00:00I'm just getting started. 40 is a number to me. You know what I'm saying?
00:04And by the way, every time I look in the mirror, I see something younger and I see something more promising.
00:10I see something that gives me an opportunity to just stay inspired and push myself.
00:21Thank you so much for having me today. Thank you so much for having Essence.
00:26You know that you are king over at Essence, Black Girl Magic Headquarters.
00:32So for me to be here, all of my colleagues have been sending me questions all day long.
00:40But I've picked the top ones that I think are most pertinent for the people.
00:44So I personally feel so connected to your music.
00:48So my 16th birthday was at the Confessions Tour and my first concert ever was the My Way Original Concert.
00:54And I feel like My Way for you was like your breakout album.
00:59Of course, you had music before, but that My Way album just went, you know, it was like your universal breakout smash.
01:06And it seems that there's some significance with you naming this residency My Way.
01:12Can you talk about that?
01:13Because it certainly could have been a marketing ploy to name it Confessions.
01:16But My Way seems like a significant choice.
01:20Can you tell us about that?
01:20Well, the beauty of these incredible titles give me the opportunity to either let them be what they are or to celebrate them in a way that just allows me to be creative.
01:33Rather, it is My Way or Confessions.
01:37Maybe next year on the anniversary of Confessions, I will do something like that.
01:41But this year, it's the 25th anniversary of My Way.
01:45So that's one.
01:46But that's not why I did it.
01:47I did it because I finally get a chance to do it my way here in Las Vegas.
01:53And I had a really great time the first time I was here.
01:57This room gave me an opportunity to do some things that I've always wanted to do.
02:01And that's part of the reason why I decided to be here at the WLive with Park MGM.
02:05Because they were accommodating to my creativity.
02:08Yeah.
02:09Were eager, open, and understood the importance of reminding people what it is to be a triple threat.
02:15To have a little bit of storytelling.
02:17And Vegas offers that.
02:19Whether you look at the Cirque du Soleil shows and the burlesque shows that are here.
02:24Or any of those other shows that give you some sort of immersive experience.
02:28But also to celebrate hit records.
02:31And also, too, gave me an opportunity to have space to experiment and do things that are, one, passionate.
02:37But also, too, are of a new culture and a new approach to entertainment.
02:41Yeah.
02:42Ain't nobody skating and singing.
02:44That's just not something that is natural.
02:46I'm always about pushing the limits.
02:48I'm always about creating new forms of entertainment.
02:52Immersive theater is something that I think is new.
02:56I'd love to be able to bring something like this into arenas.
02:59But right now, it's working in theaters.
03:00And I get a chance to work out and work on things that I think are going to be part of my next chapter as an artist.
03:06With the next albums, so on and so forth.
03:08I love that.
03:09So you're talking about skating.
03:11It is innovative.
03:12When we just had Essence Festival, I can tell you.
03:14There were some skates and some performances.
03:17And we were like, okay, Usher, look at you innovating 30 years in.
03:22What does that feel like?
03:23And honestly, after the success of your last residency, were you shocked by that?
03:28Did you know that it was just, I mean, that people were going to come out for you in the way that they did?
03:33You know, I think that we were all looking for something to get us back to normal at that time.
03:39And really happy that people chose this to be the place where either they came out and just had an amazing experience, you know, that was safe and celebrated music.
03:48And we were getting back to normal.
03:51And I think we are getting back to normal.
03:53So now to be here and be in a place where I'm pivoting and trying new things.
03:59I launched a skating rink at Rockefeller Center in New York City.
04:03So skating is obviously something that has become intimate for me.
04:06Something that I tell the kids that I mentor through my New Look Foundation.
04:11If you find your passion, you'll find something that will lead you forever.
04:15So rather I was celebrating my past or actually just going towards the things that I was passionate about.
04:20It worked.
04:21It then made people see something else.
04:23Influence people to now make skating a part of entertainment at Essence Festival or wherever they go.
04:29Or rather they just choose to go back to those skating rinks that are sometimes outside of the city,
04:33but were the kind of grounds that allowed us to be able to sweat out issues and just, you know,
04:39tear away all of the things that are going on in our lives and just celebrate and enjoy music.
04:44Whether we were 10, 13, 12, or now being introduced for the first time.
04:48All of that is deliberate.
04:51And it's a part of me just having fun and being inspired to do something new.
04:56To do something that is going to bring people together.
04:59Yeah, your show also feels very unapologetically black.
05:05Even when you think about skating rinks, the elements of Atlanta culture.
05:10Was that intentional?
05:11Why was that intentional?
05:12Especially for Vegas.
05:13It felt like, okay, like we're here.
05:16Yeah, well, Vegas has always had open arms to experiences.
05:21Rather, you're looking at, you know, circus or ideas of illusions and things like that.
05:28So, for me, the illusion is a reality.
05:30The reality that you may not necessarily know.
05:32And let me give you a little bit of a history lesson when you come to my show.
05:35And wrap it in a bow, that's a hit record.
05:38Yes.
05:38Right?
05:39So, when I think of these spaces and the sophistication that we, as black people, have and have always had,
05:47we may not have necessarily been able to experience those moments.
05:51And as time has gone on, we've kind of gotten away from that.
05:55I'm just bringing it back to center.
05:57Rather, it is New Orleans and Storyville and the idea of what that historical story is of Moulin Rouge
06:04and the concept of those burlesque shows and things like that, which has a bit of a dark side, right?
06:10But it still is intimate and it is us.
06:13That then translates to strip club culture.
06:16It's something that we enjoy.
06:18It's not.
06:19It's great.
06:20It's fun, right?
06:20And then you have skating.
06:22And then you have the idea of black Wall Street and the idea.
06:26We don't know what that is.
06:27Tulsa is gone.
06:29We'll never be able to reimagine that.
06:31So I'm kind of lending myself in this space to be able to just remind people of what black beauty looks like.
06:39Yeah.
06:39You know, a little bit of Parisian clubs from Paris.
06:43In those times, way back then, we weren't celebrating in America, but they celebrated us in Paris.
06:49They celebrated our music.
06:50They celebrated our culture.
06:51So you hear the horns.
06:52You hear the intimacy of these kind of Parisian spaces, these speakeasies,
06:57and these places that we had to gather and just celebrate our culture, our music,
07:02that allowed us to have a voice on this soil.
07:05Yes.
07:07So that's the deeper story.
07:09If you look at, we can get it even deeper.
07:11If you want to look at the Orishas and the fact that I kind of put some of that in the clothing,
07:17working intimately with Oswald Boateng, who's from Africa,
07:20and understands that culture and understands the idea of Yoruban culture
07:24and being able to find a very intimate, cool way to mix in some of our African roots there as well.
07:31Yeah.
07:32So the state of R&B right now is in a little bit of a disarray.
07:37How would you encourage your colleagues, especially as you're being celebrated
07:42and people are giving you your flowers,
07:45how are you taking all of this in, kind of watching from the outside?
07:49Because people certainly are not questioning Usher.
07:51What advice would you give to your colleagues who are kind of having to ride the wave of public scrutiny right now?
07:59Hmm.
08:03To whom much is given, much is required.
08:05And the reality is it's an opportunity always for you to prove, you know, that, hey, I can be great.
08:16Yeah.
08:16And if put to task, I'm up for the challenge.
08:19Yeah.
08:20You know, rather the scrutiny of music and where it is,
08:24and does it stay the way it was before, or is something new created?
08:27Do we go back and, you know, say, look, we need to get back to the classic nature of R&B
08:32and hearing music played and not just electronic music.
08:36Now, don't get me wrong.
08:37I love it.
08:37But is there a blend where both worlds come together, where we can celebrate both sides of the creativity of music?
08:44I think Jermaine Dupree figured that out.
08:46Yeah.
08:46I think that Pharrell figured that out.
08:48I think Puff figured that out.
08:50P. Diddy, love.
08:51I think they figured out something incredible, and I hide all of that in my music,
08:56and it is a part of what I think is creating something new,
08:59an opportunity for people to get back to what R&B really is
09:04and what the experience is that R&B is that you can't get any other place.
09:09You can't get it in hip-hop as much as you used to, and it's not in that way.
09:13It's not seen that way.
09:14But my show, what I offer, is a bit of sophistication,
09:19but still celebrates hip-hop and all of our culture at the same time.
09:22It's a gumbo, an opportunity for you to really be inspired.
09:27And the soul of it, I think, is Atlanta.
09:30I think that Atlanta really does inspire everything.
09:33I think the South really has inspired everything that we're looking at,
09:37and not just for us as black people, but I think for all other cultures and people.
09:41They're inspired by the way they dress, by the way they feel, by the way they look, all of those things.
09:48So last question.
09:50Janet Jackson famously said that she would not be performing at 40 years old.
09:55And look at her.
09:56She's now going into her 50s.
09:58Did you feel the same?
09:59How does it feel for you going into three decades?
10:03I'm just getting started.
10:0440 is a number to me.
10:06You know what I'm saying?
10:07And by the way, every time I look in the mirror, I see something younger.
10:10And I see something more promising.
10:13I see something that gives me an opportunity to just stay inspired and push myself.
10:21I would hope that at 60, 70 years old, that I'm not still doing it in the same way I'm doing it now.
10:27I ain't turning no backflips at 60.
10:29I just don't even think it's safe.
10:30You know what I'm saying?
10:31But I might have my kids do it.
10:33But music will last forever.
10:37It doesn't have a date.
10:39And if you felt it then, then hopefully when you listen to it, you'll feel it in a new way.
10:45Rather, it's being introduced to a person who's 12 or 13.
10:48There may be something that will inspire them and make them feel something great.
10:52And music is that.
10:53Music is the tool that touches the soul.
10:56It goes through your ear and it gets to your heart.
10:57And it makes you feel something that you'll never forget.
11:01Awesome.
11:01Well, thank you so much.
11:02I am so appreciative.
11:04The show was amazing.
11:06I will probably watch it a couple more times.
11:08You better come on.
11:09You've seen it four times.
11:10Have you seen?
11:10You haven't seen this one four times.
11:12No, I haven't seen this one four times.
11:13And this one, you know, it is, even though there's more of a premium experience with the staging,
11:19it still feels very intimate to me.
11:22So it feels even more intimate and romantic, high energy, but more romantic this time around.
11:27So it's a vibe.
11:29That's what we want.
11:29I want you to feel like I'm putting on a show for you.
11:32You know, this is the most intimate room that I've played in time.
11:37Like to be this close and be right there with my fans and to be able to be vulnerable.
11:43There's some really, really incredible things that happen that we don't plan.
11:47And there are things that we have prepared for you to make sure that it is an amazing performance.
11:52So there is no bad seat in the house and there is no bad experience in any room.
11:57Whether you're on the mezzanine or you're down here in the VIP seating or you're on the onstage VIP seating or you're in the pit.
12:03There's not a bad space to choose to watch the show from.
12:06Yeah, I agree.
12:08Cool.
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