First it was set for early 2010, then it was bumped up to December 21, and now it's "TBD." The release of Usher's next album, Raymond vs. Raymond, has been delayed because "We believe that the album is so strong that we want to give it the opportunity to have the proper setup before coming out," a rep for the singer told MTV News.
Producer Bryan Michael Cox spoke with MTV News recently about his work on the upcoming album, promising a deeply personal project from Usher.
"I think Usher is in a place where he really wants to express what's going on in his life, as any artist would," Cox said, referring to Usher's divorce from Tameka Foster-Raymond. "All the greats did it. Marvin Gaye did Here, My Dear. All the greats express where they are personally."
Cox said the album will tell the stories everyone wants to hear, especially since Usher is back on the single scene.
"I think [the new album] is where we are going to see Usher as an artist. I'm very curious to hear what the rest of the album is going to sound like," Cox said about Raymond vs. Raymond. "Our records are definitely in that lane of touching on what's going on in his life, so we are going to see what's going to happen. I'm very excited about the album. I think he has a lot to say." It'll just be a little while before he know exactly what.
Yesterday, Ellen DeGeneres presented one of her "Read Letter Day" segments, where she reads and responds to fan mail. One of the letters was from a girl from Connecticut who lamented the fact that she missed the episode featuring Justin Bieber's performance. "That's why I keep guests around just in case," she said. The host stood up from her chair and found Bieber lying on the ground behind her reading an issue of O magazine.
Bieber was greeted with rapturous cheers from the audience and gave a shout-out to the fan from Connecticut. After announcing the release of his album My World yesterday, Ellen mentioned that Bieber was on Usher's label and that it was only appropriate that Usher was there too.
The curtain on the "Ellen" stage parted and revealed Usher, who danced in and hugged DeGeneres. The R&B superstar told the story about how he found Bieber and revealed that what sold him was Justin's rendition of "U Got It Bad."
DeGeneres then raised the stakes. "You guys should dance a tiny, tiny bit," she said. "Yeah!" kicked in on the PA and the pair both started busting out moves, including Usher's strange sideways moonwalk that Bieber aped perfectly. They closed out the show by reminding everybody about Bieber's golden ticket promotion, which will give winners a chance for a private concert from Bieber and the opportunity to be in one of his videos.
There are a ton of new releases hitting the streets today, including albums from Kris Allen, John Mayer, Them Crooked Vultures and 50 Cent. But the one album that might be the most anticipated of any of those is the debut from Justin Bieber. My World is now available (currently on sale for $7.99 at iTunes), and it is the culmination of all of the build-up that Bieber has had in the past few months. Bieber first made a splash two months ago at the MTV Video Music Awards, where he gave a shout-out to a contest-winning fan during the red carpet show.
After that, he parlayed his many Twitter followers and Facebook friends into an aggressive onslaught that saw him drop a total of four singles (which makes up half the album), cut a pair of videos (for "One Time" and "One Less Lonely Girl") and appear on just about every talk show imaginable (including "Today," "Good Morning America" and "Ellen," where he'll be making his second appearance today).
Bieber's story is now the stuff of legend: He put footage of him singing up on YouTube just so his extended family could see him perform, and the video clips got spread around and lead to a bidding war between Justin Timberlake and Usher. The latter signed the 15-year-old Canadian, and the rest is, as they say, history.
Bieber celebrated the release of his debut last night with a dinner with his new mentor. In traditional Bieber fashion, he tweeted about the experience and posted a picture. Today, he posted a video thanking his fans for his success in celebration of the release of My World. For Bieber, it's just getting started.
Buying a birthday gift for some people is close to impossible, either because they have exotic taste or because they already have everything. Usher probably falls into both categories, but just because you can't afford to by the man his own Bengal tiger doesn't mean you can't wish him a happy birthday. The man born Usher Raymond IV turns 31 years old today, and he is certainly doing it on top of the world. The Atlanta native has sold over 40 million albums and won five Grammy Awards since his 1997 debut. His biggest album, 2004's Confessions, yielded the chart-topping hits "Confessions Part II," "Burn" and "Yeah!" In fact, his record of consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 was only recently broken by the dominance of the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling." In addition to his music, he has also acted in a number of films (including "The Faculty" and "In the Mix"), develops new talent (like teenage sensation Justin Bieber) and owns a portion of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers.
In December, he's slated to drop his sixth album Raymond vs. Raymond, and the divorce-centric single "Papers" is already making an impact. Raymond vs. Raymond will be the follow-up to 2008's fantastically successful Here I Stand, which featured another Hot 100 chart-topper "Love in This Club," a Polow da Don-produced, hallucinatory ode to having sex in public. The delightfully cinematic video features cameos by Young Jeezy (who raps on the song's third verse), Diddy and Kanye West. The song inspired a number of remixes, including the nearly superior "Love in This Club Part II," which recast the song as a debate between Usher and Beyoncé about whether or not they would actually make love up in this club. But for now, enjoy the original video.
Look out Justin T.; here comes Justin B! Bieber, that is.
The heartthrob singer is only 15 years old and his debut album My World doesn't come out until November 17, but he has already amassed 210,000 Twitter followers and nearly a half a million Facebook fans. More importantly, the Usher protégé will get his biggest taste of national exposure yet when he appears as a presenter at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, which air live this Sunday, September 13 at 9 p.m.
Bieber has been particularly fan-friendly during his rapid rise to fame (his personal phone number is even listed on his Facebook page), so it's no surprise that Justin wants to give one lucky fan a shout-out during Sunday's VMA pre-show.
Do you want to be that fan and have Justin Bieber call out your name during the Video Music Awards Pre-Show? Then you've got to prove that you're worthy! Upload a video of yourself explaining — or showing — why you are Justin's biggest fan to Your.MTV.com. Justin will pick the winner himself and say hi to you and only you LIVE on MTV Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET!
(Click here for more pictures of Justin Bieber from his exclusive MTV.com photo shoot!)
Though it seems like they were overshadowed by the tremendous resurrection of Michael Jackson's back catalog following his death, the Black Eyed Peas have managed to set a new chart record. This week marks the seventeenth consecutive week atop the Billboard Hot 100 list, which sets a new mark for a group. "I Gotta Feeling" is the #1 song in the country for the fifth week, a track that replaced BEP's "Boom Boom Pow" after its 12 week reign in the top position. The Peas replace previous record holders Boyz II Men, who pulled 16 week streaks twice before ("One Sweet Day" in 1995-96 and an "I'll Make Love to You"/ "On Bended Knee" tag team in 1994). The Billboard Hot 100 sets it's tallies based on a combination of sales, radio airplay, online streams and downloads and is used to try to track what the most popular song in the country is at any given time. The Peas' dominance has prevented Drake from advancing to the pole position, as his "Best I Ever Had" sits in the second spot for another week.
Amazingly, "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling" represent the Black Eyed Peas' first trips to the top of the charts, as seemingly ubiquitous hits "Let's Get It Started" and "My Humps" only peaked at 21 and three respectively. But despite their singles dominance, that hasn't translated into album sales: After seven weeks, the group's E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) has moved 778,000 copies, which is a pretty big number but probably should be bigger considering the size of "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling." They still need two more weeks to tie Usher for the overall record: He spent nineteen straight weeks on top with a combination of "Yeah!," "Burn" and "Confessions Part II" in 2004.
By Selina Kaye
Canadian rapper Drake's "Best I Ever Had" single is not only a smash for him, but it's becoming one of the best remixed tracks of the summer. The latest entry comes from self-professed "King of Remixes" Trey Songz, who dropped his track via his Twitter account.
"In the studio tryna paint a musical Picasso," he wrote of the track.
It's not the first time Drake and Trey Songz have collaborated on a song — they previously released "Successful" and "Replacement Girl" together. In the remix of "Best I Ever Had," he tweaks the lyrics slightly, so instead of "Baby you my everything/ You're all I ever wanted," it's now "She said I'm her everything/ I'm all she ever wanted." The track retains the same charm and smoothness as the original with an extra dash of theatricality and swagger care of Songz.
Just as we did when comparing Songz to fellow remixer R. Kelly, I took the temperature of the Newsroom to see what the prevailing opinion was of Trey's "Best I Ever Had." The overall consensus? Hot!
In addition to tossing off remixes, Trey Songz has signed up to be part of a new collaboration called Ocean's 7. The group consists of Jermaine Dupri, Usher, Nelly, Bryan-Michael Cox, Tyrone Davis and Johnta Austin. The group takes it's name from the film Ocean's 11 and was apparently created when Jermaine Dupri and Bryan Michael Cox were in Las Vegas working in the studio with Usher. The group, who fashion themselves after the original Rat Pack, has already dropped a mixtape called 3000 and 9 S---, as well as a video for a song called "So Much Swagg."
What do you think: Is Trey Songz the current remix king, or is there somebody else out there churning out superior tracks? Leave your thoughts in the comments or head over to Your.MTV.com to make your voice heard!
As MTV News reported earlier, tomorrow's Michael Jackson tribute will feature (among others) Stevie Wonder, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer and Mariah Carey. Carey has a history with Jackson, having covered the Jackson 5's hit "I'll Be There" on her episode of "MTV Unplugged" back in 1992. The song (and live acoustic video) became a big hit for Carey, hitting the top of the charts shortly after its release. Early rumor suggests that she'll be performing that very song at tomorrow's memorial, which will be a fitting epitaph to Jackson's long and storied career.
We'll have wall-to-wall coverage of the memorial tomorrow, so be sure to stay tuned here, to MTV News and to the network where we'll have constant updates. It promises to be a memorable event — especially if Carey busts out her best pipes and brings duet partner Trey Lorenz along for the ride.
By Eric Ditzian
Before Susan Boyle busted into her version of "I Dreamed a Dream," when the "Britain's Got Talent" crowd was still laughing at her, she confessed that she wanted to be a singer in the mold of Elaine Paige, a famous British theater actress and chanteuse. We all know what happened next: Boyle blew everyone away and became an overnight, worldwide sensation.
But what most Americans didn't know is who the heck this Elaine Paige woman is. Apparently, she's beloved in Britain. And, according to People magazine, Paige wrote in her blog that she'd love to sing a duet with Boyle. That's sweet and all, but if Boyle is going to make it as a recording artist in the States, she's going to have to pick a much more well-known duet partner. We at MTV News really want Boyle to make it, so here's our suggestion of eight artists Boyle would be wise to start crooning with.
Katy Perry: By her own admission, Boyle has never been smooched. Who better to duet with than the woman behind the international hit "I Kissed a Girl"? Hey, maybe she'd even like it.
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Five years ago this week, Usher dropped one of the biggest R&B albums of the decade, Confessions. I was actually in the studio that summer in New York when Ush was recording the title track with Jermaine Dupri — throwback jerseys were still in, Ush had the San Francisco jacket and JD still had his braids!
Listening to the music, on which Ush sang about everything in his relationship, I knew I would hear — hell, the world would hear — something different this time. He was already a star, but with this joint, you had the feeling it was going to be different. Usher would be talking about realer things that older cats could also relate to.
Then he dropped the megaton bomb with “Yeah!” I remember hearing the record on a mixtape — I wanna say it was a Big Mike R&B mixtape. I told my brother Ari it was going to be huge — it just felt pop and 'hood at the same time, like nothing else that was on the radio — and Luda put the nail in the coffin with his verse at the end. We just listened to the mixtape all that weekend — it had to be close to Christmastime — and “Yeah!” in particular. As the album release date neared, I had the chance to hear more material and do more interviews and really get a chance to know more about Usher as a person. He really let his guard down and got pretty personal.
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