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Hard II Love continues that trajectory: It hangs together fine, but rather than a coherent artistic statement with a defined arc, it’s more of a strong playlist dotted with lots of standout tracks. His other albums present a similar story the guy is long overdue for a greatest hits collection. The first half’s immaculate pile of radio jams, from “Yeah!” to “Burn” to “Caught Up” to “Confessons Part II,” far outshines the deep cuts in public memory. Which is not a problem: Even at the peak of Usher as an album artist (2004’s diamond-certified Confessions), he was still about singles first and foremost.

In other words, he could have called it Confessions Part II if he didn’t already have a song called “Confessions Part II.” But as with Looking 4 Myself, I’m not sure I would have noticed the unifying factors if not for the album title pointing it out. Hard II Love is once again organized around a loose theme, namely that Usher is the kind of person whose selfish and/or self-destructive decisions make it difficult to maintain a romantic entanglement. This was Usher as we first knew him, as a singles artist. Looking 4 Myself represented a break from that trend ostensibly it was about Usher embarking on a journey of self-exploration, but mostly it was a chance to flex his formidable pop pedigree in the context of the reigning electropop trend. Last time he released an LP - four years ago with Looking 4 Myself - my colleague Tom Breihan pointed out that Usher’s mid-career albums tended to reflect his real-life tabloid exploits, from scandalous breakup ( Confessions) to marriage ( Here I Stand) to divorce ( Raymond V. “Crash” was our first preview of Hard II Love, the album Usher is releasing this Friday. “Crash” does not have a superstar producer or arranger attached like Diplo and Nico Muhly on 2012’s triumphant convergence of worlds “Climax,” nor does it feature goofy lyrics about being in love with a stripper like 2014’s irresistibly charming “I Don’t Mind.” It’s just another fantastic track from a guy who can still be counted on to deliver them every couple years. As for the latter complaint, the one about critics failing to rally around “Crash” despite its gleaming transcendent beauty: Although the song does not lack hooks, none of them are of the narrative variety. His silky falsetto theatrics are apparently so agile here that they sidestepped the zeitgeist completely. Regarding the former point, “Crash” hasn’t exactly been ignored by radio programmers, it just isn’t experiencing a moment like many of Usher’s past hits.

It may have escaped your notice that Usher released one of 2016’s most excellent singles because “ Crash” - a glorious synthetic breakup ballad that reminds me of Frank Ocean wistfully vibing out to LCD Soundsystem’s “Someone Great” - has not become an inescapable cultural monolith, nor have music critics showered it with copious amounts of heartfelt praise.