Pop n B

Username: welcome2thejam

Album: Year of the Gentleman: Was kinda the wild card for me going into the rate, I'm way less familiar with his work. He definitely doesn't have the charisma carry potential or production benefits of either his competitors, but the songs on this particular album are generally solid enough to hold his own.

Closer: 10 I don't know if Ne-Yo can keep up anything close to this quality throughout this album, guess we'll find out. But no matter what happens, I can't deny the dude stepped up first at-bat and knocked it clear out of the park. Fantastic track.

Nobody: 9 Can't enjoy this as much as I'd like since repeated & successive uses of "nobody" triggers my Goofy floating lifelessly in a fountain to Mitski reflex

Single: 7 I've read enough fanfics and watched enough romcoms to know this is a C- attempt at the Fake Boyfriend run

Mad: 5 Waaaait a second, you can't quickly bring up an issue with her and keep mum about what you're bringing to the fight

Miss Independent: 8 Move over women, Ne-Yo made the ultimate girlboss anthem

Why Does She Stay: 4 After hearing all that? I'm asking too wtf

Fade Into The Background: 10 Actually hits pretty hard. Anyway I choose to believe this is a sequel to the previous song, which honestly is more points in its favor considering I'm now feeling things for the shitty dude from the last track

So You Can Cry: 9 Damn, there's really a whole ass storyline going on in the middle of this Ne-Yo album

Part Of The List: 8 This is a lovely tune, which makes using the phrase "invading your space" such a "wait, what?" moment

Back To What You Know: 7 Feels less like the usual "main character telling a tale of love lost" POV and more "the fake love interest they bring in to delay the main couple from getting together" POV

Lie To Me: 7 Me when I get even a little hope in my sports teams and want to believe we have a chance this season

Stop This World: 7 This album has just made me feel super bad for Ne-Yo, every song he's either not getting the girl or is super pessimistic about their relationship

She Got Her Own: 7 The little fake superhero theme they hum after "captain save em" got me

Album: Confessions: A bit better curating in the second half and this is an all-timer album. As is, it's still an overall great record that starts off with wall-to-wall classics

Yeah! (feat. Lil Jon & Ludacris): 11 The ironclad grip this had on 2000s middle school youth

Throwback (feat. Jadakiss): 10 Fantastic beat

Confessions: 9 "It's all bad" Oh honey, just you wait for Part II

Confessions Part II: 10 Never has infidelity sounded so good so often

Burn: 10 Never in my life did I think the words "fifty-leven" and "umpteen" could be so heartrending

Caught Up: 10 Great song all-around, but at the end of the day, it's the horns baby

Superstar: 8 Oh, I'm sure you say that to all the girls. I mean that literally, feels like you've told at least sixty girls they're number one over the course of this song

Truth Hurts: 6 One ticket for the Lizzo reference section of the post, please

Simple Things: 7

Bad Girl: 8 Do I have a Bad Girl for you! How do you feel about vaccines

That's What It's Made For: 7 Thank GOD I didn't play this part of the album for my work carpool

Can U Handle It?: 6

Do It To Me: 8 The front third of this album is so good that I have no choice but to allow this super h*rny victory lap

Take Your Hand: 8 Did someone halfway through press too much on the massage gun

Follow Me: 8 The flute type noise & title combo has me a tad concerned this is a Pied Piper situation

My Boo: 6 Light nostalgia points, but this never really did it for me. The outro's fun though

Red Light: 7 Sources: Usher is beside himself. Driving around downtown Atlanta begging (thru song) his girl for address to her home

Seduction: 10 Best of the smooth & sensual Usher tracks easily

Album: FutureSex/LoveSounds: This is consistently put forward as one of the game changing 2000s albums, and based off the singles, I could certainly agree. Shame the deep cuts tend to be dull or baffling though

FutureSex/LoveSound: 9 You know what, this grew on me. I appreciate how just weird this sounds compared to the other two. Don't know if it will last, but I'm willing to give Future Justin a fair shot

SexyBack (feat. Timbaland): 9 Went through a roller coaster through this one. This last listen on the good headphones put me on the side of Sexyback enjoyer, though I could easily be on the other side any given day.

Sexy Ladies: 4 Justin has the charisma to make a lot of things work. This is not one of them

Let Me Talk to You/ My Love (feat. T.I): 10 That intro drop & the first line? Too damn good. Honestly didn't know I had such reverence for this until now but here we are. The squeaking's probably gonna cost this any chance at a win, but this definitely deserves to place high

LoveStoned/ I Think She Knows (Interlude): 9 I think my brain is irreparably broken because my first thought is if Sufjan Stevens did a live cover of this multipart extravaganza, it would honestly probably be tight as hell

What Goes Around.../...Comes Around (Interlude): 9 Yeah this one's still great

Chop Me Up (feat. Timbaland & Three-6 Mafia): 7 When Three-6 Mafia tells me it's going down I can be 100% sure it is. Honestly needed more of them

Damn Girl (feat. will.i.am): 4 There's a path here to a solid retro bop, and instead they threw away the map and drove off a cliff

Summer Love: 4 You really gonna spit bars on the phone with your girl the whole night Justin? Really?

Set the Mood (Prelude) / Until the End of Time (with Beyoncé): 10 Prelude had me doubting tbh, but it turned into a helluva lush jam. Not a ton of chemistry which keeps it out of 11 contender range, but its more like a neutral pairing and both sound good anyway

Losing My Way: 3 The choir section is the only reason this isn't lower, absolutely dull

Another Song (All Over Again): 5 Competent

Boutique in Heaven: 5 Needs an instrumental version

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