Album review: Usher - Here I stand

After dropping the biggest album of 2004, doing a couple of collabos, getting married and welcoming his first son, Usher is back with his fifth album Here I stand.

Right off of the bat it's clear that Here I stand is funkier, more uptempo than Confessions and has a more varied sound. But the problem here is that there are one too many producers, one too many songs, and an album that fumbles from track to track rather than flows. The production on every song is tight, and vocally Usher sounds better than ever before. But something feels lacking about many of the songs, and at times Usher feels lost in the songs and doesn't always sell them. Picking a smaller selection of producers or even one or two to help craft a sound would have worked wonders.

Tricky Stewart and The Dream show they are no flukes, as they lace Usher with "This ain't sex", "Trading places" and "Moving mountains", all of which are solid cuts with catchy hooks and quirky lyrics. Fans of "Moving mountains" will be glad to know the song has an extra verse and a more polished sound from the version which hit the web some months ago. Stargate also do a great job providing Usher with stripped down productions that showcase Usher's vocals, with Ne-Yo penning much better lyrics for Usher than he pens for himself. "His mistake" and "What's a man to do" sound like Rihanna's "Unfaithful" and Ne-Yo's "Go on girl" respectively, but they are still solid songs and would make good singles. Jermaine Dupri's protegé Bryan Michael Cox also brings hotness to the table with "Before I met you". It utilises a style he's run into the ground by this point (see Mary J. Blige's "Stay down") but the song is hot.

Shockingly Jermaine Dupri and Usher's magic doesn't dazzle on this album at all. Jermaine Dupri has always managed to create a career defining song for Usher with every album. My way had "You make me wanna", 8701 had "U got it bad" and Confessions had "Burn". But Here I stand has...nothing. He must be losing his touch, because he wasn't able to come through that strong for Mariah on E=MC² neither.

Here I stand isn't a terrible album, but nothing about it really stands out. It lacks any form of impact, and as you listen to it you're waiting for it to blow you away, but it never does. My opinions on the album may change, because I hated Confessions at first and then grew to like it more with each listen. The fact of the matter is that Here I stand is not a bad album, it's just not great. I may be asking a bit much to ask of an artist who has continued to show growth and spawn at least one timeless single release with each album. But there's no denying that Usher could have done much better than this. It's also telling that the albums strongest cuts all sound like songs other artists have done before. Usher is usually the one you can rely on to set a trend and not adhere to ones that have gone before. So to have him come to the table with half an album that sounds like a mixtape of 2007 singles from other artists is a bit shit.

RATING: 6 / 10

Album highlights:
■ Love in this club (Parts 1 & 2)
■ Trading places ★ J's fave
■ Moving mountains
■ Love you gently
■ Before I met you
■ His mistakes
■ What's a man to do