R&B CLASSICS: Usher - Confessions

Within the span of one year, Jermaine Dupri produced two masterpieces that were both unapologetically R&B, yet still managed to go diamond in a time when the music industry was on death's door, thereby becoming two of the biggest albums of the 00s, across all genres. A feat that seems almost impossible now for an R&B-ass R&B album to achieve.

The second one of those two albums was Mariah Carey's 'The Emancipation of Mimi', which will get its due later. The first one was Usher's 2004 album 'Confessions', his magnum opus and undeniably one of the best R&B albums of all time. As Kenneth Hicks writes:

So So Def.



@Henry You can unpin the other now and pin this one, please.

 

I know 'Yeah' has become kind of a meme now, but people that did not experience it probably can't understand just how huge that song and this album were. It was everywhere.

I remember buying it day one. I have so many memories attached to it. To this day I'm never not in the mood to listen to it. It's one of my favourite albums of all time. I say this as someone who hasn't really cared about an Usher album since.

 

amazing record

 

Phenomenal record. I remember trying to dig into his other albums and nothing came close to hitting the same.

I’m 25 and I still hear “Yeah!” at every single club/bar I’ve gone to the past dour years.

 

In high school I once danced the waltz with a pretty girl to Yeah

 

I was gonna say Burn is his best song but it's probably second to U Got It Bad but still phenomenal

 

For me it’s probably between Burn and Confessions Part II. Superstar is up there too.

 

Yeah was so huge that it played at my 4th grade dance

 

I remember being thrown by Yeah! when it first came out. I had really loved Usher’s singles from My Way and 8701 and Yeah was such a different sound. I originally thought it was going to flop but boy was I wrong.

Anyways, great album but I do think it’s a little longer than it needs to be. I actually had the urge to put this on a couple weeks ago so it’s fresh in my mind. That opening stretch of songs from the Intro through Superstar is pretty perfect. Outside the singles, Throwback was always one of my favorites - Just Blaze killed that beat.

 

It doesn't hep that Spotify only has the rerelease, which is definitely too long.

 

Once you hear the triangle in Yeah!, you can never unhear it

 

When LL Cool J's 'Hush' originally came out, I loved it, but after a while I started noticing this hi-hat (I think, I'm bad at at that kind of terminology) that drove me nuts and ruined the song for me for a while. I took me months to get over it.

So, I haven't noticed a triangle sound in Yeah so far and I don't intend to try

 

Save yourself and do not look for it haha. One of those things you’ll never be able to unhear!

 

I'm right there with you. This album was simply massive at the time.

 

All-timer

whole album is special but the title track(s) are something else

 

I can’t listen to this album without imagining the 2003 remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In the spring of 2004 I would watch that film and this listen to this album because they were the two things I spent my money on in late March or early April.

Confessions pt 2 all the way

 

the sounds of my youth. I was so obsessed with Usher in those days. every single he put out was perfection!

 

The explanation makes sense but that’s kinda fucked up lol

 

I wasn’t into this genre as a kid, but his music was everywhere.

 

This was *the* R&B album when it came out.

 

Damn good album.