Recording information: Circle House Studios, Miami, FL; Conway Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA; Doppler Studios, Atlanta, GA; Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY; Freakland Studios, Hong Kong; Glenwood Place Studios, Burbank, CA; Jungle City Studios, New York, NY; MXM Studios, Stockholm, Sweden; Parkland Playhouse, Parkland, FL; Silent Sound Studios, Atlanta, GA; South Beach Studios, Miami, FL.
Photographer: Francesco Carrozzini.
On his seventh studio album -- his first for the RCA label -- Usher offers up what he terms "revolutionary pop." It's not so much a style as a mixture of modern, pop-oriented R&B and European dance-pop -- not all that different in makeup from what he offered on 2010's Raymond v. Raymond. Looking 4 Myself features the steamy, low-key ballad "Climax" (co-produced by Diplo) and the storming dancefloor track "Scream" (co-written and co-produced by Max Martin). Usher's other collaborators include the Neptunes, Rico Love, Salaam Remi, and Swedish House Mafia.
Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.78) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Club rave-ups, hip-hop ballads, synth pop, blaxploitation funk, a Max Martin song, a Will.i.am jam that borrows from 'Uptown Girl' -- all here."
Entertainment Weekly (p.80) - "LOOKING 4 MYSELF still sounds like the Usher you know; it's just a little more interesting....Cool kid DJ Diplo produced the electro-glitchy single 'Climax'..." -- Grade: B
Billboard (p.28) - "It's a sprawling album with many highlights, but the truly stellar songs include, 'Climax,' 'Scream,' 'Dive' and especially 'Numb'..."
