The Singles Jukebox

This video may have interesting things in it, but I was kind of in a rush this morning…

[Video][Website]
[3.43]

Kat Stevens: NO-MG more like! Raymond has swiped Baby D’s trance synth (and Ne-Yo’s hat) but has misplaced the awesome breakbeat that goes underneath it (the trance synth, not the hat). Also missing: his ability to sing more than 3 notes.
[1]

Martin Skidmore: His smooth style is destroyed by the extreme autotuning on much of it. Oddly, despite writing it, he doesn’t sound convinced by the lyrics, which is fair enough for lines like “Baby got some boobies like wow wow wow”. The production seems unsympathetic too, the dull drums especially, and it ends up sounding mechanical beyond just the vocal effects.
[4]

Al Shipley: As uncomfortable and pandering as Ursh’s international single is, it’s in some ways more effective and assured than any of his increasingly desperate attempts at a club banger that U.S. radio will embrace.
[3]

Alex Ostroff: How did we end up here? Six years ago, Confessions was dominating the charts and everything Usher touched was pop gold. Since then, Timberlake beat him at his own game, and Usher’s released two albums, both relatively mediocre. From thence, “OMG”, in which Usher abandons the regret-soaked love and break-up ballads that were his greatest strength, and instead spends four and a half minutes embarrassing himself on a second-tier will.i.am electrohouse production. Actual lyrics include the following: “Honey got a booty like pow pow pow / Honey got some boobies like wow oh wow.” While that’s certainly not a far cry from The-Dream’s “Her titties like Woooo / Her booty like Ooooo,” Terius never takes himself too seriously, and manages to infuse “Take U Home 2 My Mama” with his own awkward charm. Usher, who’s always sold songs through the power of his absolute sincerity and intensity, just sounds uncomfortable, desperate, and bored.
[3]

Hillary Brown: This is what’s dethroning Justin Bieber from the top of the charts? A combination of vintage video game bass and sparkles Hannah Montana would be embarrassed to sprinkle on? Not that it’s unenjoyable, including Usher’s need to make the G stand for “gosh”; it’s just that he seems to have regressed quite a bit over the past few years.
[5]

Iain Mew: Is will.i.am going to turn “Let the beat drop!” into the new “JeJeJeJeJerrrr”? Not only is that even more intrusive, it’s somewhat greedy to apply it on top of taking a featured credit. Still, if he carries on making stuff as annoyingly overstuffed as this, it will at least act as an early warning to turn off.
[3]

Alfred Soto: The song’s autonomy, such as it is, relies entirely on my investment in Usher as a convincing purveyor of robosoul. And Usher almost approaches lovesound when he sings “Aww you’ve got it all,” if not quite futuresex (it is kinda cute that Usher won’t offend his momma by cursing). Sputtering like a car with a bad transmission, the rest of the track barely holds together.
[5]