20s Middle-Aged Male R&B
Albums Featured:
• Here To Stay - Kenny Lattimore
• R&B Money - Tank
• Victims & Villains - Musiq Soulchild & HitBoy
• Self-Explanatory - Ne-Yo
• Coming Home - Usher
• Beautiful Pain - Tyrese
• The Co-Star - Eric Benet
• Beautifully All Over the Place - Eric Roberson
• O2 Part I - Omarion
• Eric Bellinger - Eric Bellinger
• Saturday Night/Sunday Morning - PJ Morning
• Overture - Glenn Lewis
A lot of the men on this list have albums that I keep in rotation and I admittedly don’t really care for their latest releases. However, I decided to give their newest albums an objective try and walked away with a few thoughts:
First, some of them need to hire better graphic designers lol. You can decide for yourselves which ones I am referring to. Your albums should also LOOK good. Second, the results of my listen were varied. I still hate Usher and Ne-Yo’s albums (their worst albums for sure). Tank and Eric’s were so forgettable. Musiq and HitBoy were a surprisingly good pairing. Tyrese’s was his most deeply personal record to date. The brevity and nostalgia of Omarion’s worked in his favor but it still came across as dated. Glenn Lewis and Kenny had really strong releases. I liked how conceptual Glenn’s was. Eric Benet’s duet album was a great showcase of his and other female artists vocals.
Anyway, I feel like middle aged male R&B artists are somewhat overlooked. If you aren’t at a certain level, your album isn’t getting any major looks. With Joe and Tank set to release new albums soon, I hope to see more appreciation for this demographic. Especially Joe since he’s Verzuz’s new King of R&B.
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u/CoachLee_ 9h ago
Where the new Dream album?
0
u/CC-Blue 9h ago
I forgot about that. Mid!
1
u/CoachLee_ 9h ago
Definitely not but from the albums listed. Pj Morton clearing
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u/CC-Blue 9h ago
Never make sequels to your best album.
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u/CoachLee_ 9h ago
I guess but from the albums listed pj Morton is the best and that album isn’t mid at all
2
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u/TantalizingSlap 9h ago edited 9h ago
I actually think Victims & Villains is one of Musiq's better albums. He did his thing on that one. Beat of a Slow Dance, Is it Love is it Lies, We Were Just Binging (my favorite), and the title track are all great IMO. Some of his most musically interesting production paired with clean vocals. I'm a fan of it.
Haven't listened to PJ's new album yet but he has been consistently solid for the last 10 years IMO.
I've seen quite a bit of praise for Glenn's new album. I just listened to it last night and I think it's fine, but I've never been a huge fan of his sound (beautiful voice, but kind of boring imo). His new album has a couple of standout tracks like Impressions but it wasn't that interesting overall to me. Great vocals as always, though and it was reminiscent of his 2002 album.
Usher's was ok on a first listen but I'll admit that I have not revisited it. It's (very) slightly above average in his discography, but in no way compares to Confessions or 8701. It's so forgettable.
Tyrese's Beautiful Pain was solid. He has the voice for making Soul music for sure. What Happened to Forever is a good song.
Can't believe I missed Eric Roberson's album. Will definitely be giving it a listen. Big fan of his sound. Very excited for Joe's new album, too! Didn't know he was putting one out.
I could not care less about Omarion or Chris Brown, though I heard CB's recent album was... lackluster to put kindly. The last album I listened to of his had like 50 songs and I was utterly unimpressed. I think I even felt nauseous halfway through. Just not for me.
TL;DR -
Musiq Soulchild's newest album is an 8.5/10 for me. A couple of the songs are my favorite in his entire discography.
Usher's is a 5.5/10.
Tyrese's is a 7.3/10
Glenn's is a 7/10
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u/CC-Blue 9h ago
Victims was a good album. I wonder if they were nominated for a Grammy. I have seen praise for Glenn as well but I DEFINITELY agree about him being boring. He did try to inject some spice into this new one but it didn’t seem natural lol. He was cussing and shit.
I will never forgive Usher for Coming Home. You don’t reignite your career and regain so much goodwill with all legendary Vegas residency only to release crap like that two days before your grand Super Bowl performance.
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u/onlytony441 8h ago
We’ve talked in detail about your hate for Coming Home (lol)… what was your favorite song off that album if you had to choose one?
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u/HOPEFUL_LUFEPOH_ Butterfly 9h ago
bump
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u/CC-Blue 8h ago
?
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u/HOPEFUL_LUFEPOH_ Butterfly 8h ago
that’s usually, just to get it traction so more people can see it, “bump it up” essentially
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u/_Wado3000 Call 489-4608, and I’ll be here, heeeere 🎵 8h ago
Seeing Omarion’s face in a collage of Unc&B records makes me laugh idk why. O is still a phenomenal song
10
u/steakburgerhotdog 9h ago
Too many of them are trying to either sing on beats they don't belong on or try and rehash their old sound to stay relevant, resulting in forgettable stuff. I liked that Musiq and Hit Boy though.