New Good Song: Scream by Usher

Here's a new good song -- "Scream" by Usher.

I struggle with Usher. My knee-jerk instinct is to dislike or discount his output out of habit. For the past 15 years, I have had to navigate through his body of work with a mix of disappointment and annoyance as he has churned out forgettable melodies amid grating productions. He is a talented singer and dancer, and very fit, but in my opinion outrated by the public in terms of his songs.

That said, I must admit that his songs will sometimes have hooks that I think are quite good. His breakout single, "You Make Me Wanna ...," was good.  "U Remind Me" was OK, but the harmonies on the track were lazy. "My Boo," his duet with Alicia Keys, was OK, but over-sung. His ballads tend to be snoozes. "Yeah!" was ghastly. Generally, I'm just not that impressed, particularly with the melody lines.

So imagine my surprise when he released "Climax" earlier this year, and I discovered a new good song from an unlikely source. The melody is nicely crafted and delivered, the sentiment seems honest, and the production is tight, modern, cool and original. This was really a nice track, and one of the better R&B songs of 2012 so far. It went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hip Hop/R&B chart.

After that, a slew of other singles from his latest album popped up on the iTunes list of most-downloaded songs. Despite liking "Climax," I was not that curious. And when I would click on these tracks while scanning the chart, I would be immediately annoyed. Everything, to me, sounded like typical American dance music, which is the worst modern genre.

But.

There was something interestingly hooky about "Scream." And as it rose up the charts higher and higher, breaking from the pack of his also-rans, I found myself turning back to it time and gain. Very reluctantly, I had to admit it was a new good song -- great melody, nicely sung, catchy. It's not a breakthrough, but it's good.

Pop music has a history of music that at first sounds horrible but then turns out to be either better, or perhaps even good. Examples include "Work It" by Missy Elliott and "What About Us?" by Brandy. The first time I heard these songs, I thought, "What is this garbage?" But after repeated listens, I grew to like it.

That's one disadvantage of the modern age. We are not as helplessly subjected to radio. This can be good news in some ways, as no one wants to be forced to consume bad music, but there is something to be said for a song "growing on you," and in this era of customization and music on-demand, not to mention an overwhelming amount of choice, it's less likely that listeners will have the patience to let that growth on them happen.

And while some songs grow on you, others shrink. Sometimes I've purchased slightly odd-sounding songs that have had aspects I liked, thinking it might grow on me, but instead they became worse upon repeated listens. Examples include "King of Hearts" by Cassie and "Menage e Trois" by Austin Brown.