Album Review: Usher – Versus (EP)

Artist: Usher
Album: Versus (EP)
Release Date: 8.24.2010

If you’ve got the disappointment that was Raymond v. Raymond you may find a bit of redemption in Usher’s latest release Versus – but only a bit. It’d be nice of Usher to just be consistent with his fans again, but even this project proves that he’s once again trying to find his place in a music scene he once dominated. Though it offers less total tracks than Usher’s previous album, the number of worthwhile music here balances out with the amount of keepers from the album.

Included in this “final chapter” are some fan favorites including There Goes My Baby and the Usher/Bieber-remix-collab on Somebody To Love (currently in heavy rotation over here!). The lead single evokes Usher’s fun style from albums like My Way and 8701 on the dancefloor smash Dj Got Us Fallin’ In Love, an infectious uptempo jam that features Cuban rapper Pitbull. But it’s Lay You Down that truly shines from this project, allowing the singer to, once again, channel a bit of Prince and re-introduce the sexual nature that peaked on the Confessions album (Special edition tracks). Not to be overlooked is Hot Toddy, another of Usher’s strongest tracks of late, teaming him with Ester Dean and hip-hop impresario Jay-Z for a high-powered collab with the potential to skyrocket on the urban music charts.

Lingerie may offer some jaw-dropping lyrics but it sounds forced and really questions the image Usher is trying to convey. Bun B joins on Get In My Car, another lackluster effort. Stranger is almost there but doesn’t quite hit the mark as it sounds too much like the controversial single Papers.

With so much in Usher’s very public personal life, it’s easy to see that there’s a range of content to sing about beyond sex, women and wild nights of partying like his newfound joys of fatherhood. The fans want to see Usher top Confessions, myself included, but it wasn’t the controversy alone that made that album such a treasure – it’s the fact that it was so honest and personal. With his last few releases Usher has disconnected from that, and so, from his fans. Versus is decent, and with every release Usher seems to be getting back on track – but this one still doesn’t quite hit the mark.

Sound-Savvy rates Versus with 3 out of 5 platinum headphones