Confessions

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<b>100 Best Albums</b> One of the more effective ways of mining your memory for years past is by associating specific times with the artists and albums that best soundtracked them. And if you have a distinct memory of 2004, then you remember how inescapable USHER’s fourth studio album <i>Confessions</i> was for the entirety of that year. This was Usher Raymond in his final form: No longer a boyish heartthrob under the tutelage of top producers that doubled as mentor, he’d finally reached his artistic prime. <i>8701</i>, his previous album, offered the first accounts of adult feelings around romance and the maintenance of relationship. In those depiction, even when he did take accountability, he was typically in the position of the wounded counterpart. But the scandals he admitted to in <i>Confessions</i> were soap-opera-worthy, with a solid block of songs chronicling the progression of one story. The album’s title track tells an enthralling tale in which USHER comes to terms with the fact that he has to admit to his infidelity—a side chick across the country. The song’s sequel, “Confession, Pt. II” (a ubiquitous single) ramps up the drama when he finds out the woman he’s been cheating with is three months pregnant. The story’s closing, “Burn,” finds him mourning the relationship he obliterated. .

via Apple Music

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