Sophia Michaels
For over a year now, Usher has been teasing the release of his ninth studio, Confessions 2. The sequel to his classic 2004 album, the campaign for Confessions 2 began with his Ella Mai-featured single, “Don’t Waste My Time” from late-2019. Aside from dropping a video for the single, Usher has kept any content regarding the upcoming album under wraps for the most part. However, following pressure from Lil Jon and fans, Usher returns with his new single, “SexBeat.”
The song was first previewed following Lil Jon’s Instagram Live battle with T-Pain. Upon playing the record, fans immediately labeled it as the sequel to “Lovers And Friends” and called for Usher to release the song. After receiving enough comments and mentions, Usher took to Twitter to tease the song’s release. “Yo!! … after that response last night to my new record after the battle between LilJon & TPain … I’m thinkin bout dropin this week … retweet me if you feelin it?”
Upon playing the song, Lil Jon revealed that not only was the song was recorded over two years ago, but that he also had to beg Usher to allow him to play the song during the beat battle.
The new song arrives after Usher was engulfed in some controversy with The Weeknd this week. It began when The Weeknd said he was flattered but insulted that Usher used “his style” when creating his 2012 song, “Climax.” After an indirect response from Usher, Diplo, who produced “Climax,” admitted that The Weeknd’s House Of Balloons inspired the production on track. “The idea of R&B having dark edges was what I wanted to bring to Usher, one of my favorite voices of all time.”
Watch the video above to hear “SexBeat.”
Written by: Uproxx
