Usher Scores Biggest Hit Since 2012 / Hits Studio With Jermaine Dupri

Published: Tuesday 20th Jan 2015 by Sam
usher-2015-2-thatgrapejuice

It may not come when you want, but oh is it right on time.

Much of last year saw Usher searching high and low for a hit of some variety, yet it’s finally manifested at the top of 2015.

Details below…

The track, ‘I Don’t Mind’ featuring Juicy J, was oddly premiered last June but was seemingly left in limbo while the singer re-evaluated the campaign for the scrapped draft of his eighth album, ‘UR’.

Then, just after announcing his well-received tour,‘The UR Experience’, the song was re-sent to radio and released digitally.

In the time since, it’s been climbing steadily and has this week hit #1 on the Rhythmic radio format and climbed to an impressive #25 on Pop. Paired with its impressive run on iTunes, the cut now sits at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The feat sees the club cut become the star’s most successful single since 2012’s ‘Scream’, easily besting the performance of any of his recent efforts such as ‘Good Kisser’ and ‘She Came To Give It To You’ which peaked at #65 and #89 respectively.

Needless to say, it’s a much needed turn-around for his project and sets up a solid foundation to spring from when he’s really ready to hit the promo trail.

Saying that, we’d actually prefer that he lets the song become a quiet hit on its own accord without any additional push. Why, you may wonder? Well, from where we’re sitting, ‘I Don’t Mind’ is the type of cheap generic hit that every artist needs at some point to get them from “A” to “B”. Judged on the merit of what it is, we feel the song is beneath Usher, but at the same time understand that there’s a game that needs to be played to ensure his longevity. Put simply, there’s no doubt the likes of ‘Good Kisser’ and ‘She Came’ are much better than this, however sometimes it’s important to give the masses what they want rather than what an artists thinks they should have. Just our two cents.

In any case, Ush isn’t letting the success of the song have him resting on his laurels. He hit the studio this week to continue working on his LP with longtime collaborator Jermaine Dupri, who shared the shot below…

usher-jd-2015-thatgrapejuice

Your thoughts?

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  1. Drinkmybussyjuice January 20, 2015

    Tgj. Yall know yall coulda picked a better photo.

  2. DanYiel Teflon January 20, 2015

    I’m still stuck on “GoodKisser” that’s my jam!!

  3. NO TREBLE January 20, 2015

    Usher is 36 years old and about to marry a 40+ year old so why is he singing about wifing a stripper? His album will bomb.

    • FAF January 22, 2015

      U don’t have to only sing about your current situation u don’t think ushers ever dated a stripper ?

  4. Dossome January 20, 2015

    Chilli is 7yrs older than Usher
    Tameka is 8yrs older than Usher
    Grace Miguel is 9yrs older than Usher

    I see the trend
    anyway,Good Kisser is better than anything he’s done since Love In This Club Pt.2 with Lay You Down being the only exception

  5. AmbeRussell January 20, 2015

    Shocker. He should release a video to go with the song. Didnt release how well it was doing, but I do hope he doesn’t go this route for the album. I want to see growth and not go backwards to an album full of jeriemh (however u spell his name) ready singles. He needs to be INSPIRING the youth, not being inspired by the youth (a lessor youth at that). But get inspiration from Sam cook or something not jerihim

    • Mike January 20, 2015

      I so agree. I even think Clueless is a step in the right direction. What I love right now is that Pop is loving him (I Don’t Mind), Rhythmic is loving him (I Don’t Mind, New Flame), Urban Is loving him (I Don’t Mind, New Flame, Body Language, Good Kisser), and Urban AC is loving him (Good Kisser, New Flame, SCTGITY). He seems to have all formats at the moment.

      • coolness January 20, 2015

        Man, I loved Clueless the moment I heard it. Too bad the best song he released this year came out of a cereal box, lol. The truth is, had he released that song, it’ll have tanked just like Good Kisser and SCTGITY. I’m sure of that because look at how I Don’t Mind, a stripper anthem, is doing well on the charts as opposed to the former singles he put out.

  6. rnblove January 20, 2015

    He’s The KING. stop!

  7. FutureCIARA January 20, 2015

    USHER is King!!!! BRUNO IS TAKING OVER THOUGH!!!!

    I STAN 4 KING BRUNO!!!!!!!!

  8. coolness January 20, 2015

    Wow, who would’ve thought this song would do this well? I for one, DRAGGED him the moment it leaked and hope it remained just that – a leak. Well, it’s doing pretty good as a single but I’ve noticed something. People have been clamoring Usher to get back to his traditional R&B roots since 2010. He did that with Good Kisser and SCTGITY but they bombed on the charts. Says a lot about those fans who talk about it but won’t be about it. Anyway, I wish him luck with his next album. Lord knows he needs it.

    • foxx January 21, 2015

      RIGHT?! People are like we want “traditional Usher” then all of a sudden he releases THREE “classic like” Usher records (Good Kisser, SCTGITY, and Clueless) but they all clamor towards I Don’t Mind, now it’s a catchy song, and I’m pretty sure it was never going to be a single until it leaked because people loved it. The people don’t know what they want. But I still think Usher is going to make an album similar to the first 2 singles, with a few club records of course.

  9. foxx January 21, 2015

    At least this is still an Urban record. People always said “When is he going to make R&B music again?” Or “Can he stop making pop/techno records?” Usher never stopped making R&B, you guys just never bothered to listen to it. So I think we should at least be appreciative of the fact that R&B Usher is climbing the charts instead of “DJ Got Us Fallin in Love” Usher. We all know Usher going to hit us with a hot ballad soon. I hope haha.

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