Usher (Entertainer)

Here Are the Songs They Play at a Middle School Dance

Recently, Voice Media Group held a competition to help determine the best music writing in the pages and on the blogs of its 14 papers. This winning piece by Shea Serrano first appeared on L.A. Weekly's West Coast Sound music blog. By Shea Serrano 1:04 pm: In about 25 minutes, I'm going to be ch ... More >>

BLOW YOUR HEAD

Why not start new year’s now?

"Like Tumblr Times A Million": Chippy Nonstop on Her Summer in NYC

Chippy Nonstop is fast emerging as Kreayshawn's new BFF. Based in the Bay Area, the diminutive rapstress saw her profile bump earlier this year when Kreayshawn directed the video for her "Kicked Out Da Club" track. Now she's on the road with Kreay and Rye Rye for the Group Hug tour, which touches do ... More >>

Prince Royce Is Generation Next

Taking bachata out of the Bronx and onto the national stage

SUMMER SHARE

Beach House shack up in Central Park

100 & Single: The R&B/Hip-Hop Factor In The Music Business's Endless Slump

Here are a few recent data points from chart bible Billboard and data provider Nielsen Soundscan as we move into the second half of 2012: • In its midyear music-industry report card, Soundscan reports a return to the dismal album sales climate; year-to-date disc sales are off 3.2% from the sam ... More >>

Usher Digs Deep on Looking 4 Myself

Diamond days

This Week In The Voice: Usher, Grass Widow, Kool Keith

This week in the Village Voice, now available in a red box near you: I review the seventh album by Usher, the surprisingly minimalist (and unsurprisingly enjoyable Looking 4 Myself; Jessica Hopper chats with the San Francisco band Grass Widow about their move toward the light on their new album; and ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Drake, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, And The Era Of The Hit Bonus Track

Superstar pals and Young Money labelmates Lil Wayne and Drake released two of the biggest albums of 2011—Tha Carter IV and Take Care—and both are still spinning off hits well into 2012. But a look at the singles charts reveals something odd: the biggest current hits off both albums aren' ... More >>

So Much New Diplo Songs

On March 27, dance music innovator-slash-cultural carpetbagger Diplo will release his first book, modestly titled 128 Beats Per Minute: Diplo's Visual Guide to Music, Culture, and Everything in Between. This is clearly a ridiculous development in the career of one Thomas Pentz, but at least this ego ... More >>

Live: Romeo Santos Summons Usher And Prince Royce To Madison Square Garden

Romeo Santos Madison Square Garden Saturday, February 11 Better than: Coming home and hearing about Whitney. I lived in the Bronx during the 23 weeks when Aventura's The Last reigned over the Billboard Latin chart, and the local quartet's music was everywhere. From all-night dance clubs to family ... More >>

WHEREFORE ART THOU

Romeo Santos brings bachata back to the Garden

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 >>

FOREVER AND ALWAYS

Taylor Swift wraps the ‘Speak Now’ tour

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 >>

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: 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 >>

Usher

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 >>

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 >>

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.

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 >>

Justin Bieber

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

Colt Ford, Renaissance Man

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

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

The Wan Confessions of Usher

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

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

The-Dream's Logic

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

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

SUBURBAN SOUL

Rise of the house of Usher

The BET Awards: A Running Diary

Usher Doesn't Have Sex Anymore

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

Mariah Carey's Failed Adjustment

Cred Sheet

Stuff You Need to Know to Avoid Cultural Ostracism

Young Adult . . . Err . . . Err

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

Real Confessions

The supernatural love child of Chaka Khan and Al Jarreau

Niggapalooza

De clones of Dr. Crunkenstein diversify beats and skeets

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

VMT&A's

Who and what went down at the MTV Video Awards

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

School’s Out and in Flames

Sells Like Teen Spirit