Just recently premiered on Radio 1. Was fully expecting a big club banger with an obligatory dance breakdown, and was waiting for it for the whole of the song. So glad it isn't done, this song is so good ... love his voice on it and the production from Diplo is pretty damn good too. Not sure if it'll be a hit, but at least he's doing something slightly different from the likes of Chris Brown, Jason DeRulo, Ne-Yo etc.

Edited June 6, 201213 yr by Jack

So Weeknd. For that, I love it.

It's amaze. I think it should be a pretty big US hit but I don't know how it will crossover to the UK. It's really nice to see him not doing dance anyway.

Best thing he's done. Brilliant.

Ooh this is good. Finally something listenable from him since the amazingness that was 'Yeah'.

Really, surprisingly good - not at all what I'd have expected him to come back with!

Meh on first listen, but it'll probably grow on me. Just one thing, there's no climax (no pun intended) to the song? It just builds up at the end of every chorus for a few seconds for what... nothing?

 

No doubt this'll be big in America, kinda reminds me of Motivation in places. As for here, I don't think so.

It's interesting... not a big fan on first listen but I'm pleasantly surprised it's not an identikit dance knock-off so I respect him for that.

Meh on first listen, but it'll probably grow on me. Just one thing, there's no climax (no pun intended) to the song? It just builds up at the end of every chorus for a few seconds for what... nothing?

 

I was waiting for someone to say this! :lol: I like the lack of a climax in a song called Climax. It's fun. And yes it's totally like a male Motivation for me.

This is good :o

I also think it's like Motivation. And RnB song with electronic instrumentation.

 

Also, 14 reasons why "Climax" keeps peaking:

 

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/AicJiq/www.s...ign=spintwitter

1. It's "radiohead quietstorm." That's how Diplo described the track in a tweet this morning. As anyone who ever fast-forwarded too slowly through TV commercials know, the man is a canny self-promoter. But that doesn't mean he's wrong. An atmospheric, falsetto-driven track that confidently melds electronic and organic elements, including digitally tweaked vocals, but which is pillowy and explicitly sexual rather than eerie and cerebral: Radiohead-style Quiet Storm sounds about right.

 

2. It's Usher getting back to what he does best. Usher was heartbroken last time we heard him, too, on David Guetta's 2011 hit "Without You." But despite the sensitive tone, that song, like so much of Usher's 2010 Raymond vs. Raymond, was something you'd more likely release on New Year's Eve than on Valentine's Day. Don't get us wrong: Usher club hits like "Yeah" and "Love in This Club" sound fantastic in the proper setting. But it's great to hear him return to the sumptuously constructed baby-making music of songs like "Nice & Slow" and "Burn." That's where his vocal finesse really shows.

 

3. It's Usher singing in falsetto. We mentioned the falsetto, right? Smokey Robinson's lofty croon set the standard for quiet storm on the song that gave the style its name. Usher is less likely to go all the way up there than, say, Justin Timberlake or Trey Songz, but when he has previously, as on the hook to "There Goes My Baby," he's used the falsetto to great effect. "Climax" might be Usher's supreme falsetto moment, as he keeps fluttering to new heights like the lyrical subject matter of the song.

 

4. It's not actually a love song. Speaking of the lyrical subject matter, this is one of those songs that might work just as well if Usher — or, inevitably, some douchebag in the dorm — stripped it down to just acoustic guitar. It's as vividly communicative as it is decoratively beautiful. He's singing not only about how much he wants this person, but about how they're not going to be together; they're in limbo. Opening lines: "We're going nowhere fast." Deliciously, this can, of course, have a couple of meanings. Good thing Usher went back for just one more fling.

 

5. Where's the drop? Diplo is ever conscious of trends, and he teases us with the sort of wubba-wubba subwoofer noises that have become inescapable in the past year or so of pop radio. But he never actually gives in with the full dubstep drop. We haven't actually reached the climax. And that's a great thing, because as much fun as, say, Skrillex's "Cinema" remix can be, this song demands a more delicate touch.

 

6. Nico Muhly's strings are face-melting. Muhly, a classical composer who has done arrangements and orchestration for everyone from Grizzly Bear and Antony to Bonnie Prince Billy, has less of a track record when it comes to pop radio, but that's exactly why he's so perfect for this track. We're no orchestral experts, but the way he employs the strings so subtly, rather than the more common trick of slathering on the melodrama and false grandeur, should be required listening for aspiring Top 40 producers. The orchestration is majestic, but never bombastic.

 

7. The percussion keeps cutting out. After each verse or so, the snapping, spacious electronic rhythm track subsides a bit. The moment is right for the track to climax somehow, but of course, Usher and Diplo keep right on pushing ahead. That's part of what helps the track keep reaching new peaks.

 

8. Just look at the SoundCloud. "Climax" is perfectly suited to the SoundCloud treatment. When you're watching the waveform visualization as you listen to the stream, you can see the way the song keeps swelling to one big wave after another, without ever really reaching a single, song-stopping crescendo. This track is a tour de force of pacing and dynamics, giving listeners more and more but then always easing up just enough to keep us begging for one more verse.

 

9. OK, here's where we admit we know what "climax" means. Speaking of how vividly yet simply the lyrics depict this relationship, the wordplay involved in the title phrase is just classic pop songcraft. This couple obviously knows how to, uh, climax together, but is that the climax of their relationship? Can there be anything else? "Climax" is too pleasurable to want to find out. We don't want to see these two characters in their flannel pajamas picking out nose hair, anyway.

 

10. We mentioned Muhly's strings, but what about those synths? Rippling synths repeat simple chords, fading out as appropriate, but always maintaining enough variety and warmth to give the rest of the song's elements ample space to continue their torrid ascent.

 

11. The piano that comes in around the 3-minute mark is awesome. The closest thing to a climax on "Climax" is, fittingly, around the bridge, when the track gets as quiet as it ever has before becoming as lush as it ever gets. It's here that Muhly's orchestration, and Usher's emotional singing — everyone's everything, really — truly shines. "I just need you one more time," Usher pleads, and a few scattered piano notes in the right headphone are just the kind of gorgeous detail that make returning to a song like this over and over so worthwhile.

 

12. We're going nowhere. As Yusuf Islam once said, "You're going to wind up where you started from." The final verse, rather than providing a release, ends up with all the tension of the opening, and although now Usher's increasingly flighty voice appears to be indicating the couple will be going their separate ways, we know better than to believe him. Someone can always just hit repeat. Lack of commitment hasn't sounded so good since "U Make Me Wanna..." — but even that song involved starting a new "relationship."

 

13. It doesn't have any guest rappers. Look, we're sure we'll love the inevitable remixes of this as much as anybody. Quiet Storm is a crucial part of hip-hop's DNA, and rappers are sure to jump all over this. But given how tempting it must have been to try to corral that high-profile guest MC to really push the track to the top of the charts, the absence of one here is just one more lesson in restraint from Usher, Diplo, and their collaborators. (To paraphrase Lisa Simpson, "You have to listen to the notes they're not playing.")

 

14. It doesn't have anything to do with the Grammy Awards. See ya next year, Bonny Bear! Be nice to that sweet-seeming Paul McCartney fella! Kisses on the bottom.

Meh on first listen, but it'll probably grow on me. Just one thing, there's no climax (no pun intended) to the song? It just builds up at the end of every chorus for a few seconds for what... nothing?

 

No doubt this'll be big in America, kinda reminds me of Motivation in places. As for here, I don't think so.

 

That's like the whole point. It's actually kind of genius, the build up + cut away. So good.

 

Like seriously, this song is so great Amazing string work done by Nico Muhly as well (which makes me feel like that this song is a lil gay).

 

But yeah, great song. I feel like Usher was a really good R&B singer who had to quickly adapt to the shitty bast*rdization of house music that's become Top 10 music nowadays (seriously, DJ's Got Us Falling in Love is so bad, doens't suit him at all). So glad he's gone back to R&B with one of his best singles yet. I could this being a moderate hit in the US the way Motivation was.

 

Edit: Just read the article above this which basically says everything I just stated but better, oh well.

wow

This is pretty good :o I've never really massively loved anything from him, so this could be his best for me before long!

The Song is a letdown on first Listen. I was expecting a Club Banger

The Song is a letdown on first Listen. I was expecting a Club Banger

 

It's baby making music.

is... is there more or is that it?

certainly not what I expected him to come back with! this is good actually, I dunno if I prefer this to his 'club bangers' as he was pretty good at them, but this is certainly an interesting new direction

That's like the whole point. It's actually kind of genius, the build up + cut away. So good.

 

Like seriously, this song is so great Amazing string work done by Nico Muhly as well (which makes me feel like that this song is a lil gay).

 

But yeah, great song. I feel like Usher was a really good R&B singer who had to quickly adapt to the shitty bast*rdization of house music that's become Top 10 music nowadays (seriously, DJ's Got Us Falling in Love is so bad, doens't suit him at all). So glad he's gone back to R&B with one of his best singles yet. I could this being a moderate hit in the US the way Motivation was.

 

Edit: Just read the article above this which basically says everything I just stated but better, oh well.

 

I had to double check to see it wasn't me who made this post. :lol:

 

DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love, More and Dirty Dancer are some of the worst songs in recent years to be quite honest.

 

Usher has had a lot of impact on chart music (which is natural, considering he's arguably the biggest artist of the past 10 years). After Yeah! blew up, all the RnB/hip hop artists started putting crunk into their music more, and after Love in This Club blew up, he helped pave the way for a load of crummy europop artists like LMFAO, Lady Gaga, Pitbull, etc. to have success (unfortunately). So I'd love this song to get massive and help push another trend. It's possible, but I can't see radio stations playing this song much... At least not in the UK.

I had to double check to see it wasn't me who made this post. :lol:

 

DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love, More and Dirty Dancer are some of the worst songs in recent years to be quite honest.

 

Usher has had a lot of impact on chart music (which is natural, considering he's arguably the biggest artist of the past 10 years). After Yeah! blew up, all the RnB/hip hop artists started putting crunk into their music more, and after Love in This Club blew up, he helped pave the way for a load of crummy europop artists like LMFAO, Lady Gaga, Pitbull, etc. to have success (unfortunately). So I'd love this song to get massive and help push another trend. It's possible, but I can't see radio stations playing this song much... At least not in the UK.

 

Hmmm...I wouldn't really class Usher as some chart pioneer. I think all the songs you mentioned are more examples of Usher jumping on the bandwagon. Yeah! was probably the first big crunk&B song but crunk had already got pretty big from Lil Jon. I think Timbaland and The Way I Are was more the precursor to the europop craze and DJ Got Us Fallin In Love was just him keeping up with the trend. And I think Climax is just him adapting to the current trend. It's old territory for him but I honestly don't think he'd be back here if it wasn't for the Weeknd and Beyoncé.