Song #985: "OMG" by Usher (featuring will.i.am)

Date: May 15, 2010
Weeks: 4

The first thing that strikes me about this song is the overproduction. It seems the late 2000s have brought us back to the late 1980s in terms of stacking sound on top of sound until the actual song is hidden beneath layers and layers of unneeded noise. The most obviously unneeded noise here is the crowd shouts of "Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh!" It's like they're trying to convince me that I'm enjoying the song by overdubbing the sound of other people singing along. It's the musical equivalent of canned laughter. And then there's the abuse of Auto-Tune.

From what I've heard from him, Usher is a fine singer, and that's certainly represented here. His voice is the best part of the song. There's not a lot of Auto-Tune used on his voice, but why is there any? I'm not sure I'll ever understand the notion that that phony Auto-Tune sound is preferable to natural vocals by a good singer. Meanwhile, will.i.am's performance seems to have been created entirely with Auto-Tune, and putting him next to Usher isn't doing the song any favors.

Lyrically... look, I get that singing "Oh my God" over and over on the radio is just potentially controversial enough that you want to avoid it if there's a handy substitute. But that's what "OMG" stands for. If you want to sing "Oh my gosh" instead, I understand that. Heck, it even sounds better. But then the title should really be "Oh My Gosh". I suppose I should just be thankful he's not singing "Oh Em Gee."

The line "Honey got some boobies like wow oh wow" is really terrible. Why was that permissible for a radio edit when "Oh my God" was that? There are better ways to compliment a woman's appearance. There are better ways to compliment a woman's chest, if that what you really feel you need to do.

At its core, this isn't a bad song. The gist of the song, that you saw someone attractive and want to meet them, is universal enough to connect with. Usher sings it well. And I really like the synthesizer as the basis of the music. It modulates and changes enough to stay fresh and interesting throughout the entire song. A lot of music intended as dance music doesn't do that. I actually like what's going on in the song when Usher sings "Oh my gosh, I'm so in love; I found you finally." That's a really good moment.

My verdict: Don't like it. A decent song at its core, but too many silly production choices and weird lyrics hurt it.