Song #955: "Love In This Club" by Usher featuring Young Jeezy

Date: Mar 15, 2008
Weeks: 3

Usher seems to write a lot of songs about finding love on the floor of a dance club. In addition to "OMG" (#985), he has a song called "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love." I guess there's a niche for songs like that. People go to dance clubs on dates and want a sexy song to amplify the mood, I suppose.

Even though the chorus is "I wanna make love in this club," Usher manages to keep it mostly metaphorical. Unlike Nelly, he doesn't literally want to get naked and have sex in the middle of the dance floor; he's practicing the art of seduction. At least until the point when he literally says he wants to get naked and have sex in the middle of the dance floor. "Let's both get undressed right here ... Imma give it to you nonstop and I don't care who's watchin'." Sigh. Can I choose to interpret that metaphorically, too? Like he's overcome with sexual energy and wants to have sex on the dance floor, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he will? No, I guess not. It was worth a try.

Even if I successfully persuaded myself that Usher's lyrics were metaphorical, Young Jeezy's rap lyrics would shatter my delusion. "On the couch, on the table, on the bar, or on the floor. You can meet me in the bathroom." It's like a dirty Dr. Seuss book. Young Jeezy demolishes any metaphor that Usher may be attempting to construct.

Usher has a great voice that adds to the sexy atmosphere he's trying to generate. That all works well enough until Young Jeezy comes along and ruins it with his grating and obnoxious voice. Young Jeezy does that thing that I really dislike in rap where he sounds like he's panting for breath after every line. Young Jeezy's voice also contrasts with the otherwise kind of delicate and sexy music and really breaks the mood.

The music is pretty good and is the most successfully sexy part of the song. The dominating synth sound consists of a fairly classic pop music chord progression. The bass beat is good and nicely varied throughout, which helps the song never feel stale. I also really like the bridge, with a descending piano leading into a complete breakdown in everything but the bass beat. I haven't actually heard this song in a dance club, but I've always liked those moments when a dance song gets quiet like that before kind of exploding back into its full energy. That's certainly a good moment in this song.

My verdict: Don't like it. This is a really close one. The music almost forgives all. But I have reservations about the lyrics and Young Jeezy's rap section is really obnoxious.