Usher talks Super Bowl show, reveals most 'personal' song on new album: 'Oh, I'm ruined'

Anika Reed, USA TODAY

Updated February 13, 2024 at 3:39 AM·6 min read

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Home is on Usher's mind.

There's his new album "Coming Home," out now, which honors his hometown of Atlanta and his roots as a master of R&B in its tracklist and its cheeky, peachy cover art.

Usher is also "really enjoying getting ready for Super Bowl," where he's headlining Sunday's halftime show in Las Vegas, his home for the last few years as he dominated a Sin City residency, triumphantly concluding at the 100-show mark in December.

"I know this sounds crazy, right? When I say I'm gonna enjoy this one show as though I have not enjoyed all of them. But I think I've spent so much time serving other people in terms of what I offer as a performer, I don't really get a chance to enjoy it as much as I want to because I'm almost like out of my body while performing for them. Like, yeah, I'm live and I'm present, but I'm doing it for you," he tells USA TODAY in the days before the performance. "This moment, this one's for me, and I'm going to really enjoy it."

And with his return to releasing music, six years after his collab project with producer Zaytoven and eight years since his solo album "Hard II Love," he's celebrating the location and the feeling of home.

"Coming Home" at Urban Outfitters for $40

"Hard II Love" at Walmart for $6

"After the journey that I've had in life over the last six years, I feel like I'm coming back to start," Usher says of the "deeper meaning" of his album's title. "I'm more refreshed and more refined as a result of so many experiences that I've been able to come through."

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The album, Usher's ninth solo studio outing, is 20 songs of relief for fans and for the R&B star himself: the comfortability of opening the door, taking your shoes off, and settling in on the couch to something familiar. It's the feeling of "Coming Home."

"After the journey that I've had in life over the last six years, I feel like I'm coming back to start," Usher says of the "deeper meaning" of the album's title. "I'm more refreshed and more refined as a result of so many experiences that I've been able to come through."

Usher's new album "Coming Home," out now, honors his hometown of Atlanta and his roots as a master of R&B in its tracklist and its cheeky, peachy cover art.

While fans will get quintessential Usher songs – the slow jams, the love-making grooves and the get-up-on-your-feet bangers – there are also new vibes that could only happen in the comfort of "home," with Usher's longtime collaborators Jermaine Dupri, The-Dream, Pharrell, Brian Michael Cox and L.A. Reid returning for the project.

"You're most comfortable when you're at home," Usher says. "So coming home to me feels like the safest space that I found, and that is to be comfortable in my skin. You know, the other half is the life that I've lived has had me running for so long, had me outside, had me moving around. To slow it down a bit and just come home, and me having perspective and (sharing) perspective is another aspect."

Usher walks us through some of the tracks on his new album.

'A-Town Girl' by Usher, Latto is a bona fide hit song

Right from the start, this song pumps out a well-known refrain: "Uptown girl…" Billy Joel's 1983 hit is the underpinning of Usher's "A-Town Girl," an ode to his hometown of Atlanta, featuring rapper Latto.

Usher croons that "my little baddie's such an A-Town girl," describing her with lyrics like she "learned how to skate when she was in the first grade" and "I can tell by the way that she twerk, she from around here," where you can "find her at Ladies Love R&B Wednesdays" or down on Peachtree Street or at Magic City.

"You felt the essence of Atlanta, you felt a very specific kind of code of culture," he says of the upbeat smash hit that will undoubtedly go viral across generations of Usher fans. ("Kissing Strangers" and "Keep On Dancin'" a few tracks later are also standout pieces of pop perfection.)

Usher says 'Ruin' song and video with his daughter is the most 'personal'

Usher says of all the songs on this album, "Ruin" is the "most personal and vulnerable" track.

"I think that 'Ruin' is a story that, when you look at the video, it says a lot," he says. "We base it on this idea of this relationship between father and daughter, or your child. To me, that is the one time that I think all men can say, 'Oh, I'm ruined.'"

In the video for the track (featuring Pheelz), Usher and his daughter, Sovereign Bo, 3, share an adorable time in a moment of play, with the singer highlighting a necklace on his daughter and a matching tattoo on his wrist featuring her initials, SR.

"Y'all (daughters) get away with everything," he says with a laugh, "'til eventually (dads) figure it out, like, 'Oh, you're gettin' over on me.'"

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Afrobeats with Burna Boy, K-pop with Jung Kook mark new territory for Usher

"Standing Next to You (Remix)," a high-energy finale track featuring BTS singer Jung Kook, allowed Usher to step into the K-pop world.

"I don't go to Korea that much, but when I do I have always enjoyed K-pop bands. So to work with Jung Kook was another incredible thing," Usher says.

Similarly, his entry into Afrobeats came through inspiration from his travels.

"Working with Burna Boy and producing along with Pheelz" on the album's title track and "Ruin," respectively, "that was a result of me going to Africa," he says.

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Usher, Skims bonus track 'Naked' is limited edition digital download

Not only did Usher partner up with Kim Kardashian's Skims for a campaign launching the intimates and shapewear apparel brand's latest men's offering, his half-nude body wearing Skims boxer briefs isn't the only stripped-down element fans can expect.

Bonus track "Naked" will be included in a limited edition digital download release of the album, exclusively available on skims.com.

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The joint venture is a shrewd business move for the reality TV mogul, who appeared in the teaser for the halftime show announcement and chronicled her missed chance to see Usher in concert for her birthday on her family's Hulu reality show, "The Kardashians." Kardashian ultimately ended up making it to his Vegas residency where the two connected backstage, and she gushed to sister Khloe Kardashian afterward about his performance.