Looking 4 Myself

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." Looking 4 Myself was chosen as the album's title as it described Usher's 'musical journey'. 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. 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. Usher wanted to work with Swedish electronic dance music trio Swedish House Mafia since their joint performance at the American Music Awards in 2011. They produced the final tracks "Numb", "Euphoria" and "Way to Count", with the latter not making the final cut. though it did not appear on the album due to a scheduling conflict; rapper Ludacris was involved in the song's production. ==Composition==

in 2011 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". 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). 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, "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 album's title track features Empire of the Sun member Luke Steele, and is both new wave and soft rock. its lyrics message was described by Erika Ramirez of Billboard to simply be "Forget your troubles and fist-pump!". it is about being a "tortured soul" in a "volatile" relationship. ==Singles==

The album's lead single "Climax" was leaked on February 14, 2012, and digitally released on February 22. 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, 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". 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. to promote both "Scream" and video game Dance Central 3. 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 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. The tour, however, was not rescheduled. ==Critical reception==

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, indicating "generally favorable 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 uses 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". Slant Magazine 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 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 debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart on the week ending June 17, 2012, selling 128,000 copies in its first week. The album marks Usher's fourth consecutive number one album. In its second week, the album dropped to number six on the chart, selling an additional 48,000 copies. In its third week, the album dropped to number nine on the chart, selling 36,000 more units. In its fourth week, the album dropped to number fifteen, and in its fifth week rose to number fourteen, selling 20,178 copies. As of October 2014, the album has sold 504,000 copies in the United States. 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. In Australia, the album 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. 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. Derrick Corbett, operator of urban based radio stations under Clear Channel Communications, credited its underwhelming sales to the "alienation" of Usher's core audience. 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. ==Track listing==

Notes • signifies a vocal record producer. • signifies a co-record producer. • "Can't Stop Won't Stop" contains a portion of the composition "Uptown Girl" written by Billy Joel. • "What Happened to U" contains a sample from "One More Chance/Stay with Me Remix" written by Sean Combs, Reginald Ellis, Norman Glover, Carl Thompson and Christopher Wallace, as performed by The Notorious B.I.G. ==Personnel==

Credits for Looking 4 Myself adapted from AllMusic. Managerial • Usher Raymond IV – executive producer • Mark Pitts – executive producer, A&R • Mr. Morgan – management • Kory Aaron – assistant • Diego Avendaño – assistant • Liz Bauer – assistant • Delbert Bowers – assistant • Nathan Burgess – assistant • Thomas Cullison – assistant • Jacob Dennis – assistant • Alex Fremin – assistant • Chris Galland – assistant • Phil Joly – assistant • Jaime Martinez – assistant • Dana Richard – assistant • Ramon Rivas – assistant • Ed Sanders – assistant • Max Unruh – assistant • Jorge Velasco – assistant • Randy Warnken – assistant • Eric Weaver – assistant • Matt Huber – assistant Performance credits • Usher Raymond IV – primary artist • Rick Ross – featured artist • Luke Steele – featured artist • Rico Love – vocals • Mashanda Huskey – vocals • Max Martin – vocals Visuals and imagery • Francesco Carrozzini – photography • Curtis Smith – groomer • Ron Croudy – art direction • Frank Zuber – art direction • David Royer – stylist • Nicole Patterson – make-up Instruments • Andre Bowman – bass • Jim Jonsin – keyboards • Stephen Coleman – string arrangements • Czech Film Orchestra – strings • Vincent Henry – saxophone • Pierre Medor – keyboards • Daniel Morris – keyboards • Nico Muhly – piano, string arrangements, strings • Ariel Rechtshaid – keyboards • Shellback – keyboards • Salaam Remi – bass, drums, guitar, keyboards • Frank Romano – guitar • Aaron Spears – drums, percussion Technical and production • Klas Åhlund – instrumentation, record producer • Axel Hedfors – instrumentation, producer • Steve Angello – instrumentation, producer • Keith Harris – instrumentation, producer • Sebastian Ingrosso – instrumentation, producer • Alessandro Lindblad – instrumentation, producer • will.i.am – instrumentation, producer • Marcella "Ms. Lago" Araica – mixing • Kevin Cossom – vocal producer • Shellback – producer, programming • Eric Goudy II – drum programming • Earl Hood – drum programming • Frank Romano – producer • Rico Love – producer • Max Martin – producer • Pierre Medor – producer • Nickolas Marzouca – engineer, mixing • Daniel Morris – programming • Usher Raymond IV – liner notes • Ariel Rechtshaid – synthesizer • Andrew Coleman – arranger, digital editing, engineer • Tom Coyne – mastering • Diplo – producer • Swedish House Mafia – producer • Jim Jonsin – producer, programming • Gleyder "Gee" Disla – engineer • Mark "Exit" Goodchild – engineer • John Hanes – engineer • Matt Huber – engineer • Sam Holland Såklart – engineer • Phil Seaford – assistant engineer • Dylan Dresdow – mixing • Serban Ghenea – mixing • Robert Marks – mixing • Manny Marroquin – mixing • Noel "Gadget" Campbell – mixing • Salaam Remi – arranger, producer • Noah Shebib – arranger, instrumentation, producer ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts == Certifications ==