Australian Article: Usher Admits To Reading Online Forums Prior To Recording New Album.

Usher’s personal life got messy on the eve of a new album, he explains

By: Cameron Adams Herald Sun Newspaper

LUCKILY, Usher acknowledges the elephant down the phone line barely minutes into an interview to plug his new album Raymond v Raymond.

Asked about the mixed fortunes of his 2008 album Here I Stand, which strayed from the million-selling Usher formula (and consequently strayed from the charts), the US singer is candid.

He admits the overwhelming, hard-to-top success of 2004’s Confessions (four US No.1 singles, 25 million sales worldwide) caused him to reflect on what mattered in his life.

His realisation was simple: stability. Usher Raymond married stylist Tameka Foster in August 2007 and they had a son, Usher Raymond Jr, in November of that year.

“I wanted the type of stability I could call my own,” Usher explains.

“So I got married. Having one of the most sincere moments of my life became the inspiration for all I did because it’s where I was.

“I took it very seriously my marriage, my children, being the best father and the best man I could be at that time. Unfortunately, as you know, I ended up getting a divorce, it just simply did not work.”

Usher says “as you know” with no arrogance or malice. The topic of his divorce has not been mentioned (and refreshingly no minders have listed it off limits) before he brings it up, in a pre-emptive strike that’s more an acknowledgement his private life is public knowledge.

Things got messy with Foster. When they met, she had three children from previous relationships. Usher and Foster had a second child together in December 2008.

Two months later she went to Brazil to have liposuction, apparently against Usher’s wishes. She went into cardiac arrest before the operation and was put in a medically induced coma before recovering, later admitting she’d been “foolish”.

Then there was the mother factor: insiders claimed Foster and Usher’s mother (also his on-off manager), Jonetta Patton, clashed constantly. Usher, 31, won’t talk about the accident, but admits that post-divorce he and Foster are in “a better place – we do have a lifetime investment, which is our children”.

Raymond v Raymond‘s first single, Papers, instantly tapped into the drama when it was released to US radio last October. It was designed to be a Single Ladies-style divorce anthem for those about to exit a relationship.

The lyrics run: “I’m done ready to sign them papers, I done took all I can take but you leave me no option, girl . . .”

However while Usher has a writing credit on the track, he distances himself from the lyrics (which his ex-wife said were in “poor taste”), claiming they were a coincidence.

“When Papers came to me (from songwriter Sean Garrett, who wrote his hit Yeah) I was not divorced,” Usher clarifies.

“I was still together. It was a very honest way to speak within a relationship. When you’re at a point where you feel like things are at a no-win and you feel like you should throw in the towel. It’s very difficult. That was the reality of that record, but it wasn’t my current reality.”

Skirting around the topic like a politician, Usher admits that while he split with Foster in June last year, when Papers was released to US radio in October he was technically not divorced – his own papers were not finalised until November.

“The more I lived I got closer to that reality. People would assume that’s what it was but it wasn’t.

“But it is a very realistic conversation that happened. I’m not the first or the last person to get a divorce. But that doesn’t discredit the emotion or the sincerity of the moment I share with my ex-wife.”

The lines, “I done damn near lost my mama, I done been through so much drama, I done turned into the man that I never thought I’d be,” are harder to distance himself from.

There were rumours Raymond v Raymond had its release delayed from last Christmas because – depending on who you believe – Usher started seeing a woman, Grace Miguel, from a rival record company who had complicated proceedings.

Or that his record label wanted him to find a manager other than his mother to “uncomplicate” proceedings.

Usher says he’s “single” but confirms his mother is now off the payroll.

“We have been working together for many years, but we have decided to sever,” Usher says (he had previously replaced his mother – briefly – with Benny Medina for Here I Stand).

“It was a mutual consented agreement. There are more important and pressing things for her to deal with, like being an incredible foundation for my kids and her grandkids.”

Usher’s new manager knows his business: Randy Phillips of AEG is the man who masterminded Michael Jackson’s This is It tour.

AEG’s worlds collided when Usher sang Michael Jackson’s Gone Too Soon at the king of pop’s memorial service in front of billions – and the Jackson family.

“It was the hardest stage I’ll ever play in my life.

“I was paying homage and recognising the greatest entertainer who ever lived and someone who was personally and through entertainment one of the most influential people in my life,” Usher says.

“To bury him was very hard. It was something that happened far too soon. So having performed Gone Too Soon for him, it was very hard.

“I felt like I sang it for every one of the people who have been touched by Michael.”

Usher got to perform with Jackson in 2001 (an “incredible moment”) and says seeing This is It gave him major inspiration during a difficult time in his life. “It showed Michael had it and would never lose it. Once you’ve got it you’ve got it forever.”

Jay-Z this year anointed Usher as a potential candidate to become the next king of pop.

“I thank him for that,” Usher says. “I’m gonna work hard at it. That’s what makes Michael who he is, years and years of dedication to entertainment. You don’t become king of pop overnight.”

When recording Raymond v Raymond Usher gave himself a mantra – the Six Million Dollar Man. Not financially (that’s pocket change to him) but to draw inspiration from the ’70s TV hit with roboman Steve Austin.

“It was, ‘We can build him stronger, faster’,” Usher says.

He and his producers would look at online forums to see what fans were thinking.

“There was the notion I departed maybe for a minute from what I do,” Usher admits. “Some women online were saying, ‘Come back. Do it how you used to. Be the Usher you used to be’.”

On the album, Foolin’ Around harks back to the “I cheated” lyrics of Confessions. Pro Lover sings of being a doctor of feminine chemistry.

As with Confessions, he won’t clarify which lyrics are fictional or based in fact. “Some of this album is fictional in the aspect of making the story cater to all our experiences,” he says carefully.

He points to the distinction between Usher Raymond, superstar, and Usher Raymond, father of two.

“The past three or four years of my life have led me to a new place, where I have tried to manage the process of perception and reality.

“The reality is you are a father, you have responsibilities, but you also have this expectation to be this heart-throb and sexy guy. That facade is not always a reality. When you’re with your kids you’re not the same sexy guy you are on stage, even though you are the same person. That Raymond v Raymond challenge took place internally.”

Usher is, make no mistake, a businessman. He signed teen sensation Justin Bieber – a deal that’s paying off handsomely. “I knew he’d be a success but seeing this type of success – it’s that of The Beatles or Hanson or the Jonas Brothers,” Usher says.

He also has a fragrance empire and is comfortable calling himself a “brand”.

The brand, he says, is good.

“Lifestyle branding is something that comes from many different angles and it has to be strategic and planned,” Usher says, moving into marketing mode.

“Having a successful brand in the fragrance is one of the hardest things. It’s the one thing that stays on when everything else comes off. I wanted something that would speak to a consumer and give them the type of confidence and certainty they need.”

It’s a similar mindset he’s taking to aim for the top of the charts – with the help of AEG.

“The goals are to work smarter and not just harder. I’m gonna work hard regardless. But to work smarter is my goal. I want to be uplifted by all I’ve had to deal with in my life, be magnified by it and in a better space as a result of growing through something not just going through the experience.”

His voice lifts talking about his sons, Usher Raymond V and Naviyd Ely.

“My youngest is like a bruiser. He’s a bully. My oldest is an acrobatic showman. He does flips. He’s two years old. He’s rolling and tumbling. He’s fearless. I do suspect he maybe would want to get into entertainment because he looks like the kind who’s always going to ham it up and want to get the attention. And of course his name is Usher.”

He’ll tour Raymond v Raymond, but this time he has to factor in dual fatherhood.

“You can’t just jump on a plane and split like you used to,” Usher says.

“You have to consider a lot of things. I don’t want to be that type of dad, I want to be there for my children.

“When things get hard, when the world turns its back on you, they don’t. They greet you with open arms whether you sell a boatload of records or if things aren’t doing so great.”