Looking 4 Myself

Background

In 2010, Usher released his sixth studio album Raymond v. Raymond, with a mixed critical response and commercial success; the project went on to earn two Grammy Awards at the 2011 ceremony. His follow-up record was originally rumored to be titled The Shanetance and due for release on March 23, 2012, though Usher later refuted the speculation.

While on hiatus between the release of his first EP Versus and Looking 4 Myself, Usher told AOL Music that he mainly traveled to various locations to listen to music which he "felt was really significant in terms of energy." Some of these locations included the Coachella Music Festival, Ibiza, Germany, Las Vegas, Miami and Southern France. He described some of the music as a "little bit more electronic, some of it a little bit more dance. Some of it, a bit more world." It was Australian electronic music duo Empire of the Sun that inspired Usher to produce the album's title track, with producer Rico Love, which led to the singer collaborating with producers he normally wouldn't work with or admired, such as Diplo. Usher's intention for the album was one "that was not genre-specific but just experimental". During an episode of NBC's The Voice, Usher called the album "by far one of my most risky records ... I wanted to challenge myself". Looking 4 Myself was chosen as the album's title as it described Usher's 'musical journey'.

RCA Records CEO Peter Edge spoke to Billboard on which two specific groups they want the album to appeal to, "By the time the album is available, Usher's collective audience will have had a chance to really sample a number of songs from the album [...] the end result will be an Usher album that appeals to his earliest fans, and people who may have never listened to or owned an Usher album before." Prior to the album's release, Usher was put under the management of Grace Miguel—whom he is in a relationship with—replacing Randy Phillips, who managed Usher for a short period after he split with his mother, Jonnetta Patton for a second time, in 2008. The cover art and track listing for both the standard and deluxe edition of the album were revealed on May 3, 2012. On June 4, 2012, 30 second snippets of each track were leaked on the internet.

Production

Diplo, Rico Love, Jim Jonsin, Salaam Remi and Max Martin were the first producers confirmed for Looking 4 Myself on March 2012. After Usher had attended the Coachella Music Festival, he worked with electronic music duo Empire of the Sun to produce the album's title track; he described the band's music as an "incredible sound". The collaboration and the band's music inspired Usher to produce more experimental music, and to produce records with producers he normally wouldn't work with or admired. DJ and producer Diplo was one of them, and so both collaborated on the album's lead single, "Climax". They discussed the concept throughout the song's development and how it relates to Usher's life, as Diplo "tried to help realise these lyrics and feelings." After conceiving some melody lines, they wrote the song in about an hour. Usher and Diplo worked on the song's production for two months, recording in studios in Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta.

Usher wanted to work with Swedish electronic dance music trio Swedish House Mafia since their joint performance at the American Music Awards in 2011. The group later agreed to work with the singer, where they intended to travel to Atlanta to work on track production, writing, and to "move the ball forward." Steve Angello, a member of Swedish House Mafia, told MTV News that the group hung out with Usher in Ibiza after the awards ceremony; they worked with him in Atlanta for five days. They produced the final tracks "Numb", "Euphoria" and "Way to Count", with the latter not making the final cut.

Usher contacted several producers and musicians who he endeavoured to, but ended up not collaborating with, including Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Afrojack, Kaskade, Little Dragon and David Guetta. The latter had revealed to The Hollywood Reporter in May 2012 that he and Usher had worked on a "crazy" record, though it did not appear on the album due to a scheduling conflict; rapper Ludacris was involved in the song's production. English singer-songwriter Labrinth spent two studio sessions with Usher in April 2012 working on Looking 4 Myself.

Influence and sound

Usher told Sylelist in November 2011 that he is working on a new genre of music, which he depicted as "revolutionary pop". He explained that it "combines several other music genres to form a new sound". In a later interview, Usher clarified that his latter quote was misinterpreted, in that it is not a specific type of sound, but rather what he found as inspiration behind where he was and what he was working on "was revolutionary". The album incorporates pop styles, which Usher described as being "relevant" to its time and "what [people are] listening to". Randall Roberts of Los Angeles Times summed up the production of the album, writing that it "draws on a world of styles permeating pop culture in 2012", by implementing the genres electronic dance, dubstep, pop and hip-hop to create a hybrid pop. AllMusic's Andy Kellman described revolutionary pop as "contemporary pop-oriented R&B, or european dance-pop, or some combination of the two", and that the album is "weighted more heavily toward dance-pop" compared to his previous efforts.

Songs and lyrics

Looking 4 Myself opens with club track "Can't Stop Won't Stop", which contains the melody of Billy Joel's 1983 "Uptown Girl"; it contains a synth heavy hook and incorporates elements of dubstep. "Scream" is another club oriented track, with heavily sexual lyrics. The song makes heavy use of bass—particularly in the chorus—and is noted to be reminiscent of Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" (2010). The third track "Climax" is a quiet storm slow jam, built around a haunting riff, complemented by sparse drum machine and some musical accompaniment. Its lyrics focuses on Usher's anguish over a failed relationship, with its title referring to the turning point of a relationship. Follow-up track "I Care for U" is a mid-tempo R&B song, which fuses 90's R&B and hip-hop with dubstep, produced by American record producer Danja. "Show Me", another Danja produced record, is described by Randall Roberts of Los Angeles Times to feature "driving house synth-claps with a propellant techno rhythm bubbling beneath it." A mid-tempo track, "Lemme See" contains a synth-heavy production with contributed vocals from American rapper Rick Ross. "Twisted", which was produced by and features record producer-rapper "Pharrell", is the seventh track. It is a 60's retro-soul track, with heavy use of percussions and bass throughout. Usher described the track as "nostalgic", and explained that his intent was to also "modernize it", similar to records produced by Cee Lo, Bruno Mars and Andre 3000.

"Dive" discusses a commitment to a relationship, while containing a triple-entendre, according to Matt Cibula of PopMatters, initially singing about diving or oral sex, to discussing a commitment to a relationship. The ninth track is "What Happened to U"; it is a downtempo song, sung by Usher primarily using falsetto. It samples the late The Notorious B.I.G.'s "One More Chance". The album's title track features Empire of the Sun member Luke Steele, and is both new wave and soft rock. The title refers to Usher's "musical journey", and the song was inspired by his travelling and the latter band. The first of the two Swedish House Mafia tracks is "Numb", a euro disco and electronic dance track, its lyrics message was described by Erika Ramirez of Billboard to simply be "Forget your troubles and fist-pump!". The next track is "Lessons for the Lover", a slow-tempo track with heavy production, produced by long-time collaborator Rico Love. Ramirez compared the track to songs from Usher's Confessions era. "Sins of my Father" is a soul song with prominent blues, dub, Motown and reggae influences; it is about being a "tortured soul" in a "volatile" relationship. Looking 4 Myself closes with "Euphoria", the second Swedish House Mafia produced track on the album. It is described as more "tense" and "powerful" compared to "Numb".

Singles

The album's lead single "Climax" was leaked on February 14, 2012 and digitally released on February 22. The song was met with positive acclaim, with praise directed towards Diplo's production and Usher's vocals. "Climax" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number eighty-one with 31,000 digital units sold on the week of March 10, 2012 and has since peaked at number 17. The song topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart marking Usher's twelfth number one single on the chart, and overtaking R. Kelly as the ninth artist with the most number one's. "Climax" sustained the number one position for eleven weeks, tying with his 1997 "You Make Me Wanna..." as his longest running number one single on the chart. The accompanying music video was released on March 9, 2012, and was directed by Sam Pilling and filmed in Atlanta. The video shows Usher sitting in his car, contemplating on how to approach his ex-girlfriend inside her home, with numerous scenarios shown being thought out by Usher. The video was nominated for Best Male Video at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, losing to Chris Brown's "Turn Up the Music".

"Scream", the album's second single, premièred on SoundCloud on April 26, 2012. The song was produced by Savan Kotecha and Max Martin, the same duo who produced "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" (2010). "Scream" was made available for purchase as a digital download on April 27, 2012. It officially impacted the Top 40/Mainstream and rhythmic radio on May 1, 2012. The song peaked in the top ten in several charts, including the Billboard Hot 100, Canadian Hot 100, Japan Hot 100, Scottish Singles Chart and UK Singles Chart. An accompanying music video uses footage from Usher's performance in Fuerza Bruta in New York City. In the video, Usher gets intimate with his love interest; his dancing and choreography was compared to Michael Jackson's. The third single, "Lemme See" features rapper Rick Ross, and was made available for purchase as a digital download on May 4, 2012. The song was released to urban radio on May 8, 2012 and reached number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Internationally, "Lemme See" peaked at number ninety in the United Kingdom, and number eighty-eight in France. The official music video for the song was released on June 14, 2012, and was directed by Philip Andelman.

"Numb" is the album's fourth single, and was released to contemporary hit radio on August 28, 2012. It was produced by Swedish House Mafia, who also co-wrote the song with Usher. The song received generally positive acclaim from contemporary music critics with many of them praising its club-oriented production, labeling it as a potential success as a single. "Numb" was a moderate worldwide success, reaching the top-forty in five countries including Belgium, Germany and Australia. Usher released "Dive" as the fifth single, releasing the song to urban radio on August 28, 2012. The song was well received by critics, who lauded Usher's falsetto and overall vocals. Directed by Chris Applebaum, its music video shows Usher getting intimate with Victoria's Secret Angel model Chanel Iman, who plays as his love interest. "Dive" peaked on the South Korea Gaon International Chart at number fifty, and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at number 34.

Promotion

Usher held multiple private listening sessions for Looking 4 Myself. On April 27, 2012 he debuted the album in the off-broadway show Fuerza Bruta: Look Up, in Daryl Roth Theater in New York City. When speaking to MTV, he explained his reasoning for performing in the show "It's not often that you're able to give somewhat of a visual or an emotional kind of basis of what your songs mean [...] I felt like, yeah, it would be a physical challenge, yeah it would be a lot for me, but [I want to] at least try it, there are many times I'd seen the show and I'd only hoped that I would make it happen". Steven Horowitz of Rolling Stone commented that Usher "theatrically sequenced the entirety of the project to strobing lights and choreographed moves". Horowitz also praised the singer's performance, concluding that "the veteran entertainer reasserts himself as a master of rapturous dance fodder, capable of turning a room into a thumping rave with ease". Usher appeared on Saturday Night Live—hosted by Will Ferrell—where he performed the singles "Scream" and "Climax". He performed both singles again, in the 2012 Today summer concert, being the opening act of the series. Usher performed "Scream" in the 2012 Billboard Music Awards; during the performance he wore a black suit, bowler hat and bow tie while dancing with a masked female, who later disappeared behind a cape and was replaced by a male dancer who mirrored Usher's dance routines.

On June 9, 2012 Usher performed in the UK, appearing in the Capital FM Summer Time Ball, his second appearance in his career. He entered the stage doing the moonwalk and then performed his 2010 single "OMG". Backed-up by female dancers while doing choreographed routines, he then performed several singles from his previous work and Looking 4 Myself, including "Yeah!", "Without You", "Climax" and "Scream". The singer again performed "Scream" in the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles during Microsoft's conference. He performed the dance routines presented in the video game Dance Central 3, via the Kinect to the latter song. Usher promoted the album on its release date in the UK—June 11—by performing in a one-off concert in the HMV Hammersmith Apollo in London. The performance was directed by Hamish Hamilton, and was streamed to Usher's VEVO channel on YouTube. The same week, he appeared on BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, where he covered the song "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People, and performed "Scream". The singer appeared on Good Morning America, where he spoke about Looking 4 Myself, and discussed his legal battle with ex-wife Tameka Foster. He performed "Climax" in the 2012 BET Awards; Kelly Carter of MTV described the performance as "fairly muted", due to Usher's appearance and dancing being minimalistic. He opened the 2012 iTunes Festival, performing songs from his previous studio album efforts and tracks from Looking 4 Myself which he performed for the first time, including "Can't Stop Won't Stop", "Lemme See", "Twisted", "Dive" and "Numb".

Tour

On September 18, 2012, Usher announced that he would embark on a concert tour, the Euphoria Tour, to further promote Looking 4 Myself. Usher planned to perform in countries including France, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In partnership with Live Nation Global Touring, the tour was to commence on January 18, 2013 in Amsterdam, Netherlands and would conclude on March 14 in Nice, France. For the tour leg in the United Kingdom, British singer Rita Ora was scheduled to be an opening act. On September 25, 2012, Live Nation Global Touring announced that the tour will be postponed until the fall of 2013, due to Usher's participation in the reality talent show The Voice, where along with singer Shakira, he was a judge in the show's fourth season. The tour, however, was not rescheduled.

Critical reception

Looking 4 Myself received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 75, based on 19 reviews. Alex Macpherson of The Guardian complimented Usher's vocals, saying that they "are in fine fettle", and found the album "most interesting" when it "goes in directions that don't cleave to obvious aesthetics". AllMusic's Andy Kellman felt that, despite Usher's shift to dance music, "he's more of a creative force when he's working with slower, soul-rooted material". Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times described the album as not genre defying, but instead utilises the music styles of the [current] era– it's "more pop than it is revolutionary". Evan Rytlewski of The A.V. Club said that "not all of it works, but none of it is unpleasant, either", and commended Usher for branching out and taking risks. Pitchfork Media's Carrie Battan felt that his strength "lies in R&B, and he's adjusted well to shifting ground", although "not everything on Looking 4 Myself hits the mark". At USA Today, Steve Jones stated that on the release Usher has "chosen to keep growing and moving ahead" on which he "confidently steps out of his sonic comfort zone."

In a mixed review, Now writer Kevin Ritchie said that "Climax" is one of the only few stand-out tracks. Slant Magazine's Eric Henderson felt that the album lacks structure and found it "unavoidably uneven". Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe criticized Usher's use of auto-tune: "the unnecessary deployment of Auto-tune on a singer who can actually hold his own vocally". The Observer's Killian Fox wrote that "for every hit—'Lemme See' is another—there are a couple of misses: 'Can't Stop Won't Stop', the Euro-dance opener produced by will.i.am, is horribly overblown".

On October 9, 2012, Looking 4 Myself earned Usher three nominations at the 2012 American Music Awards for Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Album. On November 18, 2012 Usher won the award for Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist for the third consecutive year. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, "Climax" earned Usher his eighth Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance. Billboard ranked Usher twentieth and sixty-second on their Hot 100 and Billboard 200 year-end charts, respectively.

Commercial performance

Looking 4 Myself was predicted to sell 120,000 – 130,000 units during its first-week in the United States, based upon first day sales. The figure was under-weight compared to his previous effort Raymond vs. Raymond (2010), which sold 329,000 units during the same period and to date has sold over two million copies worldwide. Despite the low figure estimation, Looking 4 Myself was still expected to top the Billboard 200 chart on the week ending June 17, 2012, and did so with 128,000 first-week copies sold domestically. The album marks Usher's fourth consecutive number one studio album in the United States. The following week of the album's release, Looking 4 Myself dropped to number six on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 48,000 copies. In its third week, the album again dropped positions, falling three spots to number nine, selling 36,000 units. In its fourth week, Looking 4 Myself fell to number fifteen, and in its fifth week rose to number fourteen, selling 20,178 copies. As of October 2014, Looking 4 Myself has sold 504,000 copies in the United States.

In the United Kingdom, Looking 4 Myself debuted at number three selling 27,000 units, giving Usher his fifth consecutive top-three album in the country. It sold sixteen units less than Amy MacDonald's third studio album Life in a Beautiful Light which debuted one place ahead at number 2. The album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), for sales of 100,000 copies on August 21, 2015. Looking 4 Myself debuted at number three on the ARIA Albums Chart, giving Usher his fifth consecutive top-five album in the country. The album debuted at number fifteen on the Japanese Albums Chart, selling 6,727 copies, on the week ending June 17, 2012. It debuted at number four on the Dutch Albums Chart, and number five on the Swiss Albums Chart. In New Zealand, along with My Way (1997), the album charted outside the top-ten at number eleven, while only remaining on the chart for five weeks. Looking 4 Myself also debuted and peaked within the top ten in Canada and Taiwan at number seven, in Germany at number eight and South Africa at number ten.

Aftermath

Looking 4 Myself debuted with the smallest first-week figures since Usher's second studio album My Way (1997), which opened with 67,000 copies. The album's debut was a significant decrease relative to his previous effort Raymond v. Raymond (2010), which opened with 329,000 units. Gail Mitchell of Billboard contemplated on whether this was due to the pop material present on the album. Derrick Corbett, operator of urban based radio stations under Clear Channel Communications, credited its underwhelming sales to the "alienation" of Usher's core audience. Neke Howse of WKYS believes it is because of the music industry evolving, saying that both Usher and label mate Chris Brown—who also experienced lower first week sales with his fifth studio album Fortune—will "be fine, and their albums will do OK".

On August 2, 2012 Japanese multinational conglomerate Sony revealed their Q1 earnings for the year, with Looking 4 Myself largely contributing to the companies $92 million in revenue for the music sector. In an interview with singer-songwriter Eric Bellinger by Rap-Up, the former explained that he, along with Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox, and Brian Alexander Morgan, were working on Usher's next album. Bellinger compared the album's music to Usher's Confessions (2004), saying that it is "more R&B, more urban" than Usher's Looking 4 Myself. The latter declared that his next album would show that he is "still Usher". The singer's eighth studio album, entitled UR (2014), had its lead single—"Good Kisser"—released on May 5, 2014 through digital download.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for Looking 4 Myself adapted from AllMusic.

Managerial

Performance credits

Visuals and imagery

Instruments

Technical and production