JT/Bey praised; Usher/CB dragged in Noisey's Purpose review
Look at Usher. His 2012 album Looking 4 Myself is an excellent thermometer for where mainstream R&B was at the time: deathly afraid of being overtaken by dance music. Usher went straight to Max Martin, Shellback, will.i.am, and Diplo to stay afloat, and the same year Chris Brown released "Don't Wake Me Up" and "Turn Up the Music," his most craven EDM cash grabs.
No one could see JT and Bey coming, but the two-part The 20/20 Experience and Beyoncé wrested back a great deal of industry faith in more traditional R&B by stiff-arming EDM straight to the bank. And this is how Justin Bieber could find the juice to make all the murky, emotional music that came through on the Journals project.
Look at Usher. His 2012 album Looking 4 Myself is an excellent thermometer for where mainstream R&B was at the time: deathly afraid of being overtaken by dance music. Usher went straight to Max Martin, Shellback, will.i.am, and Diplo to stay afloat, and the same year Chris Brown released "Don't Wake Me Up" and "Turn Up the Music," his most craven EDM cash grabs.
No one could see JT and Bey coming, but the two-part The 20/20 Experience and Beyoncé wrested back a great deal of industry faith in more traditional R&B by stiff-arming EDM straight to the bank. And this is how Justin Bieber could find the juice to make all the murky, emotional music that came through on the Journals project.
Justin Timberlake did the dance pop thing once before during his previous era. He skipped the full on EDM era. Then when R&B was already on the upswing he released his album. Even then he didn't land any #1 singles and was only marginally successful during his era. Had Usher released those same songs he would've been lamblasted for being stubborn and sticking to hard core R&B music.
The 6m people that bought the album.