Usher

Usher Announces New Las Vegas Residency at Park MGM This July

by
Usher Expecting New Baby With Girlfriend Jenn Goicoechea

It looks like Usher will be sticking around Vegas after all. 

On February 17, Live Nation announced that legendary R&B singer The Usher Experience would headline a new Las Vegas residency from July to October 2022  at Park MGM.  

MORE: T-Pain and Usher Share Hug On Stage To Squash Autotune Beef

The post Usher Announces New Las Vegas Residency at Park MGM This July appeared first on The Source.

T-Pain And Usher Reunite Onstage To Make Up Over Their Decade-Long Autotune Dustup

by
t-pain usher reconcile
Getty Image

HipHopDX reports that the longstanding discord between R&B/pop stars T-Pain and Usher finally came to an end last night in Atlanta as the two singers met onstage at a concert afterparty for Dave Chappelle’s documentary premiere event. After the initial film and comedy set, the show reportedly consisted of sets from the likes of local legends such as 2 Chainz, 21 Savage, Jeezy, Monica, and more.

Although phones weren’t allowed inside the venue, a video of Pain and Usher reconciling still found its way online, giving a glimpse into their reunion. T-Pain told Usher, “I love you, bro. I’m telling you, we ain’t going through nothing, bro. We ain’t going through a god damn thing. It’s all love. In a time when we’re divided the most, we need to be together the most. I love you, bro. I’m never not gonna love you, bro, trust me.”

While there was likely never any real ill will between the two artists, Pain’s comments on Netflix’s This Is Pop docuseries could have lent the impression that he held a grudge after he admitted a chance encounter between the two sent him into a deep depression. “[Usher] was like, ‘Yeah man you really f*cked up music for real singers,’” he recalled. Meanwhile, Usher claimed that the encounter never happened in Billboard, prompting T-Pain to tell Power 105’s Angie Martinez that he’d reached out to Usher to settle the dispute.

“I hit Usher after the interview came out, and I’m like, ‘I’m sure you saw what happened,’” he said. “‘That was the truth. That’s what happened, you definitely said that.’ I remember that whole day. Then all he texted me back was, ‘Let’s not text, let’s talk.’ And I was like, ‘Cool, hit me up.’ And I never heard from him, he never called me. I feel like I initiated the contact.”

It appears that the two were able to make good on Usher’s suggestion and turn the page on that particular chapter of both their lives.

Vinyl Me, Please Announces Its Stacked Fall Slate With Records From Usher, Clipse, RZA, And More

by
Getty Image

Vinyl Me, Please has established themselves as an essential ally to vinyl collectors over the years, as they regularly offer exclusive editions of revered albums, pressed in unique colors and accompanied by delightful extras. There are only three months left in the year, and today, VMP has shared the roadmap for how they’ll be handling their monthly releases for October, November, and December.

October’s albums of the month are Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest (as the month’s Essentials release), Teddy Pendergrass’s Life Is A Song Worth Singing (Classics), Three 6 Mafia’s When The Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1 (Hip-Hop), and Sam Hunt’s Montevallo (Country). Following that in November will be Usher’s Confessions (Essentials), Freddie King’s My Feeling For The Blues (Classics), Clipse’s Hell Hath No Fury (Hip-Hop), and Gram Parsons’s Grievous Angel (Country). Closing the year in December are The Meters’s Rejuvenation (Essentials), Roberta Flack’s Quiet Fire (Classics), RZA’s RZA as Bobby Digital In Stereo (Hip-Hop), and Buck Owens & His Buckaroos’s Carnegie Hall Concert (Country).

All of the releases are bound to be special, and in particular, Usher’s Confessions represents something new for VMP, as Alexandra Berenson, their Head of A&R, notes, “We’re really excited for the opportunity to run a record like this because we haven’t really done a massive R&B crossover hit in our Essentials. It’s a very cohesive album and it has been totally underserved on vinyl. It hasn’t had a reissue since it first came out and we figured, ‘Let’s give this the VMP treatment. Let’s try to make the most definitive version of this record that we can.’”

Learn more about the upcoming Essentials releases here, the upcoming Classics releases here, the upcoming Hip-Hop releases here, and the upcoming Country releases here.

Usher Says He’s ‘Happy’ T-Pain Spoke Out About Their Alleged Auto-Tune Conversation

by
Getty Image

Toward the end of June, a clip from Netflix’s This Is Pop made its way to social media. in it, T-Pain detailed a past conversation he had with Usher where the Confessions singer allegedly told him that he “really f*cked up music for real singers” as a result of his auto-tune style.

T-Pain added that the conversation “started a four-year depression for me,” but he also insisted that he still has “love and respect” for Usher despite his comments. Nearly two months later, Usher offered a response to that conversation being made public during a profile with Billboard.

“I’m happy that T-Pain said something,” the singer said to Billboard’s Gail Mitchell. “I’m not sure if it was before or after our actual conversation, after I heard what was said. It was very hurtful to know that he had experienced that kind of hardship in life.” Responding to T-Pain’s claim that the conversation led to his depression, Usher said, “I wouldn’t wish that on any person.”

“Private conversations for me have always been intended to uplift,” Usher added. “But when or if people get pieces of it, they can always have some other interpretation. But we’ve spoken since and we’re good.”

The conversation with Billboard came after Usher launched his Las Vegas residency. He previously spoke about the string of shows and somewhat revealed what fans can expect when they attend.

“I want you to guess,” he said. “I want to keep you bubbling with anticipation until I have dropped the first record and you hear the first moment. When the lights go down and you feel the energy. I promise the classics and also new stuff.”

You can read Usher’s full profile with Billboard here.

Lovers & Friends Festival Adds A Second Date For Its 2022 Showcase

by
Getty Image

Last spring, Live Nation, Snoop Dogg, and Bobby Dee announced the Lovers & Friends festival, a massive showcase that would bring some of the best singers and rappers of the 1990s and 2000s to one stage. The festival flyer was equipped with names that included Lauryn Hill, Usher, Lil Jon, Ludacris, Ciara, Nelly, Ashanti, Ja Rule, Ne-Yo, Trey Songz, Brandy, and, Monica — and that’s just on the first two lines of the poster.

Then the pandemic arrived and forced the postponement of the festival, as it did for many other big name showcases. Luckily Lovers & Friends announced that the festival — with all the artists that appeared on the original flyer — would return on May 14, 2022. Now, the showcase has unveiled a second date for the show.

Lauryn Hill, Usher, Lil Jon, Ludacris, and the rest of the crew will take the stage for the festival in Las Vegas for an added show on May 15, 2022. Those who signed up for access to presale tickets for the May 14 date will now have access to the “First Dibs Presale” for the May 15 date which begins on Saturday, August 7 at 3 p.m. EST / 12 p.m. PST. Another presale for the second date will begin on Monday, August 9 at 1 p.m. EST / 10 a.m. PST while tickets for the general public will be made available starting August 9 at 5 p.m. EST / 2 a.m. PST.

For more information, check out loversandfriendsfest.com.