Figure-Figure: Vulture; Photo by Carlo Allegri/Getty Images
I spoke with Usher the afternoon he kicked off his NPR Tiny Desk concert. The Atlanta R&B veteran was ready for a new venue in Las Vegas – last summer, he played 20 tantalizing shows at the reopened Coliseum at Caesars Palace; this year, he will perform 23 at Park MGM – and he has a lot to say about creating a permanent list of records that will not tire his fans. Those thoughts will be echoed when footage from the NPR set airs, reminding anyone listening that the man with the golden falsetto and dance moves hasn’t lost his luster as an entertainer in the last quarter century. then he spelled his name for us in 1997 “Nice and Slow.” It’s always a bad idea to read that guy. He had nine No. 1, platinum-selling singles in three decades, and saw his 2004 album, Confessions, go diamond certified, a record for albums. can sell 10 million units. (Generations admitted to the diamond club include the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Adele’s 25, and Michael Jackson’s Bad.)
Usher is open to conversation and isn’t afraid to say he changed something bad. But I was equally happy when his listeners were confused by the singer’s work. Yes, the late 90s and early-aughts records were supernova, but it took many years for people to warm to the 14-year-old working with Diddy and Jodeci, R&B pioneers who blessed the child with sing their theme. more than his age. The massive reception of Confessions and 2001’s 8701, both full of fun performances and production of the best from hip-hop heavyweights, including the Neptunes and Atlanta’s Jermaine Dupri, has never been the same. and the enthusiasm of the audience. No matter how much respect there may be in fan circles for his classes, Usher always faces backlash whenever he tries to change the formula. He’s excited about the resurgence of dance music savvy this year; he just wanted more people behind the EDM moves of 2010’s Raymond v. Raymond and 2012’s Looking 4 Myself. Usher’s takeaway from all of this: Artists need to build strong records on the label — “Don’t just be single, make an experience” — and audiences need to give it a go. to music the time and respect it deserves.
I got away. The same way Aaliyah arrived differently and Brandy arrived away. I didn’t intend to make music just for kids. The culture, the way we moved and lived, was different. Now, I can’t say that those songs were as successful as my future records, but I think that Puffy was playing something that created a new frontier. Until the day I die, he will always be my brother, and we will always be close. He brought all the boys: Al B. Sure!, Kenny Greene from Intro, Kyle West, Faith Evans. Puffy pulled all the strings. I sang Jodeci vocals in the background. It felt good to be welcomed by the guys who run hip-hop and R&B. But that’s not how you promote an R&B artist. Puff tried to break the mold. Everyone I work with is trying to do something that has never been done before.
I go back to Ronald Isley, who was not given the respect he deserved. He is the true pioneer. He’s up there with Little Richard, man. Those guys were the beginning of R&B. They made the Rolling Stones known as an R&B group. Also Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, Michael Jackson, Rick James – people who mixed worlds and ideas together. Those boys are pioneers who created me. Then you got your Keith Sweats and Bobby Browns. Hip-hop was a big influence because I came to New York. I came to the scene where hip-hop was born. Then it spilled over into my music. That’s what you heard me rapping on “Nice and Slow.” All those influences and being in those environments, around Jodeci, being next to DeVante Swing, who was part of my first album. We sang on street corners. Me and fucking Carl Thomas will be on street corners in New York just working on music. No one knew who he was. We are just two artists who love music.
I’m looking at a different world than the kids who came into R&B from my era. When Puffy made my first album, it was the creation of Bad Boy. I’m with Craig Mack, I’m with Biggie, I’m with Howard Homecoming and Tupac fucking and everything. Tupac struggled to get into this place. This is going back to when everything was good. There is nothing east-west. There is no such thing. We had a great time at Howard Homecoming. I saw Redman. I remember Ice Cube coming to Howard and showing the Afro for the first time. I remember Biggie doing free at Kenny Burns and Puff’s parties. It was a different time, different era, different energy, different boundaries for R&B. The day I decide to write a book and tell my story and show the world what I experienced and what I saw, you will not be happy.
I don’t know if I have a favorite video or a favorite song, it’s different. Like, you don’t have a favorite guy, do you? But first of all, they are the kind of thing that sticks more than anything else. I will say that the first video that I got, to me, really felt set up in a different way not only in the music but also in setting a level of “Nice and Slow.” The song was created and clearly has the potential to become the biggest challenge TikTok has become. “Where was Usher at seven in the evening?” We took that woman to Paris. We were in front of the Eiffel Tower. That was the first time I had a great video. I worked with Hype Williams. I caught Kimora Lee on video. Man, we spoke French. I showed all the different sides of what I have to offer as an actor and dresser. Go back and watch that video and understand how special it is.
I’m a pioneer, bruh. I create lines and then create something that people should follow or pay attention to. A bit of listening to Po Pimp and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony made me want to try that and create that new kind of ball. “Nice and Slow” is the new way to approach a ball. Spelling my name like I’m putting my signature out there, the same way Snoop did when he started with “What’s My Name?” or Eminem’s “My Name Is.” That’s my turn to say, “Here I am, and if you screw up, let me tell you the spelling. They call me U-S-H-E-R R-A-Y-M-O-N-D.” People were getting my name wrong. They didn’t know how to say my name. So I was like, “No, let me make sure you understand what it is, how to spell it. , who am I.”
Well, that’s JD. I call him “Classic” because he understands the classics. More than just being able to make awesome records, the man makes amazing moments for artists that inspire other artists. When I heard “My Way,” I was disappointed. Man, we did something so inspired that it became something for hip-hop to catch in the South. We broke barriers, man. We were revealing who we were to a different world. And it’s the first time in a long time that an R&B song has inspired a hip-hop album. We had to sign. It’s a compliment. It’s like, “Man, they see us. They listen to us. We encourage them.”
I actually got it from Biggie. Biggie is always a tribute. In “One More Chance” he says, “Don’t leave your girl next to you / Real player for real, ask Puff Daddy.” The funny thing: I go in the room with Pharrell, who did the song. I’m staying true to the original, and JD and I worked on the whole 8701 album. So I go in the house, and I’m like, “Don’t leave your girl next to you. Real player for real, ask my nigga JD. And Pharrell was like, “Yeah, man.” So I’m like, “Oh, my bad.” I threw in “Don’t leave your girl next to me / True playa for real, ask my nigga Pharrell.” But everything was hip-hop. Every part of that time was hip-hop. I was a hip-hop baby who was an R&B artist creating a new frontier of music. We created a scene new R&B.
Puffy was like the king of the hip-hop remix. I won’t say two are better than one, but it definitely made me feel something different. With part two, the video made me feel like I was actually in the scene. I wish I was a part of it. Now that I look back, I’m like, “Damn, that was a fire.”
There’s a song called “Dot Com” and a song called “Seduction” that’s part of the repackage that people sometimes miss. For the audience, I think “Confessions II” is a classic. “Bad Girl” is one that no one recognized. People also feel a way about “Throwback” that is not one. That’s what’s beautiful about the album. People also like B-sides.
I feel that part of the story we told with people who are familiar with this new artist and respect or understand what it is for guys who grew up with Princes, Michael Jacksons, Whispers, the Isley Brothers. , and Luther Vandrosses. They were looking at a new border. I think things happen the way they’re supposed to because we’re talking about this, and maybe it’s time we look back and start understanding it the same way. once when I was young I was inspired by music. I wasn’t there for Off the Wall. I Wasn’t There for What Happened. I wasn’t there for Donny Hathaway’s songs. But I was able to find them because there was a chance that I could listen to them. I wish the critics would remember what I was working on then. It didn’t matter that they didn’t because it made me work harder.
“Confessions Part II” is the one for me. “Confessions Part I” was almost like – you know how Star Wars tells stories that happened before the series began? That’s the idea. We started with “Confession II.” You have to come back to get “Confession I.” “Part II” came first.
I experienced a human moment. I realized that in R&B and hip-hop songs at the time, people didn’t share the fact that a relationship was the inspiration for the songs. They gave you the clubhouse player experience. People did not celebrate marriage. People did not celebrate being in relationships. And if they did, they begged a woman to forgive them or think about how to deceive a woman. This phobia really existed. It’s very bad advice from record companies: “If you talk about your relationship, girls won’t love you. They’ll break up with you.” And I was like, Well, I think they’re going to celebrate. I’m going to give them something to look forward to, a man who gives them songs based on how he feels about them, the relationship is not hidden. Well, find the page. We found the Keyshias and Gucci Manes, all these people are celebrating their relationship. This is the beginning of me. The kind of music they created in the 70s and 80s, when the O’Jays talked about their love for their wives. That’s what Here I Stand is.
I shared the same path, and I made a deliberate decision to bring Justin to LA Reid, who was at Def Jam at the time. He just left Arista and introduced himself to a new era of music, the era that will bring Kanye West and Rihanna, and Jay-Z as the head of Def Jam. I wanted Justin to have the best. I knew from going through what I went through to become an artist, all the trouble I went through, I wanted L.A. to be able to see him or be more aware and available to him. I trained him in a way, but the relationship between me and Scooter, my partner, created the great success of Justin. I’m glad I could be a part of being able to organize that. But here’s the truth: No matter how much I prepared him, they still have to do it themselves. They should feel what they feel. It becomes an inspiration. It becomes a song they sing. It becomes the reality in which they live. People want the truth. I will always be there as an ear and a non-judgemental person, no matter what. There must be people who love us. Those who have been there since the beginning continue to push you forward.
If there’s one record that I’m surprised didn’t get the way it was supposed to, it’s “Climax.” I decided to work with Ariel Rechtshaid and Diplo because we were trying to do something that didn’t exist. And we did, only to have comparisons with other artists and people who don’t understand what it is, because there hasn’t been a record like that since then, in my opinion. It’s not easy being Usher. It is not easy to welcome people in and try to introduce people to something new. It’s not easy to be in the place you’re trying to be. Music was like that for me. Music is about art, not just following the standards of the past and what has influenced us. My point is that the artist is always trying everything until you find what works for you and the world you are trying to bring people to. It didn’t chart the way I thought it would, but every time we play that song, no matter where we are, they sing louder than we sing any record, or we in Japan, Australia, Las Vegas. , in Canada. They sing their hearts out to that record. But it’s a sore spot for me. I’m not lying either.
There was something that came out in Rolling Stone. Paul McCartney says “Climax” is the song of the year. I felt good knowing that I had cracked a code and the legends were hearing what I expected them to hear. When he said that, I was like, Man, this is it. I did. I did. Then see the response from the radio and how people responded. However, I also knew people who were like, “Man, there was a lot of heart given at that time. Damn it.”
Maybe “That’s What It’s Made For.” Maybe it’s “Throwback.” Maybe “Bad Girl.” Maybe “Superstar.” Any of those things.
I loved what I saw, heard, and felt when Beyoncé was here, when Lady Gaga was here, when Bruno Mars was here. It gave me a chance to really experiment beyond the music, to have a conversation with the composers and to develop new ideas and ways to experience the cinema and concerts. I teamed up with OTBA, Simon Hammerstein, Amy Allen, Aakomon Jones, and Rio Henderson and put together something that you can feel immersed in. I love immersive theater, and I know people come from all over the world to see Thunder Down Under or Cirque du Soleil or a burlesque show, and I can bring those together. world and my music because my music speaks to all that. location. I can order for a clubhouse or a clubhouse or people who are dealing with emotions. I find fun ways to convey that through video. I can do all that shit in one go. If you’ve ever felt like Vegas was the place to go after work… now. This is where you start to create new ideas, incorporate new ideas. A lot of artists called and said, “I’ll never play in Las Vegas.” You don’t understand. You get everything, and you get your audience at the same time. It’s Vegas, baby.
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