I can't be sure about this, but I feel pretty confident that Usher Raymond IV has never consumed a drop of milk. How else could you account for maintaining the archival level of his vocal chords, his leggero tenor as athletic and sharp as the day he dropped his self-titled debut in 1994 — which, if you remember, was 30 years ago? On I'm coming home, his ninth album, his low strums and falsetto are soft and airy, his natural composition as creamy as the dairy he's surely never consumed. You can imagine him mixing his kettlebell runs alongside his vocal exercises, as pristine and refined as any ex-Southern choirboy determined to stay at the top of his game.
What went down in this year's Super Bowl halftime show was everything that made Usher a pop icon: an old Hollywood entertainer whose choreography is always spot-on, and whose status as a multi-generational sex symbol is so good-natured and tasteful , I have good taste. Hordes of women, famous and otherwise, flocked to his Vegas residence for the Usher Seduction Experience, which featured individual serenades so convincing they might have publicly blown up at least one relationship (and created a soundtrack for the post-drama).
On I'm coming homeAcross his 20 songs, he remains most comfortable and effective playing the voluptuous lover with come-hither abs, where even the most blatant sexual metaphor isn't tacky. “I want to cuddle in bed/I'm not just going to spread your legs and then leave you to die,” she sings on the sunny title track, which is also an extended allegory for orgasm. On the album cover, he holds a Georgia peach in front of his glowing delts just like that, projecting hometown pride and evoking deep lust. On “Stone Kold Freak,” his plea for enthusiastic consent should be accompanied by a swooning couch potato: “Right after you make up your mind,” he says confidently, “I'll get my cut, girl.” A business reporter should investigate if they stock folding fans.
As much as Usher plays his lifelong welcoming persona I'm coming home, maintains the versatility it has established over the years, whether on enduring hits like “Yeah!” or dance music experiments like “Numb” and “DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love.” Here his musical curiosity extends to the amapiano, with Nigerian super-producer Pheelz joining him on the plush love song “Ruin” and a Burna Boy feature on “Coming Home”, while the delightful Tricky Stewart-produced electro jam “Keep On Dancin” slide- glides around the French house. The album's sequence breaks these impulses into digestible and tonally paired sections—the bass-funk and backbeat of “I Love U” precedes the midtempo baby jam “Please U,” both of which harken back to Prince in 1982 who was top the shirtlessness and pay homage with a wink as Usher nonchalantly shows off his grown-up adaptability. “Big,” a horn song about a fat ass and, presumably, his Magnum-wrapped anaconda, puts a sincere smile on a horn and bass section reminiscent of Quincy Jones productions. “Luckiest Man” is an 80's love song with a pristine synth cowbell that will leave you sad and homesick for Al B. Sure!
