He opened Tidal instead. Typed “Usher.” Clicked Confessions (Expanded Edition) . Pressed “download for offline” — legally, via his paid subscription. The tracks filled his phone with green checkmarks. Ownership? No. But respect? Yes.

A folder opened: Usher_Raymond_IV / FLAC / Proper tagged . Inside: My Way (1997), Confessions (2004), Here I Stand (2008), Looking 4 Myself (2012). Even the obscure A (2018). 800 megabytes of R&B history.

The first three results were sketchy links promising “high-speed direct download.” He’d been here before. Pop-ups. Fake buttons. The risk of turning his laptop into a crypto-mining zombie. But the fourth result? A fan forum from 2019. A single comment: “Usher albums download (Discography 1994-2016) — Google Drive link still works.”