Usher is lounging on vacation, but he’s still dialed in. That is, once he can get good cell signal.
The singer-performer extraordinaire (and seemingly his phone, too) deserves a break – from his sold-out Las Vegas residency, working on his upcoming album and melting hearts worldwide – which he’s gladly taking before the next round of Vegas shows and a slate of Paris performances in the fall.
“I’ve been working really hard this year,” he says, calling from an island vacation surrounded by his kids. “What’s greater than to be able to reconnect with your loved ones and also to relax with family after all the hard work you put in?”
A respite doesn’t mean the hitmaker is fully disconnected. He’s got new single “Good Good” (streaming now), with 21 Savage and Summer Walker, looking at love lost through a grown grown lens and wishing the best for an ex.
“Some of it is just that, growing through life experiences to figure out, and just because we’re not ‘good good’ doesn’t mean we can’t be good with each other,” he says.
Usher, 44, has always been hyper honest in his music, finding a niche of pouring emotions into his lyrics – the good and the bad, the sexy and the toxic, the earnest and the bravado – and vocally outpacing his peers. “Good Good” offers a more mature vantage point (“I hate that we didn’t make to forever // Probably ain’t getting back together // But that don’t mean that I can’t wish you better // We ain’t good good, but we still good“).”
The phrase “organically came out of my mouth within the relationships that I’ve had in the past,” he says. “I’ve had bad (relationships), and now I’m trying to not have as many bad ones.”
His collaboration with 21 Savage, who went viral for his spontaneous duet of “My Boo” with Usher during an April residency concert, and Summer Walker, with whom Usher teamed for a verse and a sample of his aughts hit “U Make Me Wanna” on 2019’s “Come Thru,” showcases where the multi-hyphenate is taking his music next. He’s reconnected with hitmaker exec L.A. Reid, with whom he made magic on his chart-topping, critically acclaimed “Confessions” album in 2004, launching him into another stratosphere of fame.
He worked closely and quickly with the rapper and R&B songstress to produce the new track, which came to him via A&R rep Keith Thomas.
Usher says the collaboration “actually happened on the spot, and I was really excited about that. This is the first time that there’s been instant gratification. I literally had an idea, gave it to the artist, and within minutes or hours, it came right back to being able to make adjustments.”
Usher praises 21 Savage (who he says “loves singing R&B” and was working on his album with Drake when he sent in his part) for creating “an amazing verse” for the song. “It was our collective idea to have a female’s perspective on the record, and Summer seems to be very vulnerable in the way that she discusses her life. … I was like ‘Yo, who better to be able to narrate on the woman’s perspective than Summer Walker?,'” he says.
Though he’s keeping more new music close to the vest, Usher says R&B is what he’s “really focused on right now.” The soulful songs out of the genre “is intended to be of service. Service when you’re making love, service when you are in love, service when you’re in heartache and pain, service when you’re trying to think about how to communicate better and don’t necessarily have the words to say.”
Moments from the Vegas residency have made Usher go viral on a weekly basis, whether it’s serenading Keke Palmer or being physically smothered with love from excited fans, and he tapped into that for a teaser video for the new song Friday, showing off exactly how he’s made even the strongest woman crumble on sight (Usher knows exactly what he’s doing).
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Planting roots in one place with the residency has its advantages for the hardest working man in R&B – and some would argue in showbiz right now – and finding the elusive “work-life balance.”
“I’ve been able to sit still and you know and do summer camps with my kids, and be able to teach my kids how to swim and have that time with them,” he says; Usher is father to kids Usher “Cinco” V, 15, Naviyd Ely, 14, Sovereign Bo, 2, and Sire Castrello, 1.
“But then at 7 o’clock, no pun intended, 7 o’clock on the dot, I have to take my ass to work. My 7 o’clock on the dot has changed,” he says with a laugh. “It used to be me in a drop top. Now it’s me heading for the stage and putting my babies to sleep.”
“Good Good” highlights the reflective space he’s in right now.
“Life is all about ebb and flow, highs or lows, so long as you stay within the mindset that life is like the stock market, life is like true balance,” Usher says. “I’ve never disconnected from the idea of working to create something that I think people would really enjoy, whether it was viewed as a down moment or an up, or in control or not as in control, or having a hot moment or having a moment of silence and reflection, only to be better to come back and do something impactful and amazing again.
“But it’s like the stock market, right? If you have a stock that you’re invested in, you put money into it and you’ve got to be able to go through the process of the high peaks and the low valleys. … My career has been a series of great moments and moments where I could better myself.”
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