Interview:The two sides of Usher

USHER made it big in 1997 with My Way but 13 years on the R&B star feels the need to tell people who he really is. Usher Raymond IV said he wanted his new release, Raymond V Raymond , to reveal "every perspective of Usher". "Many people have known me for many years as just Usher, but they never got to know Raymond. So now you know Usher and Raymond – and both sides of who he is," the 31-year-old said.

"I was able to hone in on two very incredible things about my personality. One being I'm very honest and the other being I'm very open and vulnerable at the same time.

"If I go all the way back to Confessions [released in 2004] there was something very honest and vulnerable in that and something equally as honest in Here I Stand [released in 2008]."

More after the jump/Traduction en français à la fin

He said his latest album, his sixth, has given him an avenue to tell both sides and show his listeners just how his life has changed since his 2007 album Here I Stand.

"Both the good and the bad, depending on how you look at it. Really the choice is up to you because I think this album speaks to all of who we are."

Usher last year filed for divorce from his wife of two-and-a-half years Tameka Foster; with the break-up providing inspiration for his October, 2009, single Papers.

He has previously dated TLC member Rozonda Thomas, and had a brief fling with British supermodel Naomi Campbell.

He is also a part owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA basketball franchise.

Usher said he is planning a tour soon but there's been no word on whether New Zealand fans will get to see him live.

He promises his live show will be "one to remember".

"If the indication of the music is any idea of what you will get in terms of the dichotomy of the two characters, I plan on telling that story even more vividly in person," he said.

"In 2004/ 2005 I started to view myself differently as an artist and a business."

Source: Sunday News