Looking 4 Myself
Looking 4 Myself is the seventh studio album by American singer Usher. Released on June 8, 2012, by RCA Records, it is his first album for RCA after the October 2011 merger of the Jive Records group that also included his label, Arista Records; which resulted in both labels being consolidated into the RCA label group. Many producers worked on the songs, and the album features appearances from Luke Steele and ASAP Rocky. Inspired by the electronic duo Empire of the Sun and listening to music originating from several locations, Usher intended the album to contain a more experimental sound, that remained relevant to the music of its time. Defined as "revolutionary pop" by the singer, critics noted that Looking 4 Myself is a dance-pop and R&B album that incorporates the genres pop, hip hop, electronic, Europop, and dubstep. Critic Barry Walters has noted how elements of some of its R&B songs were inspired by the emerging alternative R&B genre.
The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 128,000 copies in its first week, becoming Usher's fourth number one album in the country. As of October 2014, Looking 4 Myself has sold 504,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Worldwide, it attained top-ten positions in over eight other countries including Australia, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Looking 4 Myself was supported by five singles: "Climax", "Scream", "Lemme See" featuring Rick Ross, "Numb", and "Dive". "Climax" peaked in the top-twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for eleven weeks. "Scream" peaked in the top-ten on the Hot 100 and several other countries. "Numb" obtained moderate international chart success and peaked at number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Usher promoted for the Looking 4 Myself by performing in several shows; including the off-broadway show Fuerza Bruta: Look Up, Saturday Night Live and Good Morning America.
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 would not 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 in 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 would not 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.
Composition
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 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". The third track, "Climax", is a quiet storm-style 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".