Here I Stand (Usher Album) - Background

Background

Usher's fourth studio album, Confessions, was released in 2004 and became the most-shipped album of the year in the US. Shortly before the album's release, he broke up with his girlfriend Chilli. In December 2005, he became romantically involved with stylist Tameka Foster; the two wed on August 3, 2007, although Usher's mother and manager, Jonnetta Patton, did not attend. Foster gave birth to Usher Raymond V later that year. In May 2007, Usher split with Patton as his manager. This prompted "gossip" that Usher had "fired" her because of his growing relationship with Foster. He denied the claims, saying, "I love my mother ... I decided not to fire, not get rid of, but to give the ultimate compliment—to retire her to be a full-time grandmother." He continued by stating that the split was a mutual decision. It was speculated that Patton's dismissal was due to his engagement with Foster; Usher dismissed these claims on Total Request Live (TRL) in May 2008. In what MTV News' Shawn Adler called an "angry tirade", Usher stated, "My wife had nothing to do with me firing my mother — nothing like that, that's trash. I hear y'all talking crazy out there. She's a beautiful black woman. Stop. Stop talking. And I love her. Stop it." The outbreak was compared to Mariah Carey's unannounced appearance on TRL, when she handed out popsicles to the show's audience and performed a "striptease", while some fans noted Usher's speech as evidence that Foster was being controlling of Usher. Usher hired Benny Medina as his new manager; Medina said of Usher, "The thing that excited me most is the intense commitment to his art, his incredible professionalism and the fact that I feel as though he's just hitting a stride."

Usher's father, Usher Raymond III, died in January 2008. Both men regretted not spending more time in each other's lives. "Prayer for You", the seventh track on Here I Stand, is an interlude dedicated to Usher's son, reflective on his relationship with his own father; "No matter what happened, my father always prayed for me. The only difference is, I'm gonna be there to be the father that my dad wished he was to me." The first album name that artists and repertoire representative Mark Pitts conceived was "Measure of a Man", but that title had already been used by Clay Aiken for his debut album, so Usher called it Here I Stand. Pitts said, "It was perfect because becoming a man is about going though pain, sorrow, and happiness. Usher's done that! From the love songs to the party joints, it's exactly the story he wanted to tell." Usher noted Here I Stand as beginning "a new chapter in my life"; the album's liner notes contain a verse from 1 Corinthians 13: "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." Here I Stand marked Usher's growth from boyhood to manhood. In March 2007, it was announced that work on the album had begun. Usher outlined the album's concept: "A lot of what I plan to offer with this album is kinda standing in this spot ... The king's back. I ain't gonna say 'back,' I never left."

A Rich Harrison-produced track, "Dat Girl Right There", leaked on November 11, 2007. The song charted on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at number seventy-four due to high airplay. Featuring Ludacris—with whom Usher collaborated on "Yeah!" in 2004—the song was originally thought to be the lead single from Here I Stand; however it was not included on the record. Other potential tracks cited before the album's release were "All the Time", produced by T-Pain, and "The Realest", produced by Jermaine Dupri, although neither was included on the album. Here I Stand contains eighteen tracks; James "JLack" Lackey, Polow da Don, Tricky Stewart, Jazze Pha, The-Dream, Los da Mystro, will.i.am, Dupri, Manuel Seal, LRoc, Dre & Vidal, Bryan-Michael Cox, Stargate, Ne-Yo, Danja, Soundz and J. R. Rotem all produced tunes on the album. On the iTunes Store deluxe edition, "Revolver" was included, which was produced by Alexander "Prettyboifresh" Parhm.