WEBVTT

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Okay, so imagine this for a second. You are at

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the absolute pinnacle of the music world you're

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usher you basically define rmb for what two decades

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you've got the grammys the diamond albums all

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of it and everyone is just waiting for your next

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big polished blockbuster album the next confessions

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basically the magnum opus exactly but instead

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of that you uh you go into a studio with the

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absolute godfather of atlanta trap music you

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knock out eight songs in what feels like a weekend

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and then you just drop it with like 24 hours

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notice, no big marketing plan, just boom, here

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it is. It's the whole surprise drop thing. But,

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you know, when a Beyonce or Drake does it, you

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can feel the calculation behind it. This felt

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different. This felt like an accident, like a

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glitch. That's a really good way to put it. It

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felt like a detour for sure. So today we're diving

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deep into that very glitch. We're looking at

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the 2018 collaborative album simply called A.

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Usher and Zaytoven. Eight tracks of, well, brilliance,

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confusion, and a whole lot of critical backlash.

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And it's just a fascinating look at what happens

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when a true legacy artist tries to run at the

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same speed as the new generation. We've got the

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backstory. We've got the... pretty skating reviews,

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and we have the sales numbers, which, spoiler,

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are genuinely shocking. Our mission today is

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to figure out, was this a misunderstood moment

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of pure spontaneity, or was it, as some critics

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claimed, a desperate play to stay relevant? To

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even start to answer that, we have to go back

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to October 2018. All right, set the scene for

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us. Okay, so it's October 11th, 2018. Trap music

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is... Yeah. It's not just a genre. It's the dominant

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sound of pop culture. You hear those hi -hats

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everywhere. And then out of nowhere, Usher makes

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an announcement. And when you say announcement,

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you mean he just posts, hey, album tomorrow.

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Literally. October 12th, it's out. That's such

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a power move. It is, but what's so interesting

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is the backstory of how it even came to be. Usher

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told The Fader around that time that they weren't

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even trying to make this album. Right, I saw

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that. They were working on his, quote, future

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album, the big one. Exactly, the real follow

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-up to Hard To Love. But they're in the studio,

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they make one track, it works, they make another.

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And Usher said they just found a chemistry, a

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rhythm, and they just kept going. You know, I

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actually love that. It feels so... anti -industry.

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Usually an artist at his level, everything is

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approved by committee, by focus groups. This

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just sounds like two guys vibing. It really does.

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And it speaks to a chemistry they already had.

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I mean, we should be clear, this wasn't the first

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time they'd worked together. No, they had a history.

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Yeah, you go back to 2010 on the Raymond v. Raymond

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album, Zaytoven produced Papers. Which was a

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huge song. Papers was everywhere, but Papers

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still felt like an Usher song. It was smoother.

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It was an R &B track with trap elements. Precisely.

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Papers was Usher dipping a toe in Zaytoven's

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world. A was Usher doing a cannonball into the

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deep end. And the title A, I mean, it's obviously

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for Atlanta. Yeah, it's a total homage to the

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city. Which is what makes the recording location

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kind of funny. Oh, yeah, I saw that. It was recorded

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at Westlake in West Hollywood. So you have these

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two Atlanta icons sitting in sunny California

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making this album that's supposed to be a love

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letter to their hometown. It's a little strange,

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but I guess if you have Usher and Zaytoven in

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a room, you know, Atlanta's in the room with

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them. The spirit is there. For sure. And people

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in the industry kind of knew something was up.

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Mark Pitts from RCA had been posting photos on

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Instagram of them in the studio for a few months.

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But nobody knew it was going to be a full collaborative

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album dropped overnight. And they definitely

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didn't expect the whole aesthetic around it.

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Oh, absolutely. This is where it goes from just

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a mixtape to something more. The cover was designed

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by Virgil Abloh. Which in 2018, that was the

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ultimate co -sign. I mean, Virgil was Louis Vuitton.

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He was off -white. He was the absolute center

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of culture. Totally. And the cover has his signature

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style all over it. The Helvetica font, the quotation

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marks, that kind of industrial minimalist look.

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It immediately framed the album as like a piece

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of high art. It's a signal to the listener, right?

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It says, this is cool. This is important. And

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the trailer they released just doubled down on

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that. It's just them driving around Atlanta,

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going to Waffle House, skating rinks, really

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grounding it in the city. It's like they were

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stamping its passport even though they made it

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in L .A. Exactly. So the packaging, the story,

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it's all perfect. Yeah. But then you actually

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have to press play. And that's where it gets

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a little complicated. Yeah. Because you're taking

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one of the greatest, smoothest vocalists of all

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time and putting him on top of Zaytoven Beats.

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And we should probably define that sound for

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anyone who doesn't know. Beethoven's sound is

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very distinct. It's not generic trap. It's got

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those church organs, the flutes, and these really

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frantic rolling hi -hats. It's busy. It's nervous

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music. It's jittery. It feels like you just had

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way too much coffee. Right. And that sound is

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usually for rappers like Gucci Mane or Migos,

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who have this very percussive, choppy flow that

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kind of ride the chaos. Usher. Usher floats over

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a track. He needs that space to do his runs.

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So it's like asking a ballet dancer to perform

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in a mosh pit. Or maybe it's a brilliant fusion.

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But let's talk about the structure. It is short.

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Very short. Eight songs, what, 27 minutes? 27

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minutes and nine seconds. I mean, in an era where...

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Artists are dropping these massive, bloated albums

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to get streaming numbers. It's incredibly concise.

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I appreciate that, actually. It feels more like

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an EP. It respects your time. It does. And a

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really key detail is that Zaytoven produced the

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entire thing, every single track. That is so

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rare for a major artist. It's a singular vision.

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Just Zay. And to keep that Atlanta vibe going,

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the guests are very, very specific. Yeah, the

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list is short. You get Future on Stay at Home

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and you get Gunna on Gift Shop. Future and Usher

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on a crack together is just a wild idea. You

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have the king of smooth romance and the king

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of toxic, auto -tuned heartache. And that leads

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into the content. Because what is Usher actually

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singing about here? It's not the deep, dramatic

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heartbreak of his classic stuff. No, looking

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at the titles, peace sign, gift shop, birthday,

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we're definitely in a different territory. We

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are. And this was the first real problem for

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a lot of people. Usher changed his songwriting

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to fit the trap vibe. And lyrically, Trap is

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often about, you know, the lifestyle, the club,

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the money. Look at my watch. Look at my car.

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Pretty much. And hearing Usher, a grown man,

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a veteran, singing about these gift shop scenarios,

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it just felt off to a lot of his fans. Like he

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was wearing a costume. Exactly. And that brings

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us to the reception. Because, oh boy, the reception

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was something else. Something else is a very

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diplomatic way of putting it. Huh. Well, let's

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start with the numbers. The commercial performance.

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It debuted at number 31 on the Billboard 200.

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Number 31. For Usher. A guy who sold a million

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copies of Confessions in one week. That's a disaster.

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It's historically low for him. It sold 15 ,000

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album equivalent units in the first week. 15

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,000. That's all? And listen to this. Only 4

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,000 of those were pure album sales. Actual people

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buying the album. 4 ,000. I mean, I know streaming

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changed everything, but that is a shockingly

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low number for an artist of his stature. It showed

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that his core audience, the people who buy Usher

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albums, they just didn't show up for this one.

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Okay, so the fans didn't buy it, but what about

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the critics? Maybe it was a critical darling

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that the public just didn't get. The critics

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largely sided with the public. The consensus

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was mixed to negative. to put it mildly. I'm

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looking at some of these quotes. Rolling Stone

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was brutal. Elias Light wrote on A, Usher moves

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with the times and that's a bad thing. That's

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a devastating line. It's basically saying that

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his attempt to evolve was a mistake. It's the

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whole uncle at the club argument. Like, just

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be the cool uncle. Don't try to dress like the

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kids. Exactly. And all music got into the specifics

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of why it didn't work. They called it inspired

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if mechanical. Mechanical. That's a rough word.

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They said his superior vocal dexterity was almost

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neutralized by overly familiar scenarios and

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materialistic lyrical tropes. So basically, his

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voice is a Ferrari engine, but he's stuck driving

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it in a 20 mile per hour school zone. The trap

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format limited what he could do vocally. That

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was the argument. And it just kept coming. 34th

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Street Magazine called it an uneven 27 minutes.

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And Medium just wrote it off completely. The

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less said about his AEP, the better. erase it

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from memory. But was there anyone who liked it?

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Because I do remember hearing Peace Sign and

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thinking it was a solid track, it had a vibe.

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There was a counterpoint, and it came from a

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kind of surprising place, Pitchfork. Oh, interesting.

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Pitchfork usually loves to take down a mainstream

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artist trying something edgy. Their writer, Brianna

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Younger, had a really nuanced take. She admitted

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it was an awkward fit. She wrote that Zaytoven's

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minimalist trap isn't always the ideal match

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for Usher's traditional R &B. Okay, so she agrees

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with the basic problem. She does. But then she

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says, and this is the key part, when they push

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both to their extreme, something magical happens.

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Something magical. See, I think that's what a

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lot of the critics missed. It's the friction.

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The fact that it doesn't fit perfectly is what

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makes it interesting. Exactly. If it were perfectly

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smooth, it would just be a boring pop trap album.

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But hearing his incredible voice fighting against

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those chaotic beats, it creates a tension that's

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really compelling. Maybe we shouldn't judge it

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against confessions. Maybe we should just judge

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it for what it is. A quick, fun, spontaneous

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experiment. A snapshot of a moment in time. Yeah,

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a snapshot from 2018. And if you look at his

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whole career, this album sits in this strange

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place between hard to love and his new album,

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Coming Home. It's a bridge. But a bridge to where

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he didn't really stick with this sound. No, but

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it was a bridge that proved he was still engaged

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with what was happening in music. Even if it

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flocked. It showed he wasn't just sitting in

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an ivory tower, ignoring the culture. He was

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willing to get his hands dirty. That's a really

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good point. In R &B and hip -hop, if you stop

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engaging with what's new, you become an oldies

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act overnight. And there's nothing wrong with

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that. You can tour forever on your hits. But

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it means you're not part of the current conversation

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anymore. It was Usher saying, I'm still in the

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conversation. Even if he's not the one driving

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the car. Exactly. So looking back, you have an

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album that was a commercial failure and a critical

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punching bag. But it remains this weirdly important

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artifact in his career. It kind of feels like

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a what if. What if he had fully committed to

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it? Or was this just something he had to get

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out of the system before going back to being?

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Well, uh, sure. I think it was a reminder that

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even for the biggest stars in the world, not

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everything has to be a perfectly planned five

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-year project. Sometimes you can just make music

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for the fun of it. And sometimes that fun only

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lasts for 27 minutes. And that's okay. Which

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really brings me to the final thought I want

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to leave everyone with. The critics, like Rolling

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Stone, they slammed him for moving with the times.

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They wanted him to stay in his R &B lane. Right.

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Wear the suit, sing the power ballads. Yeah.

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But in an industry that moves so fast now, does

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an artist like Usher actually need to experiment

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like this just to stay alive? Is refusing to

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evolve actually the riskier move? It's a catch

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-22, isn't it? It is. We criticize them when

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they change. We call it trying too hard. But

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then we ignore them when they stay the same and

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we call them dated. It feels like you can't win.

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And with A, Usher chose to risk failure over

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being predictable. He chose to try something

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new, even if it didn't quite work. And maybe

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an artist who's willing to fail in public is

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ultimately more interesting than one who only

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plays it safe. I think that's the real takeaway.

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It might not be his best album, but it might

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just be his bravest.