Line #41 Music/Usher


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/usher300_3722.jpg]]
2	[floatboxright: Influences:
3	+ Music/MichaelJackson, Music/{{Prince}}, Music/StevieWonder, Music/MarvinGaye, Music/AlGreen, Music/BoyzIIMen, Music/JanetJackson, Music/BobbyBrown, Music/DonnyHathaway, Music/LutherVandross, Music/JamesBrown, Music/{{Maxwell}}, Music/{{Jodeci}}, Music/KeithSweat]
4	[floatboxright: Influenced:
5	+ Music/ChrisBrown, Music/NeYo, Music/{{Miguel}}, Music/{{Drake}}, Music/JasonDerulo, Music/JustinBieber, Music/TreySongz, Music/{{ZAYN}}]
6
7	Usher Terry Raymond IV (born October 14, 1978), who performs under the [[FirstNameBasis mononym]] Usher, is an American R&B/Pop singer-songwriter, dancer, and occasional actor. His overall discography consists of eight studio albums, one live album, eight compilations, one extended play, and 52 singles.
8
9	To date, he has shipped 22.5 million albums in the US, and a combined 65 million records worldwide. He has attained nine Hot 100 number-one hits (all as a lead artist) and sixteen Hot 100 top-ten hits on the Billboard Music charts. In addition to his work as a recording artist, Usher has acted in several films, is part-owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team, owns several restaurants, has his own cologne, and has served as a contestant mentor on ''Series/AmericanIdol''. He was also a panelist on seasons 4 and 6 of ''Series/TheVoice'' and was the victorious coach of the latter season. He was also the headliner of the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl LVIII halftime show in 2024.
10
11	!!Discography:
12	* ''Usher'' (1994)
13	* ''My Way'' (1997)
14	* ''8701'' (2001)
15	* ''Music/{{Confessions\|2004}}'' (2004)
16	* ''Here I Stand'' (2008)
17	* ''Raymond v. Raymond'' (2010)
18	* ''Versus'' (2010)
19	* ''Looking 4 Myself'' (2012)
20	* ''Hard II Love'' (2016)
21	* ''“A”'' (2018) (collaboration with producer Zaytoven)
22	* ''Coming Home'' (2024)
23
24	!!Filmography:
25	* ''Film/TheFaculty'' (1998)
26	* ''Film/ShesAllThat'' (1999)
27	* ''Light It Up'' (1999)
28	* ''Film/{{Geppetto}}'' (2000)
29	* ''Texas Rangers'' (2001)
30	* ''Series/SoulFood'' (2003) - Cameron Marks, recurring role
31	* ''In The Mix'' (2005)
32	* ''Film/{{Killers}}'' (2010)
33	* ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'' (2018) [cameo]
34	* ''Film/{{Hustlers}}'' (2019) [cameo]
35	----
36	!!Tropes that apply to Usher's works:
37
38	* AesopAmnesia: The man has made an awful lot of songs where he apologizes to a woman for cheating on her.
39	* BunnyEarsLawyer: In Season 4 of ''Series/TheVoice'', it's revealed that, as a coach, Usher has some very... eccentric... ways to train his singers to be better. The best example might be when he gave singer Michelle Chamuel instructions to drop and do push ups, then jump up and start singing, as a means to increase her breath control. Also, he gave Chamuel the Cyndi Lauper classic "True Colors" (a song about never giving up and believing in yourself) for use in a Playoffs performance, and during rehearsals instructed her to sing the song to herself in a mirror, as a way to get her to get her to open up to the audience more. It worked.
40	* DarkerAndEdgier: The "Chains" music video and [[https://chains.tidal.com/ interactive website]] is easily the darkest song he has ever done.
41	* EleventyZillion: "Burn" has this:
42	--> "It's been fifty-eleven days, umpteen hours,\
43	I'm gonna be burnin' 'til you return!"
44	* GoshDangItToHeck: “OMG”. The G stands for "Gosh".
45	* HipHopSoul: His first single, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gp_trV1gbk Call Me A Mack]]", was a NewJackSwing song, but all of his releases afterwards used Hip Hop Soul.
46	* InDaClub: The video for his single "Yeah!" certainly applies, complete with slow motion effects.
47	* IntercourseWithYou: "Love In This Club", "Yeah", "Nice and Slow", "Trading Places", and "Scream".
48	* MrFanservice: Not above taking his shirt off in multiple videos, as well as his concerts and a few live TV performances.
49	* NewSoundAlbum: ''Looking 4 Myself'', which is a lot poppier than his previous albums. Unfortunately, this change in style lost him a lot of fans.
50	* OnlyOneName: Has gone by Usher for his entire career. Occasionally, his last name is mentioned, but in rare instances.
51	* SevenDirtyWords: A censored motherfucker in "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love".
52	* {{Sampling}}: "A-Town Girl" samples and interpolates "[[Music/AnInnocentMan Uptown Girl]]" by Music/BillyJoel.
53	* SpellingSong:
54	** Spells out U-S-H-E-R R-A-Y-M-O-N-D in "Nice and Slow".
55	** Spells out [[UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}} A-T-L-A-N-T-A]] in "A-Town Girl".
56	* {{Stage Name\|s}}: Subverted in that Usher is his real name too, so he just left out the Raymond IV part.
57	* TheCasanova: Has been romantically involved with Chilli of Music/{{TLC}}, Naomi Campbell, Rihanna, Tameka Foster, Mya, Karrine "Superhead" Steffans, and Maya-Fox Davis before marrying his wife Grace Miguel.
58	* WalkingShirtlessScene: During his earlier career, videos or TV appearances where he was wearing anything on his torso were few and far between.
59	* AWildRapperAppears:
60	** Ludacris in "Yeah!".
61	** Music/{{Pitbull}} in "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love Again".
62	** Music/NickiMinaj in "Lil' Freak" and "She Came to Give It to You".
63	** Juicy J in "I Don't Mind".

Context Music / Usher