No bar is high enough for Usher, not when he can hit it with a note. In his first piece of solo music in three long years, the star used his voice like fans have never heard before and they approve.
Usher, who hasn’t released a full-length album since 2016’s Hard II Love, has been teasing new music for as early as 2019. Now, after years of teasing and building anticipation, he’s finally dropped a purely R&B hit, titled “GLU.”
Singing about a lover who he suspects isn’t being totally honest with him, he uses sexual desires to depict his need for answers. “You done made it messy / I guess that means you qualified / How the fuck you choke then don’t choke / Then do it both from the side? Hey / Now you laying there breathless / A sign of instant rush,” he sings in the first verse.
Written by Lil Jon, Sean Garrett, The Avila Brothers, and Usher Raymond, “GLU” is finding a home in the hearts of Usher’s previous fans, whilst also drawing in new ones.
Before the release of this single, which is the follow-up to 2020’s “Bad Habit,” Usher confirmed that his vision for what will become his ninth studio album is “to be better than what I was.”
Even though he’s decided to put out new material, he’s still rather busy performing a Las Vegas residency at the Park MGM, following a successful run at Caesars Palace in 2021. The tour kicked off on March 15 and is set to continue until October 28.
Perhaps to prove to his friend Diddy, who declared “that R&B is dead“ that it isn’t, Usher made this new music purely R&B. One of the ways the single was promoted was by being played “at the top of every hour on iHeartRadio R&B and Hip Hop stations across the [US].”
Last year, the 44-year-old talked to USA Today about the progress of his upcoming ninth album, saying, “It’s been an inspiration throughout the process. ‘Confessions‘ was a successful album and I count down the days until I begin to launch this. It’s coming real soon. I’ve actually finished it, and I’m now going through the process of sequencing it and naming it.”
However successful his 2004 album Confessions is – and it is a very successful project which landed him eight Grammy nominations and three wins – Usher doesn’t want to make a repeat of the work.
“It’s been an inspiration throughout the process,” Usher said. “‘Confessions‘ was a successful album and I count down the days until I begin to launch this. It’s coming real soon. I’ve actually finished it, and I’m now going through the process of sequencing it and naming it.”