Rating: 5/5 stars
Dominating the pop sector of the music industry at the turn of the century, Usher Raymond IV (“Confessions”), better known as just Usher, has made a strong return on the scene with his ninth studio album, “Coming Home.” This release follows almost eight years since his last album, “Hard Love II,” in 2016.
Usher’s position at the top of the leaderboards is not revolutionary; “U Remind Me” was no.1 for four weeks in 2001, “Yeah!” for 12 weeks before being dethroned by Usher’s “Burn” in 2004 and most recently, “OMG” for four weeks in 2010. These works, however, were influenced by the conditions of the 2000s music field, interweaving then-popular synth-pop notes into these top-chart hits. Nowadays, music genres such as hip-hop/rap and R&B/soul have a more prominent presence as a denominator, if not at the forefront of musical works.
This change in dynamic is evident in “Coming Home.” The album opens with the title track “Coming Home,” which follows a suave rhythm and slowed tempo. With a prominent love-sick theme, the title directs Usher’s storytelling of a lover yearning for their other half at home, the comfort of being united in such a personal setting tugging at the heartstrings of the narrator. Relative to other songs that follow a common standard, such as “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love,” “Coming Home” slams on the breaks and lets the song’s intensity marinate, a suave flow through the headphones that pulls the listener in tight.
This opening sets the stage for even more to come. “A-Town Girl,” “Kissing Strangers” and “Bop” continue the seductive course, a testament to Usher’s history of singing. “Risk It All” takes it further by featuring Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson (“The Journey”), better known as H.E.R. The duo’s intertwining vocals press against one another, elevating the sense of want and desire for one another behind the tones of a piano in the song’s background.
Though Usher’s newest album hones in on the chemistry of infatuation, not all his songs follow the same unhurried template: “Keep On Dancin’,” “I Love U” and “Standing Next to You” return to his older synth-pop roots, creating an underlying beat that cannot be undermined to just “catchy.” The latter creates a sense of dancing under beaming yellow lights, a scene that justifies an imaginary blur of a night with someone you just met and can’t keep away from. “Good Good” features Summer Walker (“New Type”) and 21 Savage (“just like me”), and the resulting three-way melody is a multifaceted song that raises the album beyond the modern-day standards of simple versatility.
Usher has described “Coming Home” as his “most personal and vulnerable,” and this sentiment is crystal clear throughout the album. The combination of Usher’s resonating vocals and suave singing pace lays the foundation for an album dedicated to all forms of love and craving, from the intimate desire between two lovers to the clandestine but conscious affair, the highlight of “On The Side.”
Image from Ames Friedman via Flickr
