Usher – Here I stand

• 1st Jun 2008

In order for me to listen and review Usher, it would mean I would have to acknowledge him as a musician or artist. Which I simply refuse to do.

I simply refute his existence and I feel that by listening to his music is somehow contributing to a rising mass of mediocrity that plagues an industry that is already ridden with enough filth. It may seem ultimately pretentious and perhaps rude, but is his music not more offensive? I would rather write hundreds of words on the state of the industry and the repercussions of such releases than bore you with a review of something that is not worth reviewing. And I chose to do this not only for exemplary reasons, but for ones of passion; simply because everything I adore about music and everything I’m sure every music fan adores about music, is absolutely trashed by the existence of such artists. This isn’t even an outright protest against Usher himself, more what he represents; the complete and utter abolishment of what music as an art form stands for. A person who is equally as bothered with how his brand of perfume smells as he is with the sound of his finished record, a person who would have no qualms about selling any of his music to any corporation, like he were selling a pair of his overpriced branded jeans or underpants. A Person who would no doubt have the coca-cola logo branded onto his chest, and prance shirtless endlessly on MTV if the price was right.

I was unfortunate enough to hear some of Usher’s single prior to receiving this album, and although I’m choosing to ignore to his music, it was everything I expected to expect. No fervour, no balls, no heart, no nothing. As bland and as generic as you could possibly expect. The guy is a walking commercial for everything that is wrong in the music world, the only thing that makes him stand out is that he gets paid a million times more than all the people in the music world that are paradigms for what music really stands for.