in This Club" is probably the weakest leadoff single for any Usher album since he broke big a decade ago. Musically and production-wise, it can't hold a candle to "You Make Me Wanna...," "U Remind Me" or "Yeah!" But we'll overlook that for at least a week, so deep is our gratitude that "Club" dethroned 10-week Billboard Hot 100 dominator Flo Rida, whose "Low" finally succumbs and shrinks to No. 2.

Our gratitude to Usher only deepens as we examine the rest of the Top Five. If he hadn't made a 50-point surge to No. 1—the third-largest leap to the top in Hot 100 history, after Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder" last year and Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This" in 2002—Flo Rida would still be No. 1 this week. That's less a testament to how strong "Low" still is than to how weak its three upper-chart challengers are: Chris Brown's "With You," Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music" and Sara Bareilles's "Love Song" each fall one slot, in lockstep, behind Flo Rida. (Bareilles at least retains her bullet, which means she could come back next week.) Message to Chris, Ri and Sara: thanks for nothing!

"Love in This Club" is Usher's first real chart test of the iTunes era, and he passes with flying colors. When Confessions, the No. 1 album of 2004, spawned four No. 1 smashes four years ago, iTunes was going on one year old, and the Hot 100 was still compiled using only airplay points and (nearly negligible) physical single sales. Even if iTunes had been a factor on the Hot 100 back then, its effect on Usher's performance might have been muted: BMG didn't release the megasmash "Yeah!" to iTunes during most of its chart run, fearful of the effect on album sales. (When they finally relented sometime late in 2004, "Yeah!" became one of the top iTunes downloads of the year.)

But in 2008, with Usher's album-drop date still up in the air and iTunes the dominant factor on chart performance, the label couldn't reasonably expect a big hit without uncaging the song online. It seems to have been a worthwhile move: the comeback of one of Sony/BMG's key superstars is now all but assured.

Here's a rundown of the rest of this week's charts:

• A quick word on two songs surging into the Top 20: Flo Rida's followup hit, "Elevator," makes a solid 12-space move up to No. 16 after his massive 72-point vault last week. I'll say it again: this is decent performance, but "Elevator," unlike "Low," is going to have to earn its way up the chart the slow-and-steady way.

The even bigger mover, and the biggest sales gainer on the entire chart, is Janet Jackson's beleaguered single "Feedback," which after 10 weeks is finally both a Top 40 and Top 20 hit. Thanks to a flurry of digital sales spurred by the release of Discipline, the single leaps 34 places to No. 19. Now, the bad news: with little major-market airplay ("Feedback" is nowhere to be found on the Hot 100 Airplay chart), "Feedback" will fall back next week. If I were at Island Def Jam, I'd be teeing up the far, far better pop track "Rock With U" to radio now.

• Maura mentioned Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova's "Falling Slowly" the other day, but just to emphasize how big an effect TV exposure has on digital sales, it's the top debut on the Hot 100 this week at No. 61, thanks entirely to its 41,000 buck-a-song buyers in the week after the Oscars. The song never appeared on any Billboard chart while Once was in theaters, but is still considered current enough to make the charts. That's not the case with a different TV-benefiting song, John Lennon's 37-year-old "Imagine," which sells 20,000 downloads thanks to David "Pageant Boy" Archuleta's American Idol performance last week.

• Speaking of Idol: Jordin Sparks is still working to erase her reputation as the only one of the show's winners not to score a No. 1 (or at least No. 2) hit. "No Air" shoots into the Top 10 and will probably make the Top Five in a week or two.

• With the Top 10 of the Hot 100 so sluggish (notwithstanding Usher), I find myself envying the turnover in the Hot Country chart's Top 10. Carrie Underwood shoots up four spots to take No. 1 with "All American Girl"; her live performance on Saturday Night Live two weekends ago had to have helped. And among the two songs entering the winners' circle is the indefatigable George Strait, with his roughly 2 millionth Top 10 hit. "I Saw God Today"? Try "I AM God Today"—so dominant is Strait that his earlier Top 10 hit, the Kenny Chesney duet "Shiftwork," is still there.

• In the midst of a snoozy R&B Top 10, singer-songwriter The-Dream is quietly amassing his biggest hit as a lead artist: the glass-shattering, Smoove B-like "Falsetto" sneaks up to No. 4, outdoing the No. 6 R&B peak of "Shawty Is a 10."

Bets on when his label finally releases his duet with Rihanna, Idolator fave "Livin' a Lie"? (My theory: Rihanna's people are waiting until her current album is bled dry of singles.)

• This week a tremendously unhip act who's now on his fifth album scores his first Modern Rock Top 10 hit—after he's crossed over to soccer moms and Starbucks denizens. This goes against the typical pattern; for example, suburban Volvo-rockers Nickelback are now considered poison to Modern programmers, years after their dominant "How You Remind Me" days. But surf-pop bro Jack Johnson defies convention, inching into the Top 10 with "If I Had Eyes"; prior to this, his best performance on the chart was the No. 22 peak of the Brushfire Fairytales track "Flake" back in 2002. Guess his new album's whole dude-I'm-totally-bummed-out vibe did the trick.

Top 10s
Last week's position and total weeks charted in parentheses:

Hot 100
1. Usher Featuring Young Jeezy, "Love In This Club" (LW No. 51, 3 weeks)
2. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain, "Low" (LW No. 1, 19 weeks)
3. Chris Brown, "With You" (LW No. 2, 14 weeks)
4. Rihanna, "Don't Stop the Music" (LW No. 3, 15 weeks)
5. Sara Bareilles, "Love Song" (LW No. 5, 18 weeks)
6. Jordin Sparks with Chris Brown, "No Air" (LW No. 13, 9 weeks)
7. Timbaland feat. OneRepublic, "Apologize" (LW No. 6, 31 weeks)
8. Alicia Keys, "No One" (LW No. 5, 26 weeks)
9. Webbie, Lil' Phat & Lil' Boosie, "Independent" (LW No. 9, 15 weeks)
10. Snoop Dogg, "Sensual Seduction" (LW No. 7, 14 weeks)

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
1. Keyshia Cole, "I Remember" (LW No. 1, 18 weeks)
2. Alicia Keys, "Like You'll Never See Me Again" (LW No. 2, 19 weeks)
3. J. Holiday, "Suffocate" (LW No. 3, 22 weeks)
4. The-Dream, "Falsetto" (LW No. 7, 13 weeks)
5. Mary J. Blige, "Just Fine" (LW No. 4, 23 weeks)
6. Chris Brown, "With You" (LW No. 5, 14 weeks)
7. Mario, "Crying Out for Me" (LW No. 6, 27 weeks)
8. Shawty Lo, "Dey Know" (LW No. 11, 22 weeks)
9. Webbie, Lil' Phat & Lil' Boosie, "Independent" (LW No. 8, 20 weeks)
10. Snoop Dogg, "Sensual Seduction" (LW No. 9, 17 weeks)

Hot Country Songs
1. Carrie Underwood, "All-American Girl" (LW No. 5, 14 weeks)
2. Rodney Atkins, "Cleaning This Gun (Come on in Boy)" (LW No. 1, 24 weeks)
3. Alan Jackson, "Small Town Southern Man" (LW No. 4, 17 weeks)
4. Kenny Chesney with George Strait, "Shiftwork" (LW No. 2, 20 weeks)
5. Chuck Wicks, "Stealing Cinderella" (LW No. 7, 28 weeks)
6. Trace Adkins, "You're Gonna Miss This" (LW No. 10, 13 weeks)
7. Gary Allan, "Watching Airplanes" (LW No. 6, 33 weeks)
8. George Strait, "I Saw God Today" (LW No. 12, 4 weeks)
9. Chris Cagle, "What Kinda Gone" (LW No. 11, 32 weeks)
10. Jason Aldean, "Laughed Until We Cried" (LW No. 14, 30 weeks)

Hot Modern Rock Tracks
1. Foo Fighters, "Long Road to Ruin" (LW No. 1, 19 weeks)
2. Linkin Park, "Shadow of the Day" (LW No. 3, 22 weeks)
3. Seether, "Fake It" (LW No. 2, 27 weeks)
4. Paramore, "crushcrushcrush" (LW No. 4, 16 weeks)
5. Puddle of Mudd, "Psycho" (LW No. 6, 18 weeks)
6. Foo Fighters, "The Pretender" (LW No. 5, 31 weeks)
7. Rise Against, "The Good Left Undone" (LW No. 8, 36 weeks)
8. Avenged Sevenfold, "Almost Easy" (LW No. 7, 22 weeks)
9. Jack Johnson, "If I Had Eyes" (LW No. 11, 13 weeks)
10. Radiohead, "Bodysnatchers" (LW No. 9, 19 weeks)

This year, the dawning of spring is a little ...

Maura Johnston — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:30:26 EST

This year, the dawning of spring is a little bit brighter than it has been in years past: Not only is Daylight Savings Time kicking in early and the weather getting a little nicer (at least in NYC), but Flo Rida's "Low" has finally fallen from the top spot on the Billboard 100, thanks to the insane digital sales of Usher's "Love In This Club," which moved 198,000 downloads in its first week on download stores' virtual shelves and rocketed from No. 51 to No. 1 on the big chart. Sure, "Low" only slipped to No. 2, but every journey begins with one step, right? [Billboard]

Usher Calls For The Waaaahmbulance With A Little Help From Ne-Yo

Jess Harvell — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:30:52 EST

ARTIST: Usher
TITLE: "I Can't Win"
WEB DEBUT: Feb. 20, 2008

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: Far from the headache-inducing weirdness of "Dat Girl Right There", Usher's last Leak Of The Day, the anguished "I Can't Win" finds producers Stargate lending a platinum sheen of melodramatic piano and strings guaranteed to add zeros to sales tallies and radio spins. Songwriter Ne-Yo has Usher professing his faithfulness to a disbelieving sweetie who's been dogged out one too many times by other guys to believe him, and though the wounded Ush will do anything for love, he won't suffer for someone else having been a big ol' jerk. Ponderous and bland, this gloopy tear-jerker lacks the "Irreplaceable" bounce this dream team could have easily replicated. On the other hand, a canny rock band should think about quickly turning out a crossover cover in this post-"Apologize" era, whether it's four nice guys toning down the syncopation and rewriting it in a 3 Doors Downian idiom or an up-and-coming emo band adding a little guyliner for their post-breakthrough ballad.
WHERE TO FIND IT: The Rap-Up, whose lone commenter is probably right in guessing this will be inescapable if and when it finally makes it to radio.

A new(ish) destination for Idolator-reading ...

Jess Harvell — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:00:48 EST

A new(ish) destination for Idolator-reading R&B fans should be Andy Kellman's R&B chart watch on the Allmusic blog, where he runs down the most recent debuts on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. Sometimes literally runs them down, as with with this double-zinged attack re. Usher's "Dat Girl Right There": "If Alicia Keys can score big with a three-drink-minimum karaoke bar Keyshia Cole impersonation, there's no reason why this can't go Top Ten." Also a hearty WTF? @ OneRepublic making the R&B chart. Perhaps inevitable given "Apologize"'s insane popularity, still sad thanks its to insane awfulness. [Chart Watch]

Usher Makes Our Teeth Ache

mjohnston — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:30:41 EST

ARTIST: Usher (feat. Ludacris)
TITLE: "Dat Girl Right There"
WEB DEBUT: Nov. 11, 2007

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: When listening to Usher's monster hit from a few years back, "Yeah!," did you ever feel that what the song needed was less Lil' Jon, and more music that sounded like someone rubbing their wet fingers on a balloon, then turning that sound way, way, way up? If so, then "Dat Girl Right There"—the lead single from Usher's forthcoming album, which has apparently been moved up from "indefinitely postponed" to "maybe coming out sometime in 2008, we think"—is for you. The rest of the song kind of takes a backseat to the chaos provided by the backing track; Usher sings about seeing a girl, falling for her at first sight, etc., and Ludacris drops in for the chorus and a bridge where his voice is pitch-shifted so that it matches the squeak-sounds at each verse's end.
WHERE TO FIND IT: Chris Picks, who is really not into the squeaks. At all.

Today In Shifting Release Dates: Make Sure To Use A Pencil

mjohnston — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:05:27 EDT

Perhaps sensing that today would be a good day to put out bad news since people who cover music would be kinda distracted, release dates for three sorta-big upcoming albums were shifted today. (News that Mary J. Blige's Growing Pains was also pushed back has also been making the rounds, but this post on her official site, which originally said that its release date was Dec. 11, seems to have been corrected with the original Nov. 27 release date.) After the jump, we look at the three releases that are probably giving their respective marketing departments major headaches right now:

Usher, Untitled
Old date: November 2007.
New date: Sometime in 2008. (Maybe.)
Sorta-official reason: "Usher only listens to Tameka [Foster, his wife] now, and she wants all Usher's focus to be on her and the baby."
Real reason: That sounds pretty plausible, but then again, dude has a lot of cologne to offload.

Blake Lewis, A.D.D.
Old date: Nov. 27.
New date: Dec. 4.
Sorta-official reason: "We think it will be a better day for the release and its also taking some pressure off me, for getting this album done."
Real reason: Trying to perfect beatbox version of Bon Jovi's "Who Says You Can't Go Home" taking longer than expected.

Britney Spears, Blackout
Old date: Nov. 13.
New date: Oct. 30.
Official reason: "Due to these numerous unauthorized online leaks, the label is doing everything possible to prevent and avoid any further illegal distribution of songs including moving up the release date of the album to October 30th."
Real reason: Probably the opposite, since sales for "Gimme More" are already starting their long, slow decline—they're down 12% off last week. You do the math.

The commercials for Usher's long-awaited ...

mjohnston — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:38:31 EDT

The commercials for Usher's long-awaited fragrance: Slightly more coherent than Diddy's perfume ads, although that's probably because each one is about 1/6 as long as that lengthy "banned" promo was. [ConcreteLoop]

A week after their pricey wedding at L.A. ...

mjohnston — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:15:54 EDT

A week after their pricey wedding at L.A. Reid's Hamptons estate went to the dogs, Usher and stylist Tameka Foster were married Friday in a low-key ceremony at his lawyer's office in Atlanta. [USA Today]

Usher's Wedding Spread Goes To The Dogs

mjohnston — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 12:08:24 EDT

As more rumors regarding Usher's canceled wedding to Tameka Foster fly, a musician who was recently hired to play at "a certain wedding (or should I say, non-wedding) that's been getting a lot of attention recently in the news media" decided to spill the story about his weekend in the Hamptons to Impose Magazine. After the jump, we get a glimpse into the million-dollar nuptials that could have been, complete with 1934 Steinway piano, "Prom Fantasy Tent" (???), botanical garden's supply of orchids, and free Poland Spring for the musicians:

Our area was in the "chapel" tent, where the ceremony was to take place. It had been erected over the grounds' tennis court, almost to the Golden Ratio. The music stands were placed in a row awaiting our music. The piano, a 1934 Steinway rented from one of the top studios in midtown Manhattan, had just been tuned. The wicker chairs where the guests would sit, which alone looked impressive, were being draped with a soft beige fabric covering, seamlessly unifying the decor. Every base covered.

We got out our instruments, burned through some Handel for about twenty minutes and then quickly reached for our Poland Springs. The tent was humid and balmy. I was a little tired from waking up so early. Suddenly, in popped the famed wedding planner for the stars, mistress of todays' ceremonies. She called us into the dining tent for a quick meeting. The flutist in our group thought she was joking when she whispered: "she's bringing us in there to say the whole thing's been canceled."

The wedding planner got right to the point, and we had to vacate the premises, and strike the entire tent setup within a matter of hours. At least a million dollars worth of pageantry had to be dismantled for a wedding that wasn't even going to take place. The orchids would be tossed, the incredible food would be fed to the German shepherds, and no one would dance in the Prom Fantasy Tent. One of the florists cried.

Meanwhile, our pianist and leader needed to contact the piano studio, as he needed to organize a quicker pick-up than anticipated. The studio, however, was being somewhat inflexible. Our leader had no choice but approach the keeper of the grounds, the major-label executive, and ask him to be patient with the piano. Our leader entered the house, probably one of the only people allowed of our hundred-person wedding army permitted to do so. We waited from a distance, trying to get a peak inside. And lo, there was the executive, having lunch. Our leader, who was able to get in talking distance, later described him to us as a "Gatsby"-like figure. He was having one of his three servants bring him a VO Manhattan straight-up along with a celery juice. Quite a spread, he said, commenting on the controlled chaos taking place on his property.

Our leader explained the situation and the executive nodded. That was all. Everything was fine.

So solemn. But really, they couldn't give the musicians doggie bags with the food? Surely those German Shepherds would have been OK with sharing.

So there was this wedding that got called off in the Hamptons... [Impose Magazine]

Idolator's Tribute-Video Treasury Takes Joan Osborne And Lil' Jon To "The Lion King"

Kate Richardson — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:15:47 EDT

Ed. note: Once again, Idolator intern Kate Richardson scours the video sites, looking for the best fan-made music videos. In this entry, she looks at two very different takes on The Lion King:

The Lion King has some of the best—or at least some of the most memorable—music in recent Disney-movie history. But the tribute-video community has never taken to heart the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Today's clips demonstrate the consequences of combining one's favorite song with one's favorite movie, relevance be damned. The joy of victory? The agony of defeat? It's always a little bit of both when you bring together mid-'90s philosophy pop and Lil' Jon.

Song: "One of Us" by Joan Osborne
Concept: The Lion King as one lion's struggle to come to terms with God and his own mortality after the death of his father.
If God had a name, what would it be? Simba? Rafiki? This video skates by mostly on the novelty of its concept. Basically none of the images, except maybe the nature scenes, particularly mesh with the song, and I'm deducting major points for the clip's emphasis on the tragic Mufasa death scene. It's almost like subtle, calculated emotional torture: having to listen to this droning song while watching one of the saddest scenes Disney has ever conjured. Plus the editing is really draggy and uninspired, making the whole thing feel kind of flat. I guess I can see the idea behind it—apply some deeper meanings to a heavy part of The Lion King—but all in all, the clip just doesn't really work.
Best music-to-image sync-up moment: The last minute of the video when Simba talks to the God-like Mufasa in the clouds. It's definitely the most appropriate scene for the song,
Silliest music-to-image sync-up moment: At 2:15, when Zazu is comically smashed against the side of a rock by Scar as Joan Osborne sings, "Yeah, yeah, God is good."

Song: "Lovers & Friends" by Lil' Jon & the East Side Boyz featuring Usher and Ludacris
Concept: The Lion King as passionate story of an ambiguous relationship.
Never before has the sensuality of lion love been explored so thoroughly. Kudos to this video for taking a seemingly irrelevant song and employing it to make characters in The Lion King uncomfortably sexual. Is it the silky-smooth beat? The ever-so-subtle innuendo of Ludacris? I can't put my finger on it, but the combination of this song and the Simba-Nala flirtation footage is inexplicably successful and completely bizarre.
Best music-to-image sync-up moment: There are many well-crafted moments in this video, but my personal favorite is near the beginning when Usher sings "Take a shot of this here Patron and it's gon' be on" as Simba and Nala are drinking from a pond. A pond of Patron!
Silliest music-to-image sync-up moment: A little over halfway in, when Lil' Jon comes in and it looks like Simba is singing to Nala.

Verdict: Though the Joan Osborne video is noble of spirit, the Lil' Jon & co. clip is better-assembled, generally more entertaining, and sexier by far, making it the king of Pride Rock and winner of this week's match-up.

Bonus: I couldn't bear to subject myself to multiple viewings of this Rammstein/Lion King video, but I felt that it couldn't go completely unmentioned. It's got some great editing and a few truly inspired moments.

Usher Confesses (To Being a Dick)

jharv — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 10:35:24 EDT

The noive of this guy. Apparently guilt-ridden, washboard-flauntin' R&B star Usher is waving his, uh, legal team at his fans, trying to get usherforever.com closed down because the owner of the site had some words about dude's micromanaging fiancée, Tameka Foster. Foster's influence apparently has the singer's camp leaking more hired help than the McCain campaign, including the firing Usher's of former manager, a.k.a. his mom. Should make for a fun-filled Thanksgiving.

Fanning Usher's Ire [New York Daily News, first item]

Liner Notes: Usher Finally Affirms His Masculinity

Brian Raftery — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:04:02 EDT

- Usher's going to be a father. Expect the child to be born with a velour blazer and a six-pack, and to immediately hit on the nurse. [Rush & Molloy]
- The Used's Bert McCracken has a node on one of his vocal cords, forcing the band to cancel two months' worth of shows. [Pollstar]
- Apparently, one of Scott Storch's former collaborators just got out of jail. [CNN]

R. Kelly Still The Master Of The Twist

mjohnston — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:11:25 EDT

R. Kelly and Usher's "Same Girl" is probably going to be coming out of a lot of Casanovas' car windows over the next few weeks, but all those people will be missing out on the above videoclip, which features the two singers toasting their ability to attract the same young lady and getting hot and sweaty on the basketball court. Not only that, but the ending of the video somehow manages to be a happy one, or at least one where the two men aren't required to come to blows over the rights to the tattooed, TBS-employed lady that they're vying for. We're definitely chalking that fact up to Kells' ample skills with narrative.

R. Kelly - Same Girl (feat. Usher) [DailyMotion, via CONCRETELOOP]

Leak Of The Day: Everyone Is Ripping Off Sisqo

mjohnston — Thu, 17 May 2007 11:00:00 EDT

You're an R & B star who has been out of the game for a while, and you want to get some fast-and-loose Internet buzz. How do you get back in the spotlight? "Thong Song" singer Sisqo decided to go the "record a diss track about Usher and R. Kelly that takes time out to thank the fans" route. "One Finga" calls the two to the mat for ripping off the former Dru Hill member's style, although in our opinion, the monophonic-ringtone backing track really isn't helping his case. Anyway, here's hoping that this song somehow gets figured into the plot for "Same Girl, Part II":

~~Sisqo - One Finga~~ [MP3, link expired; via MissInfo.tv]
Earlier: Leak Of The Day: R. Kelly And Usher Have An Awkward Moment

Leak Of The Day: R. Kelly And Usher Have An Awkward Moment

mjohnston — Thu, 03 May 2007 10:21:53 EDT

What are the odds that R. Kelly and Usher would fall hard for the same TBS-employed Georgia Tech alum, and even use the identical ringtone for her incoming calls? We didn't think they were that likely—the world, after all, is a pretty big place—but "Same Girl," a light-as-air duet between the two, has proved us wrong (and as a bonus, Kells gets to work in the title of his forthcoming album, Double Up, albeit in a sorta pejorative way):

~~R. Kelly Featuring Usher - Same Girl~~ [MP3, link expired; via Notes From A Different Kitchen]
R. Kelly [MySpace]

Liner Notes: Busta Rhymes Has Not Been Arrested In Nearly Twelve Hours

Brian Raftery — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:41:07 EST

- Busta Rhymes has been arrested again, this time for driving without a license. He still faces criminal charges for an alleged attack last December, as well as for wearing a sleeveless velour vest from July 2003 to August 2005. [AP]
- Usher's mom is worried that the singer's personal-stylist-turned-fiancée is unworthy of marrying her son. As with all matters in the Raymond household, this will be settled with a three-hour dance-off. [Daily News]
- The members of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Ron Jeremy have many things in common: They all love strippers, they all look like out-of-shape bikers, and they're all known for going on way too long. [Page Six]

Liner Notes: Usher Says Yeah! To Twenty Hours Of Community Service

Brian Raftery — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 12:54:58 EST

- Usher has been convicted of a traffic violation—a sexy traffic violation. [NME]
- Once again, Neil Young is promising that his long-in-the-works, career-spanning Archives box-set—likely to include 147 different takes of "Powderfinger"—will be out this year. [Undercover]
- Every single artist ever in the history of the world will be appearing at the Grammys. [Billboard]

Liner Notes: Madonna Having More Trouble At The Borderline

Brian Raftery — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 14:29:27 EDT

- Madonna's adoption of a one-year-old Malawi is drawing her worst reviews since Shanghai Surprise. Note: Today's Liner Notes were written by the ghost of circa-1987 Dennis Miller. [Reuters]
- Usher injures his jazz hands, forcing him to pull out of his Broadway turn in Chicago. [People]
- MTV is teaming up with boy-band whiz Johnny Wright to revamp Menudo. Look for Rolling Stone's blog to make a hilarious, Mark Foley-related joke about this by the end of the day. [Billboard]