8701 - Background

Background

Usher had initially planned to release the album entitled All About U, as his third studio album on October 31, 2000. The album was to follow his successful My Way (1997) which to date, has sold over seven million copies. On March 13, 2000, multiple tracks from the album had leaked on to online music store Napster several months prior to its release, including "T.T.P.", "U R the One" and "Pop Ya Collar". Following the event, the album's release was delayed twice, on December 5, 2000 to July 17, 2001. During the taping of MTV Icon Janet Jackson special, Usher explained that he returned to the studios to record new songs, stating "I didn't want that to be the way my record was remembered or the way I would present that to my fans It turned out a lot better" whilst adding that tracks that were available for download on the site were not going to be included on the new album. With new tracks produced, Usher's publicist announced a new name for the album, under the title 8701, who claims that it is "practically a new album". The origin of its new name was initially unknown, with speculation that it subsides with its release of 8/7/01, though Usher's publicist claimed that this was purely coincidental, and was not the reasoning for the title. Usher hinted that it was derived after something significant to him, and he would disclose it in the upcoming months. Eventually, his spokesperson revealed that the '87' segment of the title refers to the year 1987, when Usher sang in public for the first time at his church in Atlanta, with the '01' referring to the year 2001.