★★★★★
This post has been corrected, as indicated below. In a 2010 interview, Usher Raymond IV was asked about his then-recently unveiled new hairstyle, a so-called "faux-hawk" that was popular at the time. The multi-platinum, multi-Grammy-winning R&B singer known the world over as simply Usher replied with a bold statement on his work to come. "I'm a consumer of culture and love mixing styles and inspirations, both in my music and my style...
- latimesblogs.latimes.com
2013-04-01
★★★★★
Now eighteen years deep into his trade of urban contemporary r&b, Usher Raymond is no longer the cute little kid that sang "My Way" and "You Make Me Wanna." Today, the Michael Jackson-meets-Marvin Gaye apprentice is a man with many scars, deep secrets and maybe a few painful regrets. "Sometimes you gotta go through somethin' to get to somethin'," Raymond writes in the inside liner notes of his seventh studio album, Looking 4 Myself. "With every adversity comes a seed of greater benefit...
- www.soultracks.com
2012-07-09
★★★★★
Usher Raymond IV has always had all the talent and fame in the world, but he has also always wanted to be taken seriously. Maybe it's because he was thrust into pop stardom as a teenager; maybe because he's had some very public ups and downs. Whatever the reason, he has always worked hard to show us how hard he's working. This has sometimes resulted in thrilling pop moments (the best parts of Confessions, the "My Way" video, etc.) and sometimes just been exhausting (almost all of Raymond v...
- www.popmatters.com
2012-07-05
★★★★★
That Usher would arrive at Looking 4 Myself seems like a natural result of his musical Benjamin Button act. Even in the '90s, Usher's earliest hits seemed to be significantly more adult contemporary than singles by his similarly aged contemporaries. "Can U Get Wit It," "You Make Me Wanna...," and "Nice & Slow" all sound today like songs K-Ci & JoJo's uncle or Brian McKnight's grandfather might have conceivably recorded, not someone still clinging to the tail end of their teen years...
- www.slantmagazine.com
2012-06-28
★★★★★
Pop needs a bloke like Usher who can sing, dance and make your girlfriend's knees tremble with one well-timed flash of his torso. Excluding Chris Brown, naturally, there's no one who comes close to the R&B superstar's ability to top the charts with a falsetto vocal that's cravenly sexual. So it's more than a little ironic that Looking 4 Myself is an album with one eye on the introspective competition of The Weeknd and Frank Ocean...
- drownedinsound.com
2012-06-18
★★★★★
On his seventh album, Usher Raymond IV claims to have invented a new genre, which he has modestly termed "revolutionary pop". The claim is, of course, spurious - all he's done is admitted various dance music elements into his ultra-smooth R&B sound. Still, it's nice to hear a pop juggernaut such as Usher (five multi-platinum albums over 14 years) taking a few risks: for one, they yielded Climax, his sublime collaboration with Diplo...
- www.guardian.co.uk
2012-06-14
★★★★★
Usher Raymond IV found his niche early and stuck with it. He's one of those rare pop stars whose personality seems to mirror his musical output. Whether he's being a romantic sap or showing his way around an embarrassing chat-up line, he's not been one to jump onto musical trends; Usher's honesty is endearing, rather than a fad. Actually this is only true up until 2010 when, like most other vaguely susceptible pop stars, he succumbed to the advances of David Guetta, will.i.am and Pitbull...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2012-06-14
★★★★★
Overlearning the lessons from 2008's ballad-heavy, underperforming Here I Stand, Usher turned to the clubs for his 2010 divorce album Raymond V. Raymond, revitalizing his career but also releasing some of his worst singles. By Raymond's companion EP Versus and its Max Martin-produced single "DJ Got Us Falling In Love," Usher had gone full Night At The Roxbury, turning himself over almost completely to contemporary dance trends...
- www.avclub.com
2012-06-14
★★★★★
He's probably one of the greatest male superstars to come out of the turn-of-the-century tradition of tween urban R&B and crossover pop. Usher Raymond used his cool swagger, lightning sharp choreography, strong ballads and dance tunes (with the help of A-list producers) to capture the hearts of millions. He made a name for himself with My Way, back in 1997, but abruptly transformed into a pop star with the 25 million international seller Confessions...
- www.soultracks.com
2010-12-07
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