![]() ![]() We were having a conversation in real time that was authentic. And JD, he was just spot-on, and he just knew how to do it. ![]() To me, I was trying to paint a picture of an experience. I remember listening to songs by them and listening to Lionel Richie, or Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson working together. They gave you this love song, but they spoke in a way that almost felt immersive. And then there was an element that was classic and timeless, like Stevie Wonder or Luther Vandross. It was like, “I want to be the coolest dude.” Where even if you’re not the coolest guy in the room, you put this song on and you feel super cool. I wasn’t so focused on making something that was about being in love. And I just wanted to make something that was cool. The second you finished recording “ Nice & Slow,” did it feel like you were about to redefine the ballad? Or did that feeling come as time went on? You drop your top, and you’re super cool.” Those were the moments that held for me. This feels like the record that you listen to when you ride in your car. That was the birthplace of the new ballad, where ballads weren’t sappy, just all about love, but it was more like, “Man, this feels like culture. Of course, we would go on to do it in Confessions and albums in the future, but that was the birth of it. So in that moment, there was like this Midwest Chi-town, king of fast flow that we put into the music. We redefined the ballad at this moment because there was no hip-hop version of what R&B is, a hip-hop–ish version of that style. So the fact that in that moment, we redefined music, JD and myself and Emmanuel Seal, it then became a monumental moment for me. It was such a cool style, you know what I’m saying? It was the first time that we could define something that would then become the new palette. So when I made “Nice & Slow,” was this “ Po Pimp” Do or Die. I think JD executed it in a different way, because it felt relevant to the way that I actually would talk in any experience that I was actually having in real time. I was always full of age from the beginning it was something that I think Puffy wanted to make sure that people understood. The other was, you know, I wasn’t a traditional R&B artist, and I’d never really had the childhood pop-sensation record. I’m just happy to look back at it and just really be excited. It was the writers of that album, right? It was Teddy Riley. ![]() And everybody, by the way, who was part of the album. But it’s a celebration, man it’s really a celebration that I’m hoping that people from the past get a chance to remember and also people who are hearing it for the first time get a chance to know my history and the history that both me and Jermaine Dupri have. And great that it did, because not only do we still have an amazing relationship, but now we are going to take the chance to do it again and reimagine it through some new ideas of music. But the fact that we clicked the way that we did, what comes to mind is maybe it was organic, maybe it was ordained to happen. Working with him was something that had always been on my mind. my first time working with Jermaine Dupri, of course. Legacy is all about timing and the ability to have had this many years and the celebration of it… I’m very happy that in that time, I decided to be as bold not give up on my dream. What’s the first thought that comes to mind when you think of those two words, My Way ? This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. So in honor of the LP, we spent a moment with Usher to talk about My Way, Biggie Smalls, his impact on R&B, vision for the future, and more. And as a result of that, it’s just got me back inspired.” What makes me happy, what makes me smile, and what brings joy. the thing that happened in My Way was the establishment of the artist, the establishment of me not being afraid of being bold enough to share who I am and what my experience was in an authentic way,” Usher tells Complex over Zoom. “After My Way, I had different types of success with 8701, and then Confessions. His memory of the release of his sophomore LP is a bit blurred, so much so that he compares his mindset at the time to that of a ticket-winning horse at the Kentucky Derby-he had his blinders on, and things happened very, very fast. He’s on the other end of our Zoom conference line from Atlanta, retelling 25-year-old stories about one of the most monumental moments of his career: the release of his 1997 commercial breakthrough My Way, which turns 25 this year. It’s 7 o’clock on the dot and Usher isn’t in a drop-top. ![]()
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