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Pop Rock Nation

Category: People

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  • Ne-Yo Wants Usher To Focus

    The latest from MTV.com is that Usher’s going to drop a new album next year. But what about Here I Stand, which dropped in late May just this year? Personally, I thought the album was above average, but lacked that extra Usher something. Money Mike and I discussed this when we talked about commercial R&B in 2008.

    Usher says that Ne-Yo will be a part of the new project and Ne-Yo had a lot to say about Usher’s latest work.

    Well, I was one of the first people to tell Usher, personally, that I didn’t think he was focused on the album … on Here I Stand. I don’t think his focus was in the right place. And I’m a dude, and that’s my personal opinion and I’m entitled to it, and he respected that I kept it real with him about that. I think that this time around … It’s not so much that I think Here I Stand was a bad record, it just wasn’t the Usher that we remembered. I mean, that joint [Confessions] right there went 10-15 million worldwide, so it was going to be difficult to come back from that anyway. So I just think he’s gotta get back to what he knows, which is to get out there and make ’em dance — entertain them at the end of the day. Like, it seems like he had a lot to say, almost like he had something to prove with the Here I Stand record. Like a different dude now: ‘I got a family now, and this is who I am.’ As opposed to before, when it was about, ‘I’mma get up and entertain y’all. I’m gonna sing songs that got something to say, but at the same time, I’m gonna entertain y’all.’ And I think he just needs to get back there. And I think that’s where he’ll wind up.

    To shorten what he said, it sounds to me that he just didn’t think the album was hot, no matter what the themes were. And I think that’s what I was getting at. Musically, Here I Stand was fine. But it wasn’t hot. There wasn’t anything on that record that made you stand up and listen.

    But what Ne-Yo didn’t say was that he made the album Usher was striving for. If you haven’t heard to Year Of The Gentleman, check it out. It’s a more maturely written record on the relationships vibe than Usher’s was.

    Photo by monstershaq2000 shared via creative commons

  • The Best You’ve Never Heard – Introduction

    Next week is “The Best You’ve Never Heard” week on Music Help Web. Before I let you know exactly what that is, I’m going to give you a little bit of background on why we’re having a themed week.

    Money Mike has put together a fantastic group of writers for this site. No one has exactly the same taste in music. Everyone is different. I was thinking of ways to showcase the variety that you can find on this site and came up with an idea. I wanted to allow each writer to write about one of their favorite songs from one of their favorite artists. But rather than write about a song that’s famous, I wanted them to write about a song that is a little less known. I wanted them to find that one gem that they hold true to their heart that for whatever reason, never hit.

    Thus, starting Monday, you’ll be able to read blog posts from some of our writers based around the same theme. Money Mike will lead things off Monday and I’ll finish it up at the end of the week. Look forward to seeing our inner music geek. It will be “The Best You’ve Never Heard”.

  • Infatueighties #70: You’re the One for Me by “D” Train

    Man, what I wouldn’t give for the chance to have been born 10 years earlier, so I could have witnessed the club culture of the early Eighties. Disco didn’t die, it just went back underground where it started, where it served a faithful group of urbanites, minorities and gays. Some of the best “disco” records actually didn’t surface until after disco allegedly died.

    Case in point-You’re the One for Me. James Williams (who for all intents and purposes, was D-Train) could have just as easily been crooning seductive Teddy Pendergrass-esque tunes in that husky baritone, but he chose to focus on the dancefloor instead of the bedroom, probably secure in the knowledge that one led to the other anyway.

    I love watching clips like this where there’s a guitarist and drummer on stage, but it’s beyond obvious that there’s not one non-synthesized instrument to be found anywhere on this song. Also keep in mind that this isn’t the original version, but instead a slightly remixed version-slightly sped up and given some more synthy goodness by Paul Hardcastle, who scored a couple of hits of his own in the Eighties with Rainforest and 19.