OPINION: The ageless singer ran through a quick medley of hits sounding as good in 2022 as he did two decades ago.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
On the heels of one of the most entertaining, yet least vocally enjoyable Verzuz “battles” of all time, Usher graced NPR’s Tiny Desk to add his name to the list of artists with epic Tiny Desk concerts. Floating over hits from his My Way through Confessions albums, and sounding as good live as he does in the studio reminded me of something that I don’t think we spend enough time talking about:
Usher is an R&B legend. In my mind, this isn’t a controversial statement, and perhaps it isn’t, but I wonder if it’s a consensus statement.
Now, one six-song setlist performed at a literal desk in the offices of NPR does not a legend make. But there was a reminder in there somewhere. For instance, Usher mentioned a few times that we’re coming up on the 25-year anniversary of his sophomore album, 1997’s My Way (released on Sept. 16, 1997). That nine-track album—technically it’s 10, but the last song is just “You Make Me Wanna…” extended—featured a song that is not only still one of the GOAT-level R&B jams but also doubles as a viable and legitimate Black Jeopardy question in various form: “What and where was Usher at 7 o’clock on the dot?” Or “What time was, specifically, was Usher cruising the streets in a drop-top?”
This song is, of course, “Nice & Slow.” That song is over 20 years old and is still as much of a jam today as it was then. And then, of course, you have what I believe to be arguably Usher’s greatest song of all time, The Neptunes produced jam, “U Don’t Have to Call”—from his 2001 8701 album—a song so good that it almost convinced a 21-year-old Panama Jackson to buy a banded collar brown leather jacket and some Heelys so I could bust out my video-dance moves on-demand and wow any crowd that would, of course, assemble around me to witness my greatness. Greatness I only attained from hopefully attempting to copy Usher.
Just as a point of note, I won’t be mentioning all of Usher’s hits because he has too many to name. Too. Many.
And of course, the most feather in the cap feather in a cap that ever did exist, in March 2004, Usher unleashed the last, truly landmark R&B album, with Confessions, an album SO timeless that if he released it today I think it would still be a huge album (though nothing is as big as albums were in the late ’90s and early aughts). Usher performed .
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