Five months ago, revived and current hip-hop star Usher
released his sixth studio album, Raymond vs. Raymond, a tribute of sorts to the turbulent ups and downs
of his two-year marriage to Tameka Foster. This week, after only a mere five
months of watching singles such as “OMG” and “Lil Freak” offRaymond climb the charts this summer, Usher released his
follow-up seventh album,Versus EP.

Usher is billing Versus
as the “final chapter” toRaymond v. Raymond; an epilogue of sorts, where songs such as “Love ‘Em
All” and “Lay You Down” assure listeners that although he may have been reeling
in his post-divorce pain inRaymond,
Usher is back in the game and still knows how to woo the ladies.

Do not, however, be fooled by the allure of this “final
chapter.” Those in search of a bounty of fresh material from the superstar will
be disappointed to discover that Versus
is not so much a cohesive EP as it is singles Usher either forgot to put on
Raymond or was still in the process of recording
at the time ofRaymond‘s release.
Thus while there is some new material, it sounds mainly the same asRaymond.

That being said, Versus is
overall a well-produced album, and some of the new tracks, while not anything
particularly original, are still quite catchy. And if we’ve learned one thing this
summer, it’s that you’ve got to hand it to Usher for pumping out the catchy hit
singles. On “DJ Got Us In Love Again,” Usher teamed up with
rapper Pitbull to create a fast-paced club anthem. The culmination of the
lyrics in the song are pretty much the repetition of the title line, “DJ Got Us
In Love Again,” yet somehow it is impossible not to want to get up and dance
when this song starts playing.

Perhaps the most interesting on the track on the EP is
Usher’s collaboration with his pint-sized prot?g?e Justin Bieber. “Somebody to
Love,” while originally recorded by Usher, was re-recorded by Bieber this year,
and subsequently, Bieber’s version became a hit. On Versus, Usher re-records “Somebody to Love” yet again with
Beiber singing the hook and Usher back on lead vocals. Despite the gratuitous
reworking of this bass pumping pop single, Usher’s version is just as catchy as
Bieber’s, and surprisingly the combination of Usher’s smooth crooning voice and
Bieber’s pre-pubescent falsetto actually compliment each other very well.

Usher no doubt has the ability to remain relevant throughout
the years. It’s been nine years since he released “U Remind Me,” yet Usher is
still finding ways to appeal to a broad range of people; a feat he achieves by
continuously cranking out pop power ballads and writing anthems about getting
with the ladies.

Versus, as stated
before, is nothing special. IfRaymond v. Raymond was Usher’s standard compliance with the direction
of pop-music these says, thenVersus
is the annoying little sibling toRaymond. At least Usher can still make us dance.

3 out 5 stars