Confessions (Usher album)

Confessions is the fourth studio album by American singer Usher. It was released on March 23, 2004, by Arista Records. Recording sessions for the album took place from 2003 to 2004, with its production on the album being handled by his longtime collaborator Jermaine Dupri, along with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Lil Jon, among others. Primarily an R&B album, Confessions showcases Usher as a crooner through a mixture of ballads and up-tempos, incorporating musical genres of dance-pop, hip hop, and crunk. The album's themes generated controversy about Usher's personal relationships. However, the album's primary producer Jermaine Dupri claimed the album reflects Dupri's own personal story.

In the United States, the album sold 1.1 million copies in its first week. To boost sales amid threats of bootlegging, the special edition for the album was issued, in which includes the single, "My Boo" (a duet with Alicia Keys). Confessions earned Usher various awards, including the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album. According to Billboard, it is the second-best selling album of the 2000s decade in the United States, behind NSYNC's No Strings Attached. With over eight million copies sold in 2004, the album was viewed as a sign of recovering album sales in the United States, following three years of decline. It was also exemplary of urban music's commercial peak and dominance of the Billboard charts in 2004.

Confessions has been certified fourteen-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). As of 2006, the album has sold over 10.3 million copies in the US and over 15 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling R&B album of the 21st century. Usher would also promote it with the Truth Tour the same year as the album's release, marking his first international tour. Confessions concept, production and Usher's vocal delivery received acclaim since upon its release, and in 2020 the album was ranked number 432 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

Background and recording

When he began recording Confessions in 2003, Usher claimed he did not want to work with any new producers. Production began between Usher and Jermaine Dupri, who produced his last two albums, My Way (1997) and 8701 (2001). Dupri also invited his frequent collaborator Bryan-Michael Cox. The album features productions by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Just Blaze, Usher's brother James Lackey, Dre and Vidal, among others.

When Usher felt that the album was completed, However, he and the company's then-president, L. A. Reid, who listened to the record, thought something was missing in it, sharing the sentiment "You know what, there's like one or two more records that we just gotta get." He named the album Confessions because he felt it is his most personal record to date: "All of us have our Pandora's boxes or skeletons in our closets. I let a few of them out, you know. I've got a lot to say. I've got a lot of things and stuff built in me that I just want to let go of." He wrote more songs than he contributed to his previous album.

Several of the songs in this album were conceptually based on a situation. For instance, "Burn" was built around the winding down of Usher's two-year relationship with Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas from American R&B-Hip hop girl group TLC. Dupri and Cox were talking and felt that there was a song in it, and started writing. Its lyrics centers on the narrator's confession about impregnating his mistress. With producers and Usher set to produce such an album, however, other musical genres including hip hop were incorporated. While he wanted to do R&B,

Usher credits Eminem with the album's reputation of being transparent, and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony with the hip-hop sound of the album, stating in an interview with Sway:

Release

thumb|alt=Usher smiling|Usher on April 23, 2004.

Confessions was slated for release on November 6, 2003. However, due to marketing issues, the scheduled date was moved to March 23 of the following year. The idea was considered "musically driven" after Zomba, who absorbed Arista, management was excited about "My Boo", a song that was recorded for the original version of the album but failed to meet deadline. While they knew of other artists releasing special editions of their albums, the label felt that Confessions had the edge because of its previous success and its physical changes, including new cover art, an expanded CD booklet, a pullout poster and a letter to fans from Usher. and a remix of "Confessions Part II", and "Seduction"; original tracks were also improved like the extended version of "Confessions Part I" and a rap added by American rapper Jadakiss in "Throwback". The label itself treated the version a new album, with full media advertisements. seven months after its initial release.

Another expanded edition of the album, commemorating its 20th anniversary, is scheduled for release on November 1, 2024.

Marketing

In selecting which single to release first, Usher and the label considered various marketing strategies. While there were many potential lead singles that could fare well in music markets, the choice narrowed to "Yeah!" and "Burn".

Tour

Usher supported the album with a two-month concert tour called the Truth Tour. The tour set featured a small stage up on top of the main stage, where the band played with Usher and his supporting dancers left with enough room to perform. The smaller stage had a mini platform attached to it—which lowered to the main stage—and had two big staircases on both sides of it. To the left, a group of circular staircases climbed to the top, and to the right, there was a fire escape replete with steps and an elevator. Kanye West, who had finished his own headlining tour for his 2004 album The College Dropout, was the opening act for the Truth Tour.

Preceding Usher's entrance was a short movie showing him getting dressed, following on with him performing the opening song "Caught Up", with Usher dressed in all white. The second song performed was "You Make Me Wanna...", where two dancers stayed on the top stage with Usher while two male dancers came out to the lower level with two chairs each in their hands. Each dancer threw one chair up to the top, with Usher already in hand with his own chair, with everyone following a set dance routine.

Public reaction

After Usher and his label held a few listening parties for the album, controversies spread about the mistress-impregnating concept of "Confessions Part II". People speculated about their breakup given the content of the album and Usher's early interviews about its themes. With lyrics Usher admitted to have written because of his guilty conscience, people assumed that he and Chilli broke up because he was unfaithful.

Amidst widespread rumors, Usher stated, "People assume things, because as I said, I pull from my personal experiences to make my music."

| rev1 = AllMusic

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| rev2 = Blender

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| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev3Score = B+

| rev4 = The Guardian

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| rev5 = Los Angeles Times

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| rev6 = The New Zealand Herald

| rev6Score =

| rev7 = Pitchfork

| rev7Score = 9.0/10

| rev8 = Q

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| rev9 = Rolling Stone

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| rev10 = USA Today

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| rev11 = Vibe

| rev11Score = 3.5/5

Confessions was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on 13 reviews. Entertainment Weeklys Jem Aswad said that Usher "reveals his new-found maturity by opening with the grittiest song he's ever done." Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times said that near the end, the songwriting "fails" Usher on a "heavily front-loaded" R&B album, but felt that his performance is solid throughout:

In a mixed review, Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian criticized its "production gloss" and said that, although Usher's "fluid delivery" redeems weak tracks, there are only two "great songs"—"Yeah!" and the title track—and "17 less so." Robert Christgau from The Village Voice named "Confessions Part II" and "Bad Girl" as "choice cuts", indicating "a good song on an album that isn't worth your time or money".

Accolades

thumb|alt=Usher in a white source with a small entourage, walking in a parking lot|Usher at the [[2004 MTV Video Music Awards before winning his first two awards.]]

The album earned Usher numerous accolades. At the 47th Grammy Awards, he was nominated for eight categories and won three: Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (for "My Boo") and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (for "Yeah!"). Usher won awards at the 2005 Soul Train Music Awards: R&B/Soul Album, Male (for Confessions); R&B/Soul Single, Male for ("Confessions Part II"); R&B/Soul Single, Group, Band or Duo (for "My Boo"); and R&B/Soul or Rap Dance Cut (for "Yeah!"). At the 2004 American Music Awards, he won four, including Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist. At the 2004 Billboard Music Awards, Usher racked up eleven awards, more than any other artist in one night at the time. These include Artist of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, and Hot 100 Song of the Year for "Yeah!". In December 2009 it was ranked as the best solo album and second best overall album of the 2000–2009 decade.

Commercial performance

Confessions was commercially successful, selling 1.096 million copies in the United States in its first week of release. It became the highest-ever first week sales by an R&B artist, The feat also carved history in Arista records having the first in any of their released albums to reach such sales. The success of the thirty-year-old record label, however, was attributed to its merging with Zomba Records.

The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, becoming Usher's first number-one album. Its early, and successive, progress on the chart was said to be partly sustained by its strong single releases and plenty of press appearances and promotions. The first two released singles were competing on the Billboard Hot 100; the latter ended the twelve-week number-one chart run of the former. As the album's third single, "Confessions Part II", was about to top the chart and Usher to join with English pop and rock group the Beatles as the only acts to achieve three consecutive number-one singles, American R&B singer Fantasia Barrino's debut single "I Believe" prevented it from happening. Despite this, Usher became the first artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay with three consecutive number-one singles.

The album continued its dominance on the chart. D12 World by D12 ended its five consecutive weeks run at the top spot; however, Confessions reclaimed the position the following week. The album spent a total 9 non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the longest-running number one album of the millennium until 2009, when country singer Taylor Swift spent 11 weeks atop the charts with Fearless. Over one month after its release, Confessions was certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for three million US shipments. Confessions topped the list of the most-shipped albums of 2004 in the United States and was the best selling album of the year with 7,978,594 copies sold. Confessions was the sixth best-selling album of the 2000s decade in the US. In February 2024, it reached 14 million shipments in the US, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Confessions sold over 15 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling R&B album and best-selling album by a Black artist of the 21st century. Confessions was the most-shipped album of the year in the US.

In a year-end article for The New York Times, writer Ben Sisario dubbed 2004 "the year of Usher". Others also said that Usher might be the successor of Michael Jackson. Uproxx says Confessions "has gone on to establish itself as one of the landmark albums in pop culture", describing it as "an irreplaceable pillar in R&B lore". According to Vibe magazine, the album is credited for having "birthed" many contemporary albums such as Adele's 21, Miguel's Kaleidoscope Dream, Drake's So Far Gone, Omarion's O, Jason Derulo's self-titled debut and others.

Bryan-Michael Cox, who co-wrote and co-produced "Burn", earned credibility in the music industry for his role in the album. Cox had been producing records for several American artists, including Alicia Keys, B2K, Mariah Carey and Destiny's Child, among others, but he considered "Burn" as his crowning moment, which earned him two Grammy Award nominations. With 2004 deemed to be his introduction to a larger, more mainstream audience, Cox stated in an interview for MTV that many people were starting to recount what he had done. A songwriter was awarded $44 million in a lawsuit involving a song from Usher's diamond-certified album Confessions after a jury sided with Daniel Marino in a claim that his "Club Girl" became Usher's hit "Bad Girl"

Confessions ranked 2nd best album of the 2000s on the Billboard Top 200 Albums of the Decade 2000s list, higher than any other solo album. The album is also ranked as the 16th best album on the Billboard Top 200 Albums of All Time. In 2020, the album was ranked number 432 on the Top 500 Albums of All-Time by Rolling Stone.

Pop culture

In 2020, music industry magazine Billboard ranked Usher the "Greatest Pop Star of 2004". Referring to a 2008 article from MTV, writer Shaheem Reid declared that "with Confessions, Usher has made the Big Connection [...]. That connection our parents felt when Marvin Gaye sang on the Here, My Dear album." Billboard pointed out how most of the secrets revealed and storytelling in the album was inspired by Jermaine Dupri's situation, but they also noted Usher's marketing and "dalliances outside of his public relationship with TLC's Chilli that provided the material for Confessions". The writer praised Usher's commercial power during the Confessions era, as he would influence future pop stars: "Even if you didn't listen to R&B, you knew this album. And if you did listen to R&B, this was the blueprint for all your favorite stars to come: Drake, Justin Bieber, Miguel, Chris Brown and Omarion have all cited Usher's influence. And though Beyoncé spoke about Thriller as the touchstone for her career-defining self-titled release in 2013, the way the lyrics tease revelations about her personal life with her husband, both good and bad, feels more indebted to Confessions than anything Michael Jackson wrote."

15 years after the album was released, A. Harmony of Bustle wrote it was "the catalyst that propelled him to superstardom" and "forever changed the landscape of music". Harmony noted the album's impact on R&B and pop music with the success of "Yeah!" leading "countless R&B stars, from Ciara to T-Pain, to launch careers on the foundation of Crunk&B". The writer also noted the album's influence on trap music and future generations of R&B and hip-hop artists. Harmony also pointed out the album's influence on the music industry and pop culture as a whole, as Confessions changed how albums are marketed and "proved that gossip can sell records". Later albums such as Beyoncé's Lemonade, which was fueled by infidelity and divorce rumors with her rapper husband Jay-Z, relationship rumors around Janelle Monáe's Dirty Computer, and Ariana Grande's Thank U, Next coming off the heels of her public break up with comedian Pete Davidson were used as examples of how Usher's Confessions brought "the relationship between the gossip pages and the album charts... stronger than before".

Track listing

Notes

signifies a vocal producer.
signifies a co-producer.

Sample credits

"Throwback" contains a sample of Dionne Warwick's song "You're Gonna Need Me" (1973)
"Superstar" contains a sample of Willie Hutch's song "Mack's Stroll/The Getaway (Chase Scene)" (1973).
"Take Your Hand" contains a sample of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes's song "Is There a Place for Me?" (1973).
"Whatever I Want" contains excerpts from Preston Love's "Chili Mac".

Personnel

Credits for Confessions adapted from AllMusic and album's liner notes.

Darcy Aldridge – backing vocals (track 11)
Bobby Ross Avila – co-producer (tracks 10–13, 20); guitar (tracks 10–12); keyboards (tracks 11–13); piano (tracks 11, 20); backing vocals (track 11); additional drum programming (track 12); Moog Taurus (track 13); flute (track 20); Wurlitzer, scratches, and strings (track 10)
Dante "Destro" Barton – producer and additional engineering (track 12)
Jason Boyd – vocal producer (tracks 7, 9, 17)
Valdez Brantley – producer (track 8)
Bryan-Michael Cox – co-producer (tracks 4–6, 15, 21)
Larry Cox – additional keyboards (track 14)
Vincent Creusot – additional recording assistant (track 18)
Ian Cross – engineer (track 10), additional engineering (track 21)
Kevin "KD" Davis – engineer (track 16)
Vidal Davis – producer (tracks 7, 9, 17), mixing (tracks 7, 9)
Vince DiLorenzo – engineer (track 7, 9, 17)
Jermaine Dupri – producer (tracks 4–6, 15, 18, 21), mixing (tracks 4–6, 18, 21)
E Bass – guitar (track 3)
Blake Eisman – engineer (track 3, 19)
Faith Evans – additional backing vocals (track 9)
Brian Frye – engineer (tracks 4–6, 15, 18, 21)
John Frye – mixing (tracks 2, 19)
Richard Furch – mixing
Sean Garrett – vocal producer (tracks 2, 10), backing vocals (track 2)
Serban Ghenea – mixing (tracks 10–13, 17, 20)
John Hanes – additional Pro Tools engineer (tracks 10–13, 17, 20)
Andre Harris – producer (tracks 7, 9, 17), mixing (tracks 7, 9)
Rich Harrison – producer and instrumentation (track 16)
Delicia Hassan – production coordination (track 2)
John Horesco IV – engineer (tracks 4, 5, 21), mixing assistant (tracks 4–6, 15, 18, 21)
Jun Ishizeki – additional engineering (track 21)
IZ – co-producer and percussion (tracks 10–13, 20), drums (tracks 10, 11, 13, 20), bass (tracks 10, 13), guitar (tracks 10, 20), scratches (tracks 10, 12), Moog Taurus (track 10), keyboards (track 13)
Jadakiss – rap (track 3)
Jimmy Jam – producer (tracks 10–13, 20), Fender Rhodes (track 11)
LaMarquis Jefferson – bass (tracks 2, 9)
Just Blaze – producer (track 3)
Alicia Keys – vocals (track 18)
L-Roc – additional keyboards (track 2)
James Lackey – producer (track 1)
Ken Lewis – engineer, mixing, and guitar (track 3)
Terry Lewis – producer (tracks 10–13, 20)
Kelly "Dread" Liebelt – additional engineering (track 9)
Craig Love – guitar (track 19)
Ludacris – rap (track 2)
Kevin Mahoney – additional engineering (track 21)
Anthony Mandler – photography
Daniel Marino – guitar (track 12)
Matt Marrin – engineer (tracks 10–13, 20)
Manny Marroquin – mixing (track 14)
Tony Maserati – mixing (track 16)
Ann Mincieli – additional engineering (track 18)
Tadd Mingo – assistant engineer (tracks 4–6, 15, 18, 21)
Johnny "Natural" Najera – producer (track 8)
Paula Patton – backing vocals (track 14)
Herb Powers – mastering
Pro J – producer and instrumentation (track 14)
Edward Quesada – assistant engineer (track 4)
Mickael Rangeard – additional engineering (track 18)
Usher Raymond – executive producer, producer (tracks 1, 4, 8), lead vocals (all tracks), backing vocals (tracks 2, 10–14, 19, 20)
Tim Roberts – mixing assistant (tracks 10–13, 17, 20)
Donnie Scantz – engineer (track 2)
Manuel Seal – co-producer (track 18)
Shyne – rap (track 21)
Jon Smeltz – mixing (tracks 7, 9)
Jan Smith – vocal producer, vocal coach
Jonathan "Lil Jon" Smith – producer and mixing (track 2, 19), additional backing vocals (track 2)
Aaron Spears – producer (track 8)
Chris Steinmetz – additional engineering (track 21)
Patrice "ButtaPhly" Stewart – backing vocals (track 13)
Arthur "Buddy" Strong – producer (track 8)
Sean Tallman – assistant engineer (track 2)
Phil Tan – mixing (tracks 4–6, 15, 18, 21)
Robin Thicke – producer and instrumentation (track 14)
Ryan Toby – vocal producer (tracks 7, 9, 17)
Tony "Proof" Tolbert – backing vocals (tracks 10, 12, 20)
Twista – rap (track 21)
Mark Vinten – engineer (tracks 2, 19)
D.L. Warfield – layout design
Kanye West – rap (track 21)
Ryan West – engineer (track 3)
Doug Wilson – (track 21)
Stevie Wonder – harmonica (track 4)
Ghian Wright – assistant engineer (track 10)
James "Big Jim" Wright – co-producer (tracks 13, 20), bass (tracks 11, 20), Wurlitzer (track 13), keyboards (track 20)

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Weekly chart performance for Confessions

! scope="col"| Chart (2004–2005)

! scope="col"| Peak position

! scope="row"| Australian Urban Albums (ARIA)

! scope="row"|Canadian R&B Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)

|style="text-align:center;"|1

!scope="row"|European Albums (Billboard)

! scope="row"| Greek Albums (IFPI)

| 10

!scope="row"|Irish Albums (IRMA)

|style="text-align:center;"|1

! scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)

| 10

!scope="row"|Malaysian International Albums (RIM)

| 14

!scope="row"|South African Albums (RISA)

| 1

!scope="row"|South African Albums (RISA) Special Edition

| 17

! scope="row"|Taiwanese Albums (Five Music)

| 12

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Annual chart performance for Confessions

! scope="col"| Chart (2004)

! scope="col"| Position

! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)

|style="text-align:center;"|11

! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)

|style="text-align:center;"|29

! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)

|style="text-align:center;"|59

! scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)

|style="text-align:center;"|8

! scope="row"| French Albums (SNEP)

|style="text-align:center;"|40

! scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)

|style="text-align:center;"|17

! scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)

| 5

! scope="row"| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)

|style="text-align:center;"|63

! scope="row"| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)

|style="text-align:center;"|14

! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;"|7

!scope="row"|US Billboard 200

|style="text-align:center;"|1

!scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;"|1

! scope="row"| Worldwide Albums (IFPI)

|style="text-align:center;"|1

! scope="col"| Chart (2005)

! scope="col"| Position

! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)

|style="text-align:center;"|56

! scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)

|style="text-align:center;"|55

! scope="row"| French Albums (SNEP)

|style="text-align:center;"|84

! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;"|90

!scope="row"| US Billboard 200

|style="text-align:center;"|11

!scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;"|13

! scope="col"| Chart (2023)

! scope="col"| Position

! scope="row"| US Billboard 200

| 181

! scope="col"| Chart (2024)

! scope="col"| Position

! scope="row"| US Billboard 200

| 135

! scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)

| 72

Decade-end charts

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|+Decade-end chart performance for Confessions

!scope="col"|Chart (2000–2009)

!scope="col"|Position

!scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)

|align="center"|91

!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;"|72

!scope="row"| US Billboard 200

|style="text-align:center;"|2

Confessions (Usher album)

Background and recording

Release

Marketing

Tour

Public reaction

Accolades

Commercial performance

Pop culture

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

See also

References

External links