Gearing Up for the Show of His Life
Aspiring singers dream of one day performing in front of the biggest crowds, including at the Super Bowl halftime show.
Nothing is more watched than that event which takes place every year during the NFL championship match at the end of the playoff season.
People who get this chance of a lifetime have dedicated themselves to their craft and have succeeded.
Prince, Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Coldplay and Lady Gaga are some of the stars who have performed at that venue. Last year, Rihanna, visibly pregnant, sang alone during the halftime show.
She killed it by revisiting her musical repertoire even though her last album was released in 2016. It was the most watched Super Bowl halftime show in history with more than 121 million views.
For the 2024 edition, the organizers have decided to go with the uncontested king of R&B: Usher. It is a coincidence in a way since he also released his last solo project in 2016 (Hard II Love).
The 45-year-old artist who needs no introduction will step on the big stage at the Allegiant Stadium, in Las Vegas. In 2014, Usher joined the Black Eyed Peas to sing OMG with his friend will.i.am.
The musician has admitted that to headline the Super Bowl in February is something he can now check off his bucket list.
Usher has been in the business for a while already.
His first album, self-titled, came out in 1994 when he was only 15 years old.
A lot of times, the first album of an artist is the one that gets the most traction throughout one’s career. This isn’t the case for Usher.
The singer that coached upcoming artists on The Voice made a name for himself with My Way, released in 1997. You probably remember the songs Nice & Slow and You Make Me Wanna…
His 4th album was on another level. It made him a superstar. That’s when everything changed for the musician. Confessions is the album everyone remembers when they list the top R&B albums of all time. More than 10 million copies of Confessions were sold in the US alone, meaning it is a diamond-certified album. That’s an accomplishment for an R&B project. It is fair to say that there will never be another album like it. Just for that project, Usher deserved to be the Super Bowl halftime show headliner years ago.
Well, better late than never.
Yeah! (from the same album) was a hit. It now plays at every club in the world.
The eight-time Grammy winner has already said that he doesn’t want to recreate Confessions. He wants to be better than before.
As a proof, he did create something more electronic in 2012 with his project Looking 4 Myself. I would feel bad if I didn’t mention one of my favourite songs of all time, Numb. The lyrics resonate with me. It is about finding your destiny and getting past previous failures. About how losses and defeats help you grow.
My goal is not to go over all of Usher’s discography. That would take too long. And it would be hard to choose his best songs.
Over the last two years, Usher has been giving concerts in Las Vegas. His residency My Way got great reviews. People seem to like his shows in the Nevada desert, like they did for Céline Dion and Adele.
One thing that remains the same with Usher is the way he looks. He hasn’t changed one bit. He still looks that same has he did in his twenties. The singer has made working out and staying healthy priorities of his.
There isn’t any doubt that Usher is ready to shine at his Super Bowl concert, set for February 11. He has been waiting for this moment for decades. It will only be a set of less than 15 minutes. He will need to make the best out of the short time he has.
The artist seems in the right mindset. He not only wants to put R&B back on the map, but also mix genres like he has done over his prolific career. Because people tend to forget that R&B is the genre that make you think the most and bring out your deeper emotions to life. It’s with the help of R&B that you are able to get the most goosebumps listening to music.
With that type of music, you are being sold dreams.
Honestly, I think he is sick of being labelled as an R&B singer. He wants to be bigger than that and that is obvious.
All of that to say that Usher’s participation in the Super Bowl Halftime Show was a long time coming. He deserves it. He now needs to go out there and have some fun. We will have a blast with him while we are glued to our televisions. It sure will be something special that we will remember for years to come.
Coming Home
Fans have been waiting for a while for Usher’s return. Although the singer released a few singles over the years, including I Cry following George Floyd’s death, Bad Habits and Don’t Waste My Time. The last time Usher delivered a full project was in 2018 with “A”, a collaborative album with the producer Zaytoven.
Usher decided to come out with his new anticipated album on the same day as the Super Bowl. According to some sources, the album could be dropped two days before, on February 9, which would make sense since the majority of albums usually come out on Fridays.
We could then expect a new song played during his performance.
The new album will be called Coming Home. Good Good, Risk It All and Standing Next to You are the three singles that have been revealed already.
Will the artist go back to his roots with this new project? Only time will tell. That’s a challenge since people want him to come out with new songs that resembles what he did in the past. Lots of pressure is on his shoulders to put back R&B into the mainstream. The genre has faded away in the background since the early 2000s, there is no doubt about that.
For the time present, we can revisit his classics and get excited for February 11.
In less than two months, the world will witness one of the pioneers of R&B. Someone who has inspired so many and showed that relationships are often more complicated than what it seems.
