15 December 2006
Usher’s Launches “The Grape”; Speaks on new album
The reining R&B King has opened a new wine bar in the ATL! Usher launched “The Grape” with his momager in tow
See Usher getting ready for the big day
Pictures of the opening
Usher speaks on his next album
It’s about time for me to get back in and put my 10 cents in it!”
Usher says his long layoff from making records is over: The singer is back in the studio and expects to
have a single and album out by the middle of next year.“I feel it’s about time for me to come
out with an album,” he said via phone from Atlanta on Tuesday. “I’m not extremely enthused about where
music has gone. I say that coming from listening to artists like Stevie Wonder, Prince, Michael Jackson —
those great artists and iconic musicians. I feel music is at a standstill.”Usher says he does
like what Justin Timberlake and John Legend are doing right now, and that Robin Thicke has released the
album of the year with The Evolution of Robin Thicke. Thicke is one of the collaborators on Usher’s
upcoming opus.“His album is banging, but also as a producer and writer, he’s amazing,” the singer
said of his friend. “We’ve been able to get to a point where we can work very easily together. I’ll give
him an idea and he’ll understand exactly what wavelength I’m on.”Jermaine Dupri and the
production teams of Dre and Vidal and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are all scheduled to collaborate on the
record — as is Jay-Z. Usher, who appears on the Pharrell-helmed “Anything” from Jay’s Kingdom Come LP,
said he and Hova did a trade-off.“Jay-Z came to me with the record,” Usher recalled. “He said,
‘This is one I don’t want you to miss out on.’ We had been talking for years about doing a record, and
as a result of this, we’re going to work again on my album. So look out for that next step, but it’s a
hot one on his album.”Usher has been called many things over the years, but he emphasized that
“James Brown” will not be one of them — at least not at the moment. He said reports that he has signed
on to play the Godfather of Soul in an upcoming biopic are untrue.“That was a press release
that was put out. I haven’t been signed on to play James Brown, but it would be an honor to be considered
for the role,” he said.
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