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Life and Career
"With every album, I try to better
myself. I'm a perfectionist and with the success of my last record, I
wasn't sure about where my growth should be - as a performer, as a
vocalist. I always felt like I held something back on my albums - on
every album, I was playing a 'role'. This time, I decided to shake my
fears and allow my personality to come through. I've really 'lived' this
album: I'm in a healthy place right now. I'm 25-years old and I'm
dealing with my responsibilities as a man and I'm not afraid to speak,
to be realistic and talk about the issues men deal with [in
relationships]."
International superstar Usher is speaking about CONFESSIONS, his fourth
album following global multi-platinum sales for 2001's 8701 set – an
album which launched his career to superstar status, a true crossover
success. CONFESSIONS debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and Top
R&B/Hip-Hop Album charts, setting an astonishing seven Soundscan
sales records and selling 1.1 Million albums the first week.
Usher explains "because I'm telling
on myself. If you loved the last record, you'll definitely love this
one. I think it's innovative. Life imitates art and I think this is my
best work yet. It's a complete picture musically - I feel like when
people listen to this record, it's like listening to an audio
movie..." Worldwide, Usher has sold twenty-four million albums,
both domestically and internationally.
Demonstrating a new level of vocal and creative maturity, CONFESSIONS
features several songs co-written by Usher. Fred Bronson of Billboard
Magazine adds that Usher is in "extremely rare territory"
being the first solo artist to land three hits inside the top 10 in the
same week, matching The Beatles in 1964 and The BeeGees in 1978. Those
three hits being "Burn" at #1 on the Hot 100 for 2 consecutive
weeks, "Yeah" featuring Lil'Jon & Ludacris at #4
(previously spent 12 weeks at #1) and newest single "Confessions
II" at #8. Even beyond those singles, lies examples of the lyrical
honesty that the multi-talented entertainer brings to his latest work
abound. There's "Truth Hurts" (produced and co-written by
super hit makers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis) which Usher reveals
"is a very personal song. Some men don't have the guts to say what
they feel but I'm not that kind of guy - I have to fess up! Basically,
the song is the story of a man who knows he's done wrong but he's
accusing his woman, figuring that by confronting her for whatever she's
done, he can cover up what he's been doing. You know, like the accuser
is really the one who should be the accused! But if you have a
conscience, it's gonna get you and the truth is going to come out anyway
... "
"Superstar," co-written by Usher and produced by Vidal &
Dre has an imaginative lyric, referencing Usher's many female fans
worldwide. "It's got lines like, 'you are my superstar, I am your
Number One1 fan, I'll be your groupie, baby, give me your autograph,
I'll sign it right here on my heart!' I think it's a brilliantly-written
song," says Usher, "and honestly, I think it's one of the best
vocal performances on this album. I definitely wanted to show my growth
vocally and you can hear it on tracks like this one ... "
Co-written with Brian Michael Cox and Jermaine Dupri, who also produced
the song, Usher's "Burn" is a beautiful slow jam that the
multi-talented artist considers "a signature Usher track. After
doing this many albums, there's a sound people know me for and you can
hear that on ‘Burn.' It's a real 'heartbreak' kind of song in which
you know a relationship is falling apart, you know you want to just be
friends but it's rough. Every time you talk to her on the phone, you get
this feeling in the pit of your stomach, like an ache. There's that
feeling of loneliness - it's over and you can't get it back." While
he won't say whether the song reflects a specific experience he's been
through, he confesses that "Follow Me" (another Vidal &
Dre production) is based on real life. "A lot of women see me and
they think that my life is just all about videos and shows and making
records. But there's more to my life than that and this song is about a
woman who treats me like a for-real, regular guy ... "
No Usher album would be complete without at least one or two all-out
party songs and "Yeah!" (featuring Ludacris) fits the bill.
Produced by Li'l Jon, the track is the first single from CONFESSIONS and
is already a bonafide 2004 smash! Notorious for turning out non-stop
hits, such as Grammy-winning "U Remind Me," "U Got It
Bad" (a single that reached a record-breaking 149 million in
audience first week) and "U Don't Have To Call" (a second 2002
Grammy winner), Usher ensures his place as one of today's most
successful recording artists with numerous prime cuts from his last four
albums. On CONFESSIONS, likely stand-out tracks for instant reaction
from Usher's many fans include "Simple Things," another tune
produced by and co-written with Jam & Lewis, and two tracks,
"Can You Handle It" and "Do It To Me," which leave
little to the imagination!
Usher smiles when talking about "Can You Handle It," a
tailor-made steamy slow jam: "I heard (producer-turned-artist)
Robin Thicke's album and I thought it was pretty profound. I reached out
to him and he was very excited about us working together although we
didn't know where to start. He played me this song and it had like a
double meaning. Yeah, it's very sexual but you could say that it's also
about asking a girl if she can handle what you're about to say ... It's
the kind of song you put on ... when the time is right! And yes, it
could describe some real situations I've been in!"
Produced by Jermaine Dupri, the ballad "Do It To Me" is
equally suggestive: "I call that my tribute to Prince because I
have always been inspired by his greatness as an artist. The lyrics tell
the story from a woman's perspective but it has some double and triple
meanings!" Usher laughs. "Sure, it's suggestive but it's real.
We both know what's on each other's minds. She wants me and I want her
too ... and we're imagining how it's gonna be ... "
Whether he's being playful on tracks like "Yeah!" or serious
on the album's title cut, "CONFESSIONS" (a song also
co-written with Brian Michael Cox and Jermaine Dupri), Usher has every
reason to be confident that the album will follow its predecessors into
the upper reaches of the charts the world over. Considering where he's
at this juncture, he says, "The mission in my career before now was
to 'get' to the party! Now I feel I'm at the party!"
The Usher "party" really began after he and mother and manager
Jonnetta Patton moved to Atlanta in 1993 when, at the age of 13, Usher
was performing at a local "Star Search" competition. An
A&R rep approached him from the Atlanta-based LaFace Records and
after an audition with then-LaFace Records label chief Antonio
"L.A." Reid, Usher landed his first record deal with the
label. Prior to that, the Chattanooga, Tennessee native had been honing
his natural talent singing at the St. Elmo's Missionary Baptist Church
choir where mom Jonnetta served as choir director. Usher cherished
singing so much that eventually he decided to turn his beloved hobby
into a career: "I have been building my career since I was a little
boy because singing had always been what I wanted to do. At first I
thought about playing [professional] football, then I wanted to play
basketball, but in the end it was all about the music. It's my biggest
passion and my biggest joy."
After signing him to LaFace, Reid commissioned music midas Sean "P.
Diddy" Combs to produce Usher's self-titled debut, which was
released less than 12 months later. The ambitious project, which spawned
the synth-heavy club single "Think of You," written by Arista
label mate Donell Jones, provided the youngster with his first Top 10
hit. Teaming up next with hip-hop hit maker Jermaine Dupri and veterans
Teddy Riley and Babyface in 1997 to produce his sophomore album, the
seven-times platinum My Way, Usher converted a whole new legion of fans
with chart-topping monsters like the saucy "You Make Me Wanna"
and the romantic groove "Nice & Slow."
After releasing Usher Live in 1999, a compilation of hits and music
medleys that he'd performed on the road, the singer, armed with an
arsenal of producers, including Philly newcomer Edmund "Eddie
Hustle" Clement and Mike City, as well Dupri, The Neptunes, and
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, dropped 8701 on August 7, 2001. Quickly
heralded by critics as Usher's most definitive work to date, the project
not only earned him his first Grammy win but it also helped to cement
his role as one of the world's most multi-faceted ambassadors of groove.
Blasting into the new millennium with the eight-times platinum album,
Usher hit the top of Billboard's pop charts with the party groove
"U Remind Me" (for which he earned a Grammy for Best R&B
Vocal Performance), and the confessional "U Got It Bad."
Having already achieved more in his 25 years than most artists
accomplish in a lifetime, the Atlanta-bred singer, songwriter, actor and
producer has acquired a bevy of awards over the span of his career,
including 2 Grammy Awards, 3 Soul Train Music Awards, a BET Award, a
Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award, 2 Teen Choice Awards, 3 Billboard Music
Awards, 3 R&B Hip Hop Conference Awards, 3 ASCAP Awards, a
Blockbuster Music Award, not to mention countless other international
awards from several countries.
Performing in front of sold-out crowds at the world-renowned Madison
Square Garden in New York City to the prestigious Wembley Arena in
London, Usher has toured Nigeria, South Africa, Australia and Europe. He
has consistently shown that his triple-threat entertainer status is not
a fluke. Aside from his four gold and multi-platinum albums, Usher is a
dynamic dancer who's shuffled alongside Michael Jackson and Janet
Jackson in their respective high-rated television specials—Michael
Jackson's 30th Anniversary Special and Janet Jackson's "MTV
ICON." In addition, Usher is a blossoming actor who has appeared in
such films as Light It Up, The Faculty, She's All That, Disney's
Geppetto and Texas Rangers. He's appeared in star roles on network
television shows like American Dreams, Twlight Zone, The Bold and the
Beautiful, Moesha, and Seventh Heaven.
With a career that keeps taking him to new heights of achievement and
accomplishment, Usher remains - in his own words - "the master of
the moment. I feel like I'm in the prime of my life, physically,
emotionally, spiritually - and musically. And, knowing there is still
love for me in the marketplace, that gives me energy." There is
love indeed for Usher and his music the world over and that's one
'confession' he can make without a doubt. He is The Ultimate Entertainer
"Usher."
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