Episode Summary
On this episode, we talk about Usher's 2004 album, Confessions. It's been 20 years since the original release of Usher's Confessions album, so we're discussing the impact of the album, how it dominated the Billboard charts, as well as some of the misconceptions about the content. We got into Confessions a little bit in July 2021 in our Usher episode, but figured that we'd run it back and get a little deeper into it for the anniversary. 20 years, man. Time flies.
Transcript
Christina: Welcome back to They Reminisce Over You. I'm Christina.
Miguel: And I'm Miguel. This week we're having a conversation about the album Confessions by Usher. It released on March 23rd, 2004 and tomorrow will be the 20th anniversary of its release. Can you believe it's been 20 years?
Christina: No! Okay, everything to me, if it's 20, it feels like 10. You know what I'm saying?
Miguel: I don't even think it feels like 10, honestly, but it's…
Christina: Like, the '90s was 10 years ago, right?
Miguel: Right. But it's been 20 years since the release of Confessions, so, we're gonna to discuss the impact of the album. We're going to talk about some of the songs, as well as some of the misconceptions about the content of this album. So, you want to just get right into it?
Christina: Let's do it!
Miguel: Okay, so Confessions was Usher's fourth album. The two previous albums, My Way and 8701, it kind of placed him in a lane where he was able to transition from just being a player in the world of R&B to becoming a legit pop star.
Christina: Wait a minute. Did you just not mention that there was another album before that? The first album?
Miguel: Well, I just didn't mention it. I just said the two previous albums.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: I know there was one before it, but I'm just speaking about—
Christina: All right, all right.
Miguel: How My Way and 8701 made him who he was.
Christina: Okay. I just wanted to make sure we get the full discography.
Miguel: Yeah, I'm aware that the Usher album exists, but Confessions is the one that made him a global superstar. Because previously he did have some number one singles, both albums, My Way and 8701, both made it to number four on the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart. But it was this one that just went everywhere. It was like a bad rash. Everybody had Confessions. It debuted at number one and was the number one album on Billboard 200 for nine weeks and to this day has been on the charts for a total of 197 weeks.
Christina: That's a lot of weeks.
Miguel: It is. It was certified diamond in November of 2004. And this is when you actually had to go out and buy physical albums.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: So, he's dropping off 10 million in eight months. That's just crazy to think about, especially when you're thinking about the content of the album.
Christina: Yeah. I think we were just starting to yeah, yeah, around here we could at least burn albums, but we weren't streaming or anything. It still required some effort to get it illegally.
Miguel: Yes. So, the basis of the album basically deals with relationships, betrayals, regrets, all of that stuff. When you first listened to it, what were your thoughts on the album?
Christina: I don't really remember, like my first thoughts. I just remember, you know, us assuming this was about Chilli and just really liking the album. But I think because I had been a fan already, like, I'd been listening to the previous three albums, it wasn't that huge of a departure for me. Like, wow, Usher's doing something different. I just felt like, a more complete album than the previous ones.
Miguel: Yeah, that was the same for me. It was like, the first three albums, especially the first one, he was a child singing adult songs. "Can you get wit it? It's just a sexual thing." Like, you're 12. Shut up.
Christina: He was actually, what? Maybe 14. Barely older.
Miguel: I don't know. He, he didn't even know what he was singing at the time.
Christina: I think he was about 14. But a child, with, he had baby fat in his cheeks still.
Miguel: Exactly. And then the other two albums, it was basically just pop R&B from a teenager and a young man. So, I really wasn't expecting real life content from him. But this was like, okay, what are you talking about, man?
Christina: He's coming of age.
Miguel: Yeah, like, you out here being a fuckboy, in these streets and singing songs about it. So, that was interesting because I believe he was what, like, 25 at the time when this came out?
Christina: Uh, probably something, something like that. That sounds about right.
Miguel: And the fact that he's singing these songs and he's dating a pop star who's just as big, if not bigger, than he is. It kind of makes the themes of the album seem believable from the outside, but at the same time, the timelines don't match up for it to be believable, because it's like, she was with him while he was recording the album.
Christina: Yeah, and I was reading a Billboard article with all the different producers and writers on the album. But Jermaine Dupri and Brian Michael Cox was talking about how, the big theme of this was we need to tell stories with these songs and they were saying that not only did they create this story that sounded believable, it was so believable that Chilli started to believe it. And she was doing all these interviews and stuff, and Brian Michael Cox is like, she validated the song, she went around and said he did the unthinkable, and he was like, but she's tripping because Usher doesn't have a child.
Miguel: Exactly.
Christina: So, how could this be about him?
Miguel: That was my biggest thing, is how could these songs be about him personally? When he doesn't even have kids at this point. At least none that we knew about. And the biggest thing for me, and I mentioned this in the episode we did about Usher on "Confessions, Part I" or the "Interlude," depending on which version of the album you had. He says that he was in LA with an ex-girlfriend, pretending to work and he was cheating.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: But in "Confessions, Part II," he says that the girl was somebody he didn't even know.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: That he knocked up. So, it can't be both.
Christina: Yeah, it can't be an ex-girlfriend and someone he just met.
Miguel: Yeah, so that told me right there that these are not real songs or real stories.
Christina: They are real stories. They're just not his real stories. It was Jermaine Dupri's real story.
Miguel: Yeah, exactly.
Christina: Which is just hilarious, but as both Jermaine Dupri and Brian Michael Cox said, the fact that they got Chilli to believe in it really validated the song.
Miguel: And she was there. She was there the entire time.
Christina: Because now in these later years, now she says that she was with him at the time and she denies these rumors but I guess at the time, it started swirling in her head.
Miguel: "This motherfucker!" Yeah, I could see how that could be an issue for him, because he's probably explaining it to her, these are just stories—
Christina: These are just songs.
Miguel: That Jermaine and Brian are telling, and I'm just singing it.
Christina: I'm sure it didn't help the relationship, but…
Miguel: And their relationship was already coming to an end at this point, too, so…
Christina: That's what I meant to say like, they were already rocky and I'm sure this didn't help.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: Because when I was reading, that interview again when they were talking about the background for "Burn," which is basically, like, the idea of, like, you're in a rocky relationship and you know that it, it's not good, but you gotta let it just burn and just burn through to the end. So, that was the, um, what's the word I'm looking for?
Miguel: Motivation.
Christina: Motivation. Eh, close enough. That's not the word, but I will go with that for writing that song.
Miguel: It'll probably come back to you in 12 minutes, when we're talking about something else.
Christina: Yes. After we're done recording.
Miguel: Yeah, the sequencing of the album basically tells the story of a serial cheater. The songs kinda bounce back and forth between him getting left by his girl, begging for her to come back, she comes back, he cheats, she leaves, he begs for her to come back, he comes back, cheats again.
So, it's basically repeating that cycle like, every two or three songs. And for me personally, I think it's hilarious because it basically describes the life of a 25 year old. Because that's how at least 25 year old males think. And I can confirm because I was one of these men. Like, you think you want this, you run off and do something else, come back and, no, I want this over here. Oh, you looked at me? I want you now. So, this makes sense for him being his age.
Christina: Yeah. I guess also like, that's why there's something for everyone on this album too, because you got the party songs, you got like, the sexy songs, you got the come back to me songs, you got the I love you songs. So it's just like, a little something for everybody.
Miguel: And even the party songs, he's talking about how, in "Yeah!," the girl he's cheating with was his girl's friend. So, it's just stuff like that.
Christina: Right. Toxic male masculinity songs.
Miguel: Yeah, he's just being a real reckless on this album. So, with that said, let's get into some of these songs.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: So, depending on which version of the album you got, the track listing is a lot different and some of the songs are different. So, the original release was March 23rd. And the special edition came out in October. So, if you bought the original version, which I had, it didn't have Jadakiss on "Throwback." "Confessions, Part I" was just an interlude. "My Boo," "Red Light" and "Seduction." And I will never hear "Seduction" the same again—
Christina: I know what you're about to say, because I'm laughing too.
Miguel: After us going to the residency in Vegas and this guy just kept yelling out "Seduction!" all night long.
Christina: Because he wanted him to sing it so bad, so he would yell out various statements, but it would be like, "SING SEDUCTION! PLAY SEDUCTION!"
Miguel: So, those songs were all on the October release.
Christina: And unfortunately though, Usher did not sing "Seduction."
Miguel: He did not.
Christina: Despite this fervent request.
Miguel: This guy did not get what he wanted.
Christina: "SEDUCTION!"
Miguel: So, depending on the version of the album you have, It may play a little bit differently, because now the interlude isn't leading right into "Confessions, Part II." It fades in a little bit differently. Now you have Jadakiss on "Throwback." You've got a couple songs added to it. Do you remember which one you had?
Christina: See, I don't for two reasons though. I feel like now I feel like I had both because I don't remember "Throwback" without Jadakiss. But I remember "Confessions, Part I" not being a full song. So, now I can't remember which version I had.
Miguel: And the fact that on streaming services, it has the track listings for the special edition, but the cover for the first edition, so that doesn't help either.
Christina: I was gonna dig through our CDs and look but—
Miguel: Same.
Christina: I didn't.
Miguel: Yeah, I know for a fact I had the first one, just because of the cover. I didn't have the cover with the girl whispering in his ear or whatever.
Christina: Okay. So the, the cover that is on Tidal—
Miguel: Where he's sitting in the confessional. That's the original release.
Christina: Okay, I have that one. I remember because I don't even know what you're talking about with the girl.
Miguel: Yeah, the special edition has him like, just shirtless and kind of a girl sitting in the background. She's kind of blurry.
Christina: Okay. So, I definitely had that cover. So, maybe I've just been listening to it streaming so often or maybe even just like, I don't know—
Miguel: So, it's the Mandela effect. You think that you had the one with Jadakiss, but you actually didn't.
Christina: Yeah, like I said, I don't remember this song without Jadakiss, but I don't remember the full "Confessions" song either. So, then like, I must have had the first one then. But yeah, like I said, the cover that you just mentioned, I don't even know what you're talking about, so…
Miguel: I'll show it to you after we're done recording. But yeah, two different covers. So, I know for a fact I had the first one.
Christina: I'm gonna say I had the first one too.
Miguel: And uh, the first single was "Yeah!" Which really doesn't sound like anything else on the album, so I was really surprised when I got it heard "Yeah!" And then the album goes in a completely different direction for like 10 songs. I was not expecting that.
Christina: I guess they wanted to start off with a bang.
Miguel: Yeah, I guess so.
Christina: ‘Cause Lil Jon was hot around this time.
Miguel: Yeah, he was hot as fish grease, and "Burn" was actually supposed to be the first single, but Lil Jon leaked "Yeah!"[1] because I guess he just wanted to be in the streets, and it caught on, and the article I read was, he leaked it right before the record labels shut down for like, Christmas break. So, they didn't have a chance to really do anything about it. He gave it to a bunch of DJs across the country and was like, go. And it just took off.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: So, they had to end up releasing it as the first single versus "Burn." But it worked because like you said, Lil Jon was probably the hottest thing going producer-wise in 2003 and 2004.
Christina: Yeah, Lil Jon was everywhere.
Miguel: And for those of you who don't know, the original version of "Yeah!"[2] ended up being used by Petey Pablo on "Freak-A-Leek."[3] And I don't know why this just came up again recently because it's blatantly obvious that the two songs are similar. And pretty much any club you were going to, they were mixing from "Freak-A-Leek" straight into "Yeah!" into Ciara's "Goodies."[4] So, I don't know why people are all shocked. Like, I never noticed that the two songs were similar.
Christina: ‘Cause they weren't in the clubs in 2004.
Miguel: Even if you weren't, if you heard it on the radio, how could you be confused about this? Like, the songs are all the same, basically. But, the story goes, Lil Jon sold a bunch of beats to Jive Records. They were supposed to be for Mystikal. He never did anything with them. The record label gave them to Petey Pablo. He also gave the beats to Usher because nothing was coming of it over on the Jive side.
So, he says he gets a call from L. A. Reid asking him why the hell our song is playing on the radio and Usher's not on it. Because eventually Petey Pablo ends up releasing "Freak-A-Leek," L. A. heard it and thought it was Usher and was like, no, no, no, something's wrong here, we need to shut this shit down now. So, Lil Jon went in and actually remade "Freak-A-Leek," changed a couple chords and added some keyboard stabs and that's the yeah that we now know. But the version of "Yeah!" with the Petey Pablo beat has been out for years, so I'll link to that in our show notes[5].
Christina: Ok.
Miguel: I mentioned "Burn" as well. This is probably my favorite song on the album.
Christina: See, I can't hear "Burn" without thinking of that American Dad, "Daddy's Gone"[6] song. It's not the same melody, but it's like the same feel. So, every time I hear "Burn," I just want to laugh. Like, I don't watch American Dad, but that video just kind of made its rounds. And I actually watched it again today just to re-familiarize myself with it. So, they're actually in the desert, more like Jodeci, but the song reminds me of "Burn." So, like, now I can't take "Burn" seriously.
Miguel: I don't watch American Dad either, but I've seen all of like, the R&B songs that they've done on this show and they're hilarious.
Christina: "Daddy's gone."
Miguel: And the guy singing the songs doesn't look like what you think he would look like.
Christina: I saw a video of him performing it at like, Comic Con.[7]
Miguel: Right.
Christina: And I was like, oh, it's that guy because I can't remember his name, but I've seen him in things before.
Miguel: But yeah, that's my favorite song on this album. And I know when we did the episode about Usher, your favorites were "Superstar" and "Follow Me." And you chose "Follow Me" as your favorite song. Does that still stand?
Christina: Uh, you know what? I'm, I'm gonna go back to "Superstar." "Follow Me" is still a very close second. ‘Cause it's almost like I, it's like I rediscovered that song. Because I don't think anybody ever really talks about it. Like, that's just not a song that I, I don't know, I ever hear anybody pop up when they say, What's your favorite song? It's always like, "Burn," "Confessions," "Superstar," "My Boo," whatever.
Miguel: There was nobody at the concert yelling, "Follow Me!"
Christina: No, yeah, there was no one. He didn't sing it. And of course he performed "Superstar," even though it wasn't a single, but he knows it's a fan favorite. So, yeah, nobody was screaming, "Follow Me," but I just really like it. But it almost feels like it's quote unquote new to me because it just doesn't seem like anybody talks about it. But I'm going back with "Superstar" as my favorite though.
Miguel: I knew that. Just because I see how you react whenever it's on.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: So, that's why I was surprised that you even chose "Follow Me" the first time.
Christina: Yeah, I was probably just in a, in a mood. Because, as I said, I kind of rediscovered it and was just listening to it on repeat for a while. So, I think it was just probably on my mind. Like, hey, this is a really good song!
Miguel: Yeah, you go into the zone when "Superstar" comes on.
Christina: Yep.
Miguel: The head starts to roll a little bit, and the Mariah fingers go up.
Christina: Yep.
Miguel: Uh, what else do you like on this album?
Christina: I mean, pretty much all of it, but in terms of the up tempo, I actually prefer "Caught Up" over "Yeah!"
Miguel: I can see it, because it's a different type of song. Whereas, "Yeah!" is just strictly for the clubs.
Christina: Yeah, that's like, it's meant to be a hit. It is meant to be a hit that everybody likes. Whereas "Caught Up" feels more R&B, hip hop-ish.
Miguel: Yeah, it's more in the lane of a, like a Michael Jackson type song. Like, I can see Michael Jackson doing "Caught Up." I definitely can't see Mike doing "Yeah!" Even though knowing what I know about Michael Jackson now, he probably wanted something like that, because that's how he rolls.
Christina: Well, he, didn't he want the Nore beats?
Miguel: Yeah, he, he didn't want the pretty shit that The Neptunes were giving him. He wanted that—
Christina: He wanted that "What, what."
Miguel: Yeah, that's what he wanted.
Christina: Um, I also, as I mentioned already, I really love "Throwback" with Jadakiss. I don't remember it without Jadakiss now, but I think he adds to it.
Miguel: He does. And I'm disappointed that he didn't grab the mic when we saw him because he was there.
Christina: He was there. I guess he was just there to be a fan though. He was there with his wife, you know, just watching. I thought for sure he was gonna come on stage.
Miguel: He walked right up to him and had the mic there and got nothing from him.
Christina: At least give us that "A-HA!"
Miguel: Something. Give me something.
Christina: So, in that same article I was reading, Just Blaze was talking about making the beat for this song. And he said he was trying to push Usher into more of like an R&B, dance song, whatever. And Usher was just like, I don't want that. And so he was like, okay, you want a rap record? This was for Dr. Dre.
Miguel: Yeah, on the mythical Detox album that's never coming out.
Christina: ‘Cause he was saying how the sample, "You're Gonna Want Me Back," was supposed to be like, Dre's goodbye, like, "I'm leaving, but you're gonna want me back. But I'm gone." But, it ended up working out by turning it into like a love lost kind of song. I didn't know that actually until just today, but now that I know that it was originally made for Dr. Dre, when I'm listening to it, I'm like, you know what? I can hear this being for Dr. Dre. Now, I'd never noticed that before at all, but…
Miguel: Yeah, but once it's presented to you, you can see it.
Christina: Yeah, I'm like, okay, I could totally hear this being for Dr. Dre, but it worked out for Usher as well, because this is also one of my favorite songs on the album.
Miguel: Uh, another one that was one of the singles, "My Boo" with Alicia Keys.
Christina: I find that "My Boo" is very contentious. People love it or they hate it.
Miguel: Yeah, and I don't know why. It's not a bad song.
Christina: It's not. I'm kind of like, right in the middle where I think that I don't like it, and then when I hear it, I like it. Like, let's say I'm listening to the album. My inclination is to want to skip it, but I don't, and then I leave it. I'm like, oh, I like this song.
Miguel: The thing that makes me laugh about "My Boo" is, uh, I don't remember exactly when it happened, but the reference track leaked a few years ago, and it's been attributed to Beyoncé for years, and even if you look it up, it still says that it's Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, and Usher. And it's not, and it's obviously not Beyoncé if you actually listen to it, but when I was just looking for the song on, um, on YouTube, I was looking for the video and that just kept popping up. I'm like, man, this is still out here.
Christina: Who is it?
Miguel: Uh, it's just like, some session singer that was singing the reference track for Alicia and it hit the streets as being Beyoncé and that rumor has never died.
Christina: ‘Cause I remember seeing it and being like, oh, Beyoncé's on here. I'm like, that is not Beyoncé.
Miguel: Exactly. The first time I listened to it I was tricked into thinking it was Beyoncé, ‘cause I wasn't really paying attention. But the second time I heard it, I was like, this ain't Beyoncé. And this is almost 20 years ago, so it definitely wasn't A.I. So, like I said, I just think it's still funny that this is still floating around with millions and millions of views across multiple people's uploads, thinking that it's Beyoncé.
Christina: It is not Beyoncé.
Miguel: If you guys want to do something fun, look up "My Boo" with Beyoncé[8] and read the comments and just look at how many people insist that it's still her.
Christina: It is not.
Miguel: It isn't.
Christina: So, the official singles was "Yeah!," "Burn," "Confessions, Part II," "My Boo" and "Caught Up." And you know that the album is a great album when you can't remember which ones were the actual singles. Because I'm always like, even when I was looking, I was like, "Caught Up" was really a single?
Miguel: Yeah, it was. It was the last one and the only one that didn't go to number one.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: It peaked at number eight.
Christina: And probably for the reasons that we just said, where it's a good up tempo song, but it doesn't sound like, "Yeah!"
Miguel: But still, it made it to number eight.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: And that's good. People would kill for a number eight. At the same time, he's releasing singles that aren't on his album, trying to capitalize on his huge popularity at the time. Between "My Boo" and "Caught Up," "Lovers and Friends" was released. But it sounds like it could have been on this album. But Lil Jon was like, you know what, I gave you a hit, now you gotta give me one.
Christina: I'm gonna keep it for myself. Yep.
Miguel: So, that was another big record. I didn't check to see where that one landed on the charts, but I remember it being played on the radio all the time.
Christina: Right. I only checked the Hot 100, it peaked at number 3. So, it did pretty good as well.
Miguel: Hey, it did good enough for Usher to have a festival every summer called Lovers and Friends.[9]
Christina: Yes, exactly.
Miguel: So, it made an impact, and it wasn't even on this album, and here we are still talking about it 20 years later.
Christina: Exactly. Yeah, so he dominated 2004. So, we had talked about this on our original Usher episode. Again, the Hot 100 is the, the category that is for all genres of music.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: So, not only did he dominate 2004, that was just a year where every single number one was by a Black artist, which had never happened before.
Miguel: But, it's a technicality.
Christina: Is it?
Miguel: Yes, because "Lean Back" is a Fat Joe record, but because Remy is on it—
Christina: Remy Ma's on it.
Miguel: It does make it everybody's Black. But knowing Fat Joe, he's probably like, I'm Black too. So it counts.
Christina: We know how he likes to say certain words. Not anymore.
Miguel: Well, he's back on it now.
Christina: Oh, he's back on it?
Miguel: Yeah, he's back on that narcotic. He was able to leave it alone for a little bit.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: But he's back on it now. But yeah, like you said, 2004 was a major year in terms of—
Christina: For Black music in general.
Miguel: Black music plus Fat Joe.
Christina: Plus Fat Joe and Black adjacent artists. So, speaking of charts, let's go through it because I, I made some notes.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: So, he was number, and we're just talking about number one.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: So, he was, had a number one hit for 28 weeks in 2004.
Miguel: Yes, that's more than half the year.
Christina: So, that's more than half a year. So, it started with "Yeah!" from February 28th to May 15th. That's 12 weeks, he was number one. But the song was on the Hot 100 for 47 weeks. So, basically the whole year, pretty much.
Miguel: Pretty much. Because the only reason it wasn't the entire year is because it came out in February.
Christina: Right, exactly. So, then it was followed up by "Burn" from May 22nd to July 3rd. Like, he's on here for whole seasons. And then Fantasia snuck in for one week. And then he took it for another week. So, it was number one for eight weeks overall. And on the charts for thirty weeks overall. Then we got "Confessions, Part II," July 24th to the 31st.
So, that one only stayed at number one for two weeks, but still. 25 weeks overall on the charts. "My Boo," from October 30th to December 4th, 6 weeks, again, another full season. 26 weeks overall, and then "Caught Up" peaked at 8, as we talked about already, and 27 weeks overall, and then "Lovers and Friends" peaked at 3, 22 weeks overall. So, it was like Usher year.
Miguel: Yeah, that is crazy. It set a record that had been set in 1940 by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, who was number one for 26 weeks in 1940.
Christina: They probably had like, five artists. No, okay, maybe not. But I would imagine in 1940, there was probably less, less music to consume.
Miguel: There was less competition to deal with in 1940 versus what Usher was doing in 2004.
Christina: Yeah. So, long story short, if you, you know, don't like numbers and just blanked out all of that stuff, he dominated the entire year.
Miguel: Yeah. To put it in perspective, you take what I told you about Glenn Miller in 1940. It didn't happen again until 2009, when Drake did it for 29 weeks. And this is including streaming, so, we're talking about a time when you're just dealing with physical sales and radio airplay. Usher was on the charts for 28 weeks.
Christina: No, no, Usher was number one for 28 weeks—
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: But he was on the charts for basically the whole year.
Miguel: Yeah. Lady Gaga and Katy Perry shifted the pop charts back towards dance oriented music and less hip hop and R&B, but that wasn't until 2011. This domination of quote unquote urban music started in like, 1999. So, that's a 12 year run. And Usher was at the top of all that. He was before Confessions, having number ones on the chart, and then dominating with Confessions, and then a couple after, along with a few other people, but nobody was doing it like him. The closest was Black Eyed Peas, and they did it for 26 weeks, I believe. But outside of that, it was just all Usher all the time.
Christina: Well, not only that, like, it wasn't, we're here to basically focus on Confessions, but he didn't stop there. So, just looking at the, the Hot 100 in, in totality. He's had 53 songs in the Hot 100 ranging from 1994 to 2022.
Miguel: Yeah, that's wild. And probably gonna be some more songs coming soon because he just released an album like, two months ago.
Christina: Exactly. So, 1994 to 2022.
Miguel: Yeah, that's a, a big 30 year run.
Christina: Which is, I mean, I guess, like, we always say, you know, Twitter and social media, it's not a real place, but it's kind of crazy when he was announced to do the halftime show for the Super Bowl, and people were like, Usher? And it's like, what do you mean? Like, he has, how is he going to pick songs for 12 to 14 minutes?
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: And there are people over here talking about, he's not big enough.
Miguel: Yeah, okay. If that's the way you want to play it.
Christina: Yeah, so, that's just wild.
Miguel: And trying to downplay the fact that he has a residency in Vegas as if everybody can get one.
Christina: Yeah. That renewed how many times too?
Miguel: How come he can't do arenas? Because he doesn't want to.
Christina: Well, he's doing arenas now.
Miguel: Exactly.
Christina: So, we rushed off to Vegas to go to his last residency shows, just to find out, not that long after, that he's coming to Toronto for two nights.
Miguel: Yeah, he's taking the show on the road. I assume that it's gonna be very similar to what we saw in Vegas because it's called the Past, Present, and Future Tour. So, I think it'll be that with a little bit of the current album sprinkled in.
Christina: Yeah. Well, I say let's try to get some last minute tickets.
Miguel: Oh yeah, I'm down to go see it again, that's not a problem.
Christina: I would like to see it again, I just don't want to fork out all that money. So we, we're gonna try that, you know, wait till the last minute for people to drop their prices trick and see if it works for us.
Miguel: Yeah, and we don't have to travel this time. It's gonna be 10 minutes away.
Christina: So, we can just show up, we can just show up right before the show.
Miguel: Exactly. All right, so, that is our conversation about Usher's Confessions, 20 years, it's still as good as it was when it was released in 2004. Is there anything else you would like to say before we wrap all this up?
Christina: Not really.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: Whenever you ask me that, I always feel like I have to like, have some witty ending and then I'm just like, I'm put it on the spot. I can't think of anything. Nope.
Miguel: Hey, you can just say no, there's nothing wrong with that.
Christina: No.
Miguel: There is nothing wrong with that.The only thing I have to say is if you do get the opportunity to go see the tour, do it. Because if it's anything like what we saw in Vegas and the halftime show performance, it's gonna be amazing.
Christina: Yes. And we saw a lot of concerts last year and I would say the top two was Beyoncé and Usher.
Miguel: Um, I would put Usher at number three.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: Only because The F.O.R.C.E. Tour with LL, The Roots, Queen Latifah, Jadakiss, and all of it. That lineup was me because you're the R&B girl in the household, I'm the hip hop guy.
Christina: No, no, no. I, I agree with you with, like, that was a good show, but I think in terms of, like, overall, like, performance, like, stage stuff, dancers and fanfare. Yeah, that's why I put them, them two in the top.
Miguel: That's fair. But like I said, I'll have Usher at number three—
Christina: All right, all right.
Miguel: Just for that reason, but it was still a great show.
Christina: It was. We got to see Queen Latifah performing the Living Single theme song.
Miguel: Right, that's worth being number two just to see the Living Single theme song live.
Christina: And her and Monie Love just cutting up on stage.
Miguel: Yeah, you can't beat that. Can't beat that at all.
Christina: "Give me body!" Okay, now I'm getting off topic.
Miguel: On that note, make sure to check out our website for links to the stuff that we talked about in this episode. There's gonna be a playlist that I'm putting together. I've decided that for this one, I'm gonna mix up the songs on the, uh, Confessions playlist. To tell the complete story rather than it going back and forth from him going and getting back with his girl and leaving and cheating. I'm going to put all of them together like, I love you, I love you, I did something wrong, I did something wrong, I don't need you no more. So, I'm going to put it together. I'm going to get Confessions, the toxic version—
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: Will be the name of that playlist. So, look out for that. If you want to sign up for our monthly newsletter, you can at troypodcast.com/newsletter. If you want to buy some merch, you can do that at teethang.com. T E E T H A N G dot com. We got hats, hoodies. Bags, mugs, all of that good stuff. So, go ahead, buy yourself some merch. It's not just podcast merch. We got all sorts of cool shit on there. So check it out. teethang.com. Also, we did take some video at the Usher concert. So, you can go to our YouTube page, if you want to check some of those out as well. And while you're there, you can check out some of our other videos. Uh, that's pretty much all I got. And I think we should go ahead and wrap this up because I'm hungry.
Christina: I'm hungry too.
Miguel: I'm hungry and the sun is shining right into my face. And I need to move. So…
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: That's all I got until next time. Uh, you'll be hearing from us in a couple of weeks, so, bye.
Christina: Bye.