top 5 usher videos of all time
Those of you who know me outside work will know that I love tatty R&B songs with good videos. I believe them to be the pinnacle of the consumer culture within which we work. You may also know that I am borderline obsessed with Usher. So without further ado, here are my picks of the best Usher videos of all time.
#5 Usher - Love in the Club (2008)
As my friend Leila points out, the whole concept of making love in a nightclub is fundamentally flawed. At worst, you can get shagged in the toilets (in this club, in this club), and at best, felt up tastefully in the corner (in this club, in this club).
Nevertheless, at age 29, after an entirely ridiculous intro, kind of like a cross between The Shining and a phone sex line, Usher pulls out some awesome chest popping at about 4:40.
Link to Usher - Make Love in the Club video
#4 Usher - Pop Ya Collar (1999)
Easy choice, for 2 reasons.
1. Slick dance moves and brilliant use of props.
The bit in the parcel sorting office with the boxes and ladder is really nicely choreo'd - it reminds me of one of the best Jackie Chan fight scenes. In fact, if Usher got Jackie Chan to cameo in his next vid, or if they make Rush Hour 4 with Usher instead of Chris Rock, I would die.
2. The sheer number and unrelated diversity of jobs which Usher has in this video.
Whilst I think the idea of a career path in the traditional sense is slightly dated, I could not advocate anyone following the job path that Usher takes in the video:
* Rapstar in hot car with hot girls
* Fed-Ex depot worker
* Pro American footballer
* The businessman, in his suit and tie
* Reject from the gang in Michael Jackson's Beat It video
#3 Usher - My Way (2007)
An oldie but a goodie. Usher is frolicking with Tyrese's (of the best Coke ad ever - da da da da da da, singing on the bus with headphones, always Coca Cola) girl. He is doing it on a creepy-clown-themed bouncy castle, while wearing a bowler hat, and green shirt. Tyrese turns up, with his posse, and he is not happy. A dance off ensues in the funfair. Usher gets a cane from somewhere, pulls out a HUGE frontflip and there's even a surprise Batman-style ending. Need I say more?
Link to Usher - My Way video
#2 Usher - You Make me Wanna (1997)
Actually I think this is more the song than the video. This is the tune that made him famous, 11 years ago in 1997. I can't even remember what life was like before Usher. It must have been so dreadful I blocked it out. The slickest concept in this video is that there are lots of Ushers in the video, all doing very slightly different things. And a fish.
Link to video of Usher - You Make me Wanna
#1 Usher - You don't have to call (2001)
I think this one strikes a chord because it's rooted in a real boy insight - when you've had girl trouble, forget it, go out with the lads and get a different one.
You don't have to call.
It's okay girl,
Cos I'm mo be alright tonight.
Gonna boogie tonight,
Cos I'm honestly too young of a guy
To stay home,
Waiting for love.
So tonight,
I'm gonna do what a single man does
And go party.
This is out and out the best Usher video ever made.
We open with Usher. He is sad. Puff Daddy phones him on his video phone to give him a pep talk about women. Puffy taps the screen and yells "Yo Playboy!"
Usher then performs the greatest getting-ready-to-go-out via the medium of dance scene ever created, complete with body-popping your way in to the shower, and a Usher-eye-view panning shot of all his watches and his iced-out belt buckle.
There is also an awesome Michael Jackon Bad-esque car park dance routine. And, to cap things off, the tune is even produced by Pharrell Williams. Sometimes, if I'm tired and can't be bothered to go out, I put on this video twice, then get in the shower. It gets me so pumped that I bounce out the door, full of renewed vigour to mack on chicks.
Link to Usher - You don't have to call video
Any more suggestions or comments, let me know. Next time will be top 5 most incongruous Pop/RnB video dance interludes of all time.
#5 Usher - Love in the Club (2008)
As my friend Leila points out, the whole concept of making love in a nightclub is fundamentally flawed. At worst, you can get shagged in the toilets (in this club, in this club), and at best, felt up tastefully in the corner (in this club, in this club).
Nevertheless, at age 29, after an entirely ridiculous intro, kind of like a cross between The Shining and a phone sex line, Usher pulls out some awesome chest popping at about 4:40.
Link to Usher - Make Love in the Club video
#4 Usher - Pop Ya Collar (1999)
Easy choice, for 2 reasons.
1. Slick dance moves and brilliant use of props.
The bit in the parcel sorting office with the boxes and ladder is really nicely choreo'd - it reminds me of one of the best Jackie Chan fight scenes. In fact, if Usher got Jackie Chan to cameo in his next vid, or if they make Rush Hour 4 with Usher instead of Chris Rock, I would die.
2. The sheer number and unrelated diversity of jobs which Usher has in this video.
Whilst I think the idea of a career path in the traditional sense is slightly dated, I could not advocate anyone following the job path that Usher takes in the video:
* Rapstar in hot car with hot girls
* Fed-Ex depot worker
* Pro American footballer
* The businessman, in his suit and tie
* Reject from the gang in Michael Jackson's Beat It video
#3 Usher - My Way (2007)
An oldie but a goodie. Usher is frolicking with Tyrese's (of the best Coke ad ever - da da da da da da, singing on the bus with headphones, always Coca Cola) girl. He is doing it on a creepy-clown-themed bouncy castle, while wearing a bowler hat, and green shirt. Tyrese turns up, with his posse, and he is not happy. A dance off ensues in the funfair. Usher gets a cane from somewhere, pulls out a HUGE frontflip and there's even a surprise Batman-style ending. Need I say more?
Link to Usher - My Way video
#2 Usher - You Make me Wanna (1997)
Actually I think this is more the song than the video. This is the tune that made him famous, 11 years ago in 1997. I can't even remember what life was like before Usher. It must have been so dreadful I blocked it out. The slickest concept in this video is that there are lots of Ushers in the video, all doing very slightly different things. And a fish.
Link to video of Usher - You Make me Wanna
#1 Usher - You don't have to call (2001)
I think this one strikes a chord because it's rooted in a real boy insight - when you've had girl trouble, forget it, go out with the lads and get a different one.
You don't have to call.
It's okay girl,
Cos I'm mo be alright tonight.
Gonna boogie tonight,
Cos I'm honestly too young of a guy
To stay home,
Waiting for love.
So tonight,
I'm gonna do what a single man does
And go party.
This is out and out the best Usher video ever made.
We open with Usher. He is sad. Puff Daddy phones him on his video phone to give him a pep talk about women. Puffy taps the screen and yells "Yo Playboy!"
Usher then performs the greatest getting-ready-to-go-out via the medium of dance scene ever created, complete with body-popping your way in to the shower, and a Usher-eye-view panning shot of all his watches and his iced-out belt buckle.
There is also an awesome Michael Jackon Bad-esque car park dance routine. And, to cap things off, the tune is even produced by Pharrell Williams. Sometimes, if I'm tired and can't be bothered to go out, I put on this video twice, then get in the shower. It gets me so pumped that I bounce out the door, full of renewed vigour to mack on chicks.
Link to Usher - You don't have to call video
Any more suggestions or comments, let me know. Next time will be top 5 most incongruous Pop/RnB video dance interludes of all time.
