Bark + Bite

Ranking the Voices of 10 Men in Pop

What's in a voice? A powerful voice in pop music can leave a lasting legacy, eternal popularity, and cultural relevancy.

We've examined 10 male voices in pop music and we break them down according to their vocal abilities, or lack thereof. Sure, no one can touch Michael Jackson on stage but what about in the studio? Who is the 'Falsetto King' — Usher or Justin Timberlake? And what grade does Trey Songz's yelped ad-libs and seemingly painful technique warrant him as a singer?

Serving as perfect material for stan wars or just solid background info for the less rabid pop music fan, find out where your favorite male vocalist landed on the list and sound off below. And be sure to revisit the female edition of this feature, which ranked 10 women in pop.

David Guetta dreams of one world with Usher in "Without You" video

So is David Guetta a DJ or a politician? Because his video for his monster jam single "Without You," featuring Usher, has such an unmistakably socialist, one-world, globalization feel to it that you might think it was commissioned by the People's Republic of China.

Ok, that's a little bit of hyperbole, but seriously, who asked Guetta to muck up the video for a beautiful techno ballad with something that's part-global beach party part-2012 mayhem? Usher does sad break-up songs like Heinz does ketchup. He should've been given the floor to tell a story here. Instead, we get another one of Guetta's one-world fantasies, a theme he exhausted last time with his floating, infectious music bubbles in "Where Dem Girls At."

World, hold on.

Watch the video for David Guetta's new hit single below

Usher and David Guetta's "Without You" is amazing

Usher's foray into dance-pop hasn't always come off as genuine, if we're being honest. Although he struck gold with "OMG," the Max Martin-produced "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" felt like a cheap, paint-by-the-numbers ploy.

But "Without You," Usher's contribution to David Guetta's new album Nothing But the Beat, doesn't fall into that same trap. On the contrary, it's probably one of the more authentic, relatable tracks Usher has recorded in recent times. It pulses, breathes and it flies, taking the listener on a wonderful ride — no magic carpet.

The song is off to a big start too. The song has been one of the most added songs in Top 40 radio and it debuted at the #31 in the Top 40 airplay charts well ahead of its impact date.

If Kelly Rowland's "When Love Takes Over" had a male sibling, this would be it. "Without You" takes the power ballad form to starry heights. Its psychedelia is a digital delight that sounds like something that belongs in Dance Dance Revolution — and we mean that as a compliment.

Listen to Usher and David Guetta's new joint below

Usher suffers through Berlin concert, drops mic and walks off stage

Photo: Wireimage

You win some, you lose some. While in concert in Berlin for his OMG tour, Usher had to pull the plug early as it became painfully obvious that his voice had completely checked out and left the building.

While performing his 2004 hit collaboration with Lil' Jon and Ludacris, "Lovers and Friends," Usher was straining to push through the song. He held the mic up to the crowd to help him get through it, but as he continued on, things didn't get any better. Realizing that it was futile to press on with the shoddy performance, Usher dropped the mic, threw up the deuces and walked off the stage. The crowd was less than pleased.

Watch Usher try to get through his show and walk off stage below

Ciara enlists Usher's help for "Turn It Up," will doubling up on the star power work this time?

Somehow, despite her best efforts, Ciara finds herself in the same predicament she was in with her last album, Fantasy Ride. After dropping "buzz single" after single, none of them have taken off at radio or iTunes and so, in a last ditch effort to save face and build some kind of momentum for her project, Ciara plays the damsel in distress and calls on a more successful male counterpart to give her a boost. Last time, it was Justin Timberlake. This time, it's Usher.

If "Love, Sex and Magic" didn't save her last album, what makes her think this trick will work this time? Maybe it's the fact that it's a dance pop song, which as everyone knows, is so in right now. Then again, she teamed up on a dance pop song with Enrique Iglesias ("Taking Back My Love") last time too that went nowhere.

Ciara's recreating her dilemma all over again. Switching genres (again) is sending all kinds of mixed signals to the Ciara fan base. She's been campaigning on a return to her grittier, urban form. Which makes this switch totally illogical. Ciara needs to figure out who she wants to be and put her multiple personality disorder on the back burner. She's shape-shifting so much that she's becoming unrecognizable.

Listen to the collaboration below

The song is reportedly unfinished and unmastered, so hopefully it'll be more polished in its final form. One good thing that could potentially come of this collabo would be a scathing hot dance video. Usher and Ciara certainly have the dancing feet to pull it off.

Usher takes his international success and Justin Bieber's superstardom in stride

Why so serious, Usher? Well, aside from that hilariously ridiculous haircut, that is. The 31-year-old father of two is about to dash across the pond for his first UK tour in 6 years. The singer, who says he's excited (but doesn't act it) about the tour, remains cool and even keel as he talks about his music and what he and his team have been able to achieve with grooming Justin Bieber. Ush is so chill that his monotone, soft voice kind of drones on and puts you to sleep. It doesn't help that he kind of talks in vague spells of nothing, too.

Oh well. At least those those euro techno beats paid off! That "international" sound is carrying out his master plan in ways that going R&B alone probably wouldn't have. How long until Trey Songz follows suit and calls up Dr. Luke?

Watch Usher talk about his jaunt over to the UK and more below

Usher puts his dancing shoes on for "America's Got Talent" performance

Now that Usher has made the transition into euro pop, his dancing has been turned up about 7 notches. If you're a big fan of Usher's singing, you'll have to look forward to the ballads like "There Goes My Baby" or something, cause the mic takes a lot of long breaks during his upbeat performances. Not that there's much challenging singing to be found on his hit single "DJ Got Us Falling In Love" anyway.

His performance on AGT was explosive, and his energy held up better here than it did on the VMAs where Usher looked like he needed a nap by the time it wrapped. Dance Dance Revoltuion, baby!

What's so different? Usher claims new EP shows him transitioning

When personal issues bubble messily into a pop star's public life, it's not surprising that this drama can fuel their music in unexpected ways. In fact, this tension often results in fresh, boundary-pushing music that exposes an artist's talents in ways that might not have been made apparent otherwise. But after marriage heavily influenced Usher on his more serious-minded, adult album Here I Stand, (well, minus the juvenile Polow-produced "Love In This Club") the results were less than ideal. The album performed modestly well but failed to launch the string of hits that customarily follows an Usher album.

And so after divorcing his wife Tameka Foster, who was notoriously unpopular with his fans, Usher dipped his toe once again into personal waters with "Papers," checking to see if the soap opera that was his divorce could pay off musically. It didn't, and after that, he didn't look back. He began to churn out club-friendly hits that seemed to have little connection to his own life. "Lil' Freak," "OMG" and "Hey Daddy" were all pushed one after the other and each song hit on the same tone: Frisky bachelor, single and ready to mingle.

But puzzingly, in an interview with People magazine, Usher claims that Raymond v. Raymond is about him dealing with his divorce while his new EP Versus is about him venturing out into the dating pool. SOURCE: People.com

"My music is about where I am at the time," he says. "In Raymond vs. Raymond, I was going through a lot of things, and it came out in my music. My marriage fell apart and I was suddenly a single father. But now, with Versus, I'm singing about being a dating father."

Exactly which part of "Lil' Freak," a song that has Usher using Nicki Minaj as his Lassie in a bid to sniff out a bisexual third-party for his menage a trois, approaches anything resembling the topic of his broken marriage? What emotional issues of break-up and separation did that song touch on? And how is it any different from the similarly-themed "Hot Tottie," in which Usher croons, once again, about hot, steamy sex?

Usher is claiming that his music is still personal, but now, more than ever, his songs have veered to the impersonal. The tunes are largely faceless songs that, while catchy, rely on the production value (see Will.i.am) more than on Usher's personal musical thumbprint. The one exception is "There Goes My Baby," which feels warm, authentic and emotional in ways that the bulk of his new material doesn't. If there was shift between the two projects Usher recently released, he didn't make the distinction very clear.