Usher Comes Clean
Confession No. 1: What Usher's famous ex-girlfriend Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas told thousands of radio listeners across the country is true: He cheated on her.
'`Yeah I did. It happened. And that probably will be the reason we'll never get back together, but that ain't the reason why we broke up. We were just unequally yoked. There was an imbalance.''
Confession No. 2: ``I cheat a lot'' _ on the stringent diet of fish, chicken, broccoli and other greens that keeps the 5-foot-9-inch, 169-pound R&B singer's famous abs looking so good. (And Waffle House is his frequent mistress.)
``Is that good for me to say now?'' Usher asks with a flash of his frequent smile. ``About anything? Damn, I just keep walking myself into these things.''
Confession No. 3: All of this recent ``confessing'' _ in Upscale magazine he said that he has smoked marijuana but doesn't recommend it; on MTV's online site he said he had ``a few deep, dark'' secrets _ is leading up to the release of the new CD ``Confessions.''
The first single, ``Yeah!,'' with fellow Atlantans Lil Jon and Ludacris, seems to have seared a hole at the top of the pop charts, holding that position for the past five weeks. And three weeks before ``Confessions'' even hit stores, radio programmers gravitated to another single on the CD, ``Burn,'' which has already climbed to No. 24.
The awkward thing for the longtime poster boy for upstanding and sophisticated R&B music is that talk about his personal life is getting almost as much airplay as his wonderfully soulful new album.
Not-so-flattering talk, mind you.
So in a revealing and thoughtful hour-plus conversation at his metro Atlanta studio, the 25-year-old dispatched with the gossip quickly:
Q: OK. Finally. Weeks after it hit the airwaves, you're addressing the cheating question.
A: And you know what, I'm indecisive as to whether I want to continue to talk about it, because I don't want to continue to bring it up and relive it. It's obviously very painful for her, as well as for me, as to what happened in our personal relationship. Hello, you guys!
But um, yeah. I confessed that I cheated on her; she didn't catch me cheating or anything. It's something that I chose to tell her because I felt like if I was going to spend the rest of my life with a woman, why not know everything about me?
Q: Did you think she would stay after you told her?
A: I didn't know. (But) honesty, brutal honesty, was something that was asked of me. . . . And I just felt like, ``You know what? I'm at this point where I need to be openly honest with myself.'' I offered that to her.
Q: All right now, just to get this all cleared up: The other thing floating out there is that the person you cheated with has your child. And some people are even saying that you're admitting it on ``Confessions Part 2'' (a CD single).
A: (Long sigh) This album was very creative in the sense that I was able to take all the things that had happened around me, things that happened in my past dealing with issues like this and kind of pull from experiences.
But it didn't happen like that. No, I don't have an illegitimate child.
Q: Or even a legitimate child . . .
A: (Shaking his head) Uh-uh.
Q: This is really different for you to be under the tabloid light. And right when everything is going so great professionally.
A: I couldn't be happier and sadder at the same time. I have a two-year relationship that meant a lot to me that didn't work out. I hope that, well, obviously she can move on because you don't hear her talking anymore. But I've moved on, and I'm cool. I've got a lot of living to do.
Q: So let's start from the top _ your No. 1 single. How did the smooth Usher everybody knows end up on one of Lil Jon's wild records?
A: Nobody does the whole crunk thing better than Lil Jon. And with him being so hot on the scene right now. I was like, ``You know what? This is a great opportunity for the both of us.'' He wanted to work with me just as much as I wanted to work with him.
Q: As for the rest of your record, a great deal of it at least, it's classic soul. Where does that come from?
A: With everything that I've done, I make an effort to recognize where I came from. . . . With certain lyrics or melody, I make sure that you know that if it's not Prince, it's Marvin (Gaye). If it's not Marvin, it's Michael (Jackson). If it's not Michael, it's Stevie (Wonder). If it's not Stevie, it's Donny (Hathaway). Those are the people who are very influential in helping me build who I am as an artist.
At the same time, I kind of use my music as a diary. I'm talking about life experiences: Love. Happiness. Pain. Hurt. Sacrifice. Compromise. Good times. Bad times. Being a player. Not being a player. Understanding the simple values of life and how sometimes you can get caught up so much in running and chasing this thing (when) it's standing in front of you the whole time. Issues of marriage. All of the things that we deal with. I deal with. I dealt with. And then some even more serious issues, things like pregnancy, infidelity and just real stuff.
I recorded like three albums of material, I had so much going on with me. Forty-five songs (in five to six months). I am one of the hardest working men in show business.
Q: Speaking of which, you and one of the hardest working women, Beyonce, just did her ``Naughty Girl'' video together, right?
A: We make magic together.
Q: She says you're the Fred Astaire of our times.
A: And I feel like she's our Ginger (Rogers). She's great at what she does across the board because she's hungry. She's one of a kind.
I know this video is going to be hot. And if we ever work together again, it's going to be even hotter. It ain't even about that song. It's really about the chemistry between two stars, if you want to be truthful. We make magic together.
Q: Sounds like you might have something else to confess . . .
A: Oh no. I'm speaking strictly professionally. All my private stuff _ man! _ feels like it's out there now.
