Songoftheday 10/28/24 - Now this gon' be the hardest thing I think I ever had to do, got me talkin' to myself askin' how I'm gon' tell you...

"Confessions Part II" - Usher

from the album Confessions (2004)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 22

Today's song comes from Usher, who in 2004 had already spent twenty weeks at #1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with "Yeah!" and "Burn". The third single from the set was oddly enough the second "part" of a two-part title song of the album (I'll get to part one - which wasn't officially promoted as a single, later). "Confessions Part II", written by Usher with Bryan-Michael Cox and producer Jermaine Dupri, deals with the aftermath of an affair, which involves the other woman getting pregnant. But according to them, it really wasn't Usher's story but Dupri's (though current Diddy-related events may cloud that). And this is a messy song - in one verse he'll telling his steady that the ex-girlfriend is preggers and is keeping it, to saying she is the first thing he thought about, then doubting if the baby is his, to saying he doesn't want to be a father. And this is what passed as romantic soul of 2004. The production is slick and allows him to vamp but is pretty one-note otherwise. The music video has Usher hilariously confessing then removing his top as if his body is a bargaining chip (spoiler alert - it is). But we all fell for it and Usher continued his winning streak...

"Confessions" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July of 2004, while also spending two weeks atop their R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the song peaked at #7 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart, took a week at #1 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list, got to #24 on the older-skewing Adult R&B radio tally, and led the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format for three weeks. Internationally, the single made the top ten in Canada (#3 Airplay), Australia (#5), and Denmark (#8), while it also made the mark on a two-fer single featuring follow-up "My Boo" in the United Kingdom (#5) and Ireland (#7).

Two months after part II entered the charts, "Confessions Part 1" (which wasn't on the original tracklisting of the set", got enough airplay on urban radio to spend 20 weeks on the R&B Singles chart with a high of #47, while "bubbling under" the Hot 100 at #122.

Usher and the album will be back to the series.

(6/10)

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Here's the "Part I" of "Confessions", which had a decent run on the R&B charts for a non-single...