Sophia Michaels
Usher reteams with Ludacris and Lil Jon — the same trio that released the 2004 hits “Yeah!” and “Lovers and Friends” — for the singer’s new single “SexBeat,” which arrived Friday.
“When Usher, Jon and Luda come together it’s always amazing. It allows us to stay connected to our core like us three together,” Usher told Beats 1’s Zane Lowe of the track. “No matter what Jon is doing, no matter where Ludacris is, no matter who I am, or where I’m going, or what type of music I’m introducing, when we come together, we go back to the center, like the orbit of who we all are as artists at our best. Usher, Jon and Luda had to do it again. You know? It’s time.”
Usher added, “We, by the way, have been sitting on this song for about two years. So as great as that one song is, please know that two years ago this record was done.”
The slow jam opens with Lil Jon setting the mood and Ludacris delivering his raunchy verse before Usher takes control of the song. “Sex beat/When I get in that room and the bass go boom/Something about the way it make me move,” Usher croons
“So easy for us to disregard how incredible of a lyricist Ludacris is because they moved on to the new idea. But when he comes out over the tracks that we do, he always comes with vengeance. His wordplay and just his execution is amazing,” Usher told Lowe. “And I think that when Jon he produces, he produces with a very specific idea of how broad our reach is, right? And me as a vocalist, I’m always trying to make sure that you said it, the sweetness is there.”
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Usher, Lil Jon and Ludacris are all booked for Los Angeles’ Lovers and Friends fest — named after their East Side Boyz hit — now taking place August 8th.
“SexBeat” arrives one day after Usher and the Weeknd ignited and snuffed out a feud over the former’s 2012 hit “Climax,” which Abel Tesfaye said in a new Variety interview was “a Weeknd song.” However, soon after, the song’s producer Diplo and the Weeknd smoothed out the situation on social media.
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