R&B superstar Usher has plenty to talk about these days. This week, the Grammy-winning entertainer joins radio personality Zane Lowe via FaceTime on Apple Music for a must-see interview.
Ahead of the full conversation streaming today on Apple Music at 12 PM ET, check out some of the biggest quotes from the epic chat.
Usher Tells Apple Music About Using Time Spent in Isolation To Better Ourselves and Reconnect With Something Greater…
We just listen to the music and we feel it. But yeah, man, it is having the space to just read a few books and just remind yourself of certain things maybe you forgot. My journey is a little bit different because I have kids and it’s not just about music. But maybe this is, I don’t know, helpful for some person in their life that doesn’t have children but understands: Wait a minute. I could reconnect to something greater in this moment. So I really am advising each and every person who’s in quarantine to take the time to build yourself in this moment because we’re going to come out of it at some point. And when we do, who will you be? What will you have learned? What will you know about yourself? And did the music inspire you to get there? I don’t know. Did the space inspire you to get there? I don’t know. But are you trying to be better? Can you be better? Hell yeah, we all can. Let’s work on ourselves, man. I think there’s a silver lining in this for everyone. If there is pressures or issues that you have within your family, with your loved ones, you can work through that (beep). If you don’t understand the manner of appreciating the hard work that you put in and slowing down and stopping, there’s a silver lining there because you get to just relax. If you’re ultimately just tired, and to be perfectly honest, man, I was just exhausted; just from the process of trying to find balance where there is none. And that comes from being a parent, being a great partner, being a great friend to all of my people. We run ourselves ragged.
Usher Tells Apple Music He Thinks The Current Moment Will Result In “Some of the Greatest Music Ever” and “A a lot of Babies”…
Right now, more than anything, I have this concentrated time to reflect and just think, which can be a curse, right? But, when you’re able to not just move on to the next thing, right? It actually makes it a little bit easier to go through whatever that process was going to be that ultimately probably would have been influenced by where you were or who you played the record for or what you thought or what you experienced or what you read or what you saw on television, right? You have this concentrated ability to go through the process of your writing, lyrically, musically going back over and obsessing and then creating it and then saying, “All right, I’m done. Move on to the next one.” So I feel within this time, some of the greatest music ever is going to be created along with a lot of babies. A lot of babies. Something so amazing happens when we create and curate our own experiences at home. If you look at what’s happening right now in terms of live DJ, it’s right here at home. We had this ability before, but now we value it. We see how we can tie to the rest of the world, and have that connection to old school experience. School experience, if that’s what you want to call it, new school, whatever.
Usher Tells Apple Music “Climax’ Was The Song He Was Most Scared To Release…
I think Climax was one of those ones because I felt like it was so advanced in the nature of what it was. Me and Diplo, we were trying to do something that would raise the bar for R&B. Yeah, I made R&B hit records before and, yeah, Diplo, he could do many things. But I said, “Is there any way to tie these two worlds together?” This world that was happening as an emotion for EDM, but do it in a way through using R&B. And he’s like, “Yo, I think that this…” And it took me forever to be okay with letting it go, to just like, okay, offer it to the world and care not what people think, just put it out knowing that… In it, by the way, was an under story. I was literally in a relationship with a person who I wouldn’t commit to and would not get to the place of like, all right, let me commit to you and make this more than just something that’s frivolous and something that is a physical thing. And it just so happened that the climax was there too. But the reality is, the conversation in it, I was like, man, I just feel like this might be too much for people. I don’t know if they’re going to think I’m overthinking it.I just said, “I just feel like I should be classic R&B. I want to sing in a way that no one else does in this time over a track that I know doesn’t fit there. It’s going to freak people in R&B I and is going to freak people out who are more alternative. I think that it’s going to…” Because people don’t sing in falsetto when you get to that level. They just don’t. They don’t go in that area. So, yeah, but that was one.
Usher Tells Apple Music Why Drake is a Young Legend…
Drake is a student, and I appreciate him, greatly. He has the ability to speak to… There’s one thing that I think was mandatory for me to understand about being a legacy artist. He’s a young legend. I’ll give him that. Time only tells who will be the legend and who will stay around. You have to be a student in order for that to be ordained upon you.He has everybody’s ears, from the kids. And him paying attention to the culture of what works on his behalf is why he continues to keep thriving and sustain. So I think everybody’s doing the Toosie, you know what I’m saying?
Usher Tells Apple Music What He Admires About Frank Ocean…
He’s like a library. You know what I’m saying? When you think about his musical influence and how far he can go. As I said, there’s only a handful of artists who I think have the ability to come and go when they please. He’s like a very unique specimen, right? I feel like Andre 3000 is one of those types of guys, right? He comes in when he wants. I feel like no matter where he is, he’s always keeping up and you know that. So when you get a treat of a new record or a new album from Frank Ocean, you know he’s been paying attention and you know he’s been finding the through line or either he has something very specific that he wants to offer. You might not necessarily get it, it might not necessarily come across for everyone, but he’s like one of the, I call them references. You got to have artists who are great reference people. You look at any idea of what you’re creating, you create a mood board and you have all of these references, these things that inspire you. He’s always on the board. He’s always on that board for people who are trying to reach further. So, I respect him and I really, I love the record too.
Usher Tells Apple Music About Bill Withers’ Songwriting…
And here’s the other thing, specifically about his songwriting. It didn’t have to be complicated. The messaging was so specific and direct. Even the record that we’re getting ready to play. The song is so direct and has so much nuance, as a result of being very specific and direct. Like yo, everybody goes through some sh*t. Everybody goes through these types of traumatic things in their relationships, but can you address it and how do you? It’s like, who is he and what is he to you? It’s simple! It’s like, yo, you looked at the ground. Like, what are you…?
Usher Tells Apple Music About the Late Pop Smoke and His Popularity in New York…
There is no justifiable logic behind a life being taken. But we know one thing. We are living until we are no longer, and what we leave is an inspiration. If anything, you look at the positives of his life and the fact that he was blazing a trail of his own, and also too was musically blazing a trail of his own. He has a unique style of his own and New York is always looking for that rebound. New York is always looking for that opportunity. There’s two artists that I think do that. I think Fat Joe does that. No matter where he is in life, he’s another artist who just comes and just hit you real quick. And I think that Pop Smoke has … He was creating his own movement.
Usher Tells Apple Music About Anticipating The Jay Electronica Album…
By the way, if you are new to Jay Electronica, you only get the pleasure of what we all have been anticipating – For ever. But here’s a testament of the power of J, right? Because Jay and Jay Electronica came together in a very short amount of time, like I spoke to Jay the day that they had finished it and he was like, “You’ll never believe what I did. What we were able to do in a very short amount of time.” Jay-Z right and he was like, “Yo man, I just want Jay to just trust it. Jay Electronica to just trust that people will get it.” And it’s precious to some New York artists, man they’re like, “Nah. I’m not really for, the woo woo woo of what this is. I really do want people to understand my culture and yeah, for like it’s an expression of who he is as an African in America. I’m just happy that they finally put together the album. I was hoping and wishing that I will be able to see them perform it live because there was the conversation and thought of them doing something before this whole pandemic. But since the music has been released, I’m going to just be a supporter as I’ve been from the beginning.
Usher Tells Apple Music About Jack Boys and the Beauty of Cliques Working Together…
It’s beautiful to see how cliques are still working within this time. We are looking at the story that is being told every time one person comes in. Okay. They actually create the temple and now there’s an opportunity to give you all of the nuance of what it is. Look at Dre with Snoop and Nate Dogg, and then it goes over to Warren G. And then you get the story of what they are, and then they go off into their own spaces. So I’m hopeful that the story that’s being continually told by Travis continues to lead to all of the other artists that are in his stable. But yeah, I definitely wanted to not only show support because I love the record, but also too, just the idea of keeping legacy alive.
Usher Tells Apple Music The Value of R&B…
But I actually think that that value is in R&B music, in a way. It’s like, no matter how big they were, whether you were the Rolling Stones or whether you were the Beatles, they wanted to be what? R&B artists. That’s what they wanted to be.R&B does something that no other genre of music does in terms of connecting the music, the culture, as well as the conversation.