Usher (Entertainer)

Mariah Carey's Failed Adjustment

The BET Awards: A Running Diary

Recommended: Young Jeezy at the Blender Theater

The Sordid History of Showbiz Pizza Place House Band the Rock-afire Explosion

Usher Doesn't Have Sex Anymore

He now 'makes moments that will outlast the world' instead. You'll live with it.

The-Dream's Logic

How his pop megahits are like iPhones, or maybe like swinging belts

Infidelity-Aware R&B Cutie-Pie Proves He'd Be a Crummy Boyfriend

How his pop megahits are like iPhones, or maybe like swinging belts

VMT&A's

Who and what went down at the MTV Video Awards

Tusk! Tusk! Tusk! Tusk! Tusk! Tusk! Tusk! Tusk! Tusk!

Who and what went down at the MTV Video Awards

School’s Out and in Flames

Who and what went down at the MTV Video Awards

Sells Like Teen Spirit

Who and what went down at the MTV Video Awards

Undermine Your Own Business

EMI cleans house, Elektra merges, Arista folds, what's left?

Competing With Life

Annual clusterfuck pulls in hordes except when it doesn't

No Nookie

Squeaky-clean teen shares milk shakes with king of crunk

Niggapalooza

De clones of Dr. Crunkenstein diversify beats and skeets

Real Confessions

The supernatural love child of Chaka Khan and Al Jarreau

Young Adult . . . Err . . . Err

R&B infidel still has seven years to make full Confessions

Cred Sheet

Stuff You Need to Know to Avoid Cultural Ostracism

SUBURBAN SOUL

Rise of the house of Usher

American Idol Top 9: Boy-Kissing White Boy Adam Lambert Plays that Funky Music, Megan Joy is a Cocky Bitch, Courtesy of iTunes

Sharyn Jackson is your American Idol host for season eight. This week: the iTunes sales plugging Top 9! all photos courtesy of FOXWallet-chain widower Danny Gokey The producers simply can't justify another two-hour show with only nine contestants remaining, so they've graciously cut back to 90 min ... More >>

MJ Tribute Wrap-Up

We're more accustomed to 50-minute sets and cannot really stick around for We Are The World, Heal the World, Give the World a Nice Hug, and whatever other treacle is in store. And we can't stand mourning no matter how splendidly staged. But we must give props to local statesman Reverend Al ("There ... More >>

Who Should Perform at The Michael Jackson Tribute?

​On September 26, Vienna will be home not to just mountains of high-caloric wiener schnitzel, but to scads of bad-for-you stars singing their love for Michael Jackson so they can gain a mass televised audience and revive their careers. It's basically the memorial all over again, but without al ... More >>

Confirmed: Beyonce Performed For "Terror-Backing Libyan Dictator" Scion Hannibal Khadafy

Image via Russell Simmons (who else?) by way of AnimalNY​Not the best look, performing on New Year's Eve on the yacht of the son of one of the more notorious terrorism financiers and Lockerbie bomber-absolvers on the planet. Worse if that son happens to have a woman-beating problem. The New Yo ... More >>

Robert Christgau On Lil Wayne: "If I've Ever Been This High, Which I Doubt, It Was 40 Years Ago"

​Here's Bob on Weezy, at length, of course, and absolutely worth the read, also of course. Two Rap Radar commenter quotes in the first paragraph! Extremely involved lyrical analysis! Stuff like this! Based on a stripper-ready DJ Unk track (I Googled that), it ends each of the 22 lines of its ... More >>

Watch the Video for Usher and Nicki Minaj's "Lil Freak"

No real complaints about this song, but what's with the frustrating 2010 trend of having to sit through 2-3 minutes of Usher or Ludacris or Robin Thicke or Bobby V before we finally get a Nicki Minaj verse? No doubt the money is phenomenal right now for her but it'd be nice to just skip the part w ... More >>

The Wan Confessions of Usher

On Raymond v. Raymond, a tell-all that tells very little

American Idol Season 9, R&B Week: Usher Clowns Tim Urban; Crystal Bowersox Teaches Typing

Michael Lynche goes India.Arie. Photo by Michael Becker / FOX. ​It's not always this way, but American Idol viewers had plenty of reason to fear the living hell out of soul/R&B week in this, the whitest Idol year in memory. Most of the remaining contestants this year look and act like they bel ... More >>

This Week's Voice: David Simon's Treme, Erykah Badu, Usher, High Places, Jules Feiffer, Leaves of Grass, and More

New Orleans reborn. Illustration by Goni Montes.​In this week's Village Voice, Larry Blumenfeld writes our cover story on David Simon's Treme and how the show can get New Orleans right, Rob Harvilla reviews Erykah Badu's newest, Rich Juzwiak takes on Usher, and Vijith Assar profiles the ex-NY ... More >>

How Justin Bieber's #1 Album Factors Into the Teen-Idol Solo-Artist Pantheon

Canadian teenpopper Justin Bieber bows at the top of this week's Billboard 200 with My World 2.0, which sold 283,000 copies in its first week at stores. The persistent Twitter trend and walking advertisement for blowdryers is the latest sheepishly grinning guy to hoist the teen-idol mantle, althou ... More >>

Proof That Anna Wintour Actually Danced During Diddy and Pharrell's Performance at the Met Gala After Party?

Second from the left, no? Credit: BBC​It's not quite Katie Couric busting the world's most unseemly move, but the above photo would seem to be evidence of Vogue editrix Anna Wintour's ability to clap her hands in a somewhat demonstrative and possibly even rhythmic way. Or is it just a lookalik ... More >>

Colt Ford, Renaissance Man

Meet country rap's 300-pound, ex-golf-pro, road-dawg sensation

A People's History of Summer Jam 2010

Drake debuts, Trey Songz gyrates, and DJ Khaled wins at the hip-hop event of the year

The Brilliant Stupidity of The-Dream

Love King continues the r&b lothario's streak of making terrible ideas sound like genius

Justin Bieber

Love King continues the r&b lothario's streak of making terrible ideas sound like genius

Why Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday Will Probably Be a Disappointment

Can this superhero save herself?​Nicki Minaj has had quite the weekend. First came "Check It Out," a Buggles-sampling, will.i.am-featuring slice of zaniness that seems destined for Pink Friday, her long-gestating debut LP, currently due on November 23. Then came a marriage announcement via fro ... More >>

Best Of NYC: Worrying About Nicki Minaj

Poppin' it so crazy kooky

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? American Idol Wobbles, R&B Thrives, And The '90s Rise Again

Welcome to Sound of the City's year-in-review rock-critic roundtable, an amiable ongoing conversation between five prominent Voice critics: Rob Harvilla, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, Maura Johnston, and Rich Juzwiak. We'll be here all week! At least one song on this record is really good!​Gent ... More >>

The 20 Worst Songs of 2010, #5: Artists for Haiti, "We Are The World 25 For Haiti"

F2K10 is a countdown of the 20 worst songs of 2010. Track our progress here. ​In 2010, when pop musicians are struggling to have half the visibility of the latest news-cycle-spawned entrant into Google Trends, it's hard not to see charity endeavors as ego extensions. Recall "Just Stand Up!," ... More >>

Michael Musto's Year in Review

Social and economic turmoil? Don't ask. At least we had Lady Gaga to tell us what to do.

Rock-Critic Pop Quiz #2: How Many Members Of New Edition Can You Name?

Left to right: Raphael Saddiq, Luther Vandross, Usher, Gerardo, Masta Killa, and Jimmy Rollins​It's a poorly kept industry secret that rock writers are cheaters, frauds, and goons -- as dependent on Google as a clown is on facepaint. Our ongoing column "Are You Smarter Than a Rock Critic?" pee ... More >>

The Jay-Z Fast Food Jukebox at Brooklyn's Buffalo Boss

While waiting for my fiery chicken wings at Buffalo Boss (read the review here ), the new wing joint at least partly owned by Jay-Z, I got to wondering, What should the music be at a place owned by Brooklyn's most respected hip-hop artist and businessman? Rap, of course, but what kind of rap? The ... More >>

The Fame Cookie: 2011 Grammy Awards Live Blog

It's the return of the most talked-about Grammy Awards live blog--a collection of quips, blips, and arguably insightful observations that dares to match the actual Grammy telecast in terms of pure spectacle and Justin Bieber mentions. Please join our hosts Tom Breihan and Ryan Dombal below, and keep ... More >>

Justin Bieber and Usher: What's With That?

Is anyone else getting a little embarrassed by all the mutual loving displayed by Justin Bieber and his mentor Usher, as seen on tonight's Grammy awards? We were gushily told it's a "beautiful relationship," then watched the two eye each other as Usher remembered, "I saw you in the parking lot..." ... More >>

Usher

Is anyone else getting a little embarrassed by all the mutual loving displayed by Justin Bieber and his mentor Usher, as seen on tonight's Grammy awards? We were gushily told it's a "beautiful relationship," then watched the two eye each other as Usher remembered, "I saw you in the parking lot..." ... More >>

Radio Hits One: The Elusive Superstar Duet (Or Three-Way)

​ In last week's breakdown of Lil Wayne's chart ubiquity, I noted that while Lady Gaga's Born This Way and its singles seemed to be everywhere, she hasn't staked out much additional Billboard territory with collaborations. Her only charting collab of late is "3-Way (The Golden Rule)," a little ... More >>

What The Lineup For Clear Channel's iHeartRadio Music Festival Says About Radio Formats In 2011

Lady Gaga.​Today the radio behemoth Clear Channel announced a festival celebrating the relaunch of its online service iHeartRadio, which currently allows listeners to tune into the chain's terrestrial-radio outlets from all over the country (as well as about 150 digital-only stations) and whic ... More >>

Radio Hits One: T-Pain Escapes Lead Single Purgatory

The Revolver cover.​On Thursday Jive Records announced that T-Pain's fourth album rEVOLVEr would be out on December 6. That same day, the rappa ternt sanga's single "5 O'Clock" reached a new Hot 100 peak of No. 25 . The timing wasn't exactly coincidental. The track, on which T-Pain is supporte ... More >>

FOREVER AND ALWAYS

Taylor Swift wraps the ‘Speak Now’ tour

The 11 Most Infuriating Songs Of 2011, No. 10: will.i.am Featuring Mick Jagger And Jennifer Lopez, "T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)"

​The Song: will.i.am feat. Mick Jagger and Jennifer Lopez, "T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)" The Crimes: Overhashtagging, sub-"Dancing In The Streets" incoherence from Jagger, using "feces" as a term of braggadocio. Sometimes I feel bad for the music industry, which has had a rough go of it these ... More >>

Is Nothing Sacred? Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah, Sullied, in Joyful Noise

​The Song: will.i.am feat. Mick Jagger and Jennifer Lopez, "T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)" The Crimes: Overhashtagging, sub-"Dancing In The Streets" incoherence from Jagger, using "feces" as a term of braggadocio. Sometimes I feel bad for the music industry, which has had a rough go of it these ... More >>