\n\t\u201cBut who are you? That was the question I kept getting while talking to people around me about what was next. I hated that question, largely because I couldn\u2019t grasp it. I\u2019m like, the f\u2013k you mean?\u201d \u2026 The more I got that question, the more I realized I was a man trapped in my own public image, that transition from being a teenager to an adult.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThat frank excerpt about feeling boxed <\/a>in is just one example of the many intriguing moments that can be heard on the latest Audible Original debuting today (Feb. 6): Usher\u2019s Words + Music installment, The Last Showman<\/em><\/a>. The project, written and produced by Usher and journalist\/author Gerrick Kennedy, finds the eight-time Grammy winner in deep personal and professional introspection as he reflects on the past, present and future of his 30-year R&B\/pop career.<\/p>\n \n\tUsher also delves further into detailing the process behind creating and writing one of his game-changing and record-breaking career hallmarks, 2004\u2019s Confessions<\/em> album. In addition, the Audible Original illuminates Usher\u2019s reflections by featuring live excerpts of classic gems from his vast catalog, including \u201cBurn\u201d, \u201cConfessions Pt. II\u201d, \u201cCan U Handle It?\u201d and \u201cBad Girl.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cConfessions<\/em>, right? It started exactly like that, sitting around with my guys and confessing the things that we were going through,\u201d recalls Usher in part during another revealing excerpt.<\/a> \u201cThe studio was a safe place for us to just lay out, you know, the s\u2013t that we were doing or going through or experiencing; no pretense, no judgment, just real talk. We didn\u2019t go to the studio with our minds on creating a record that day. Nope. We spent two months working talking, chilling, no women, but just having real conversations about real life, just brutal honesty from a male\u2019s perspective. And for that reason, I called the project real talk.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWith Audible Original\u2019s The Last Showman, <\/em>Usher adds his own volume to the popular Words + Music series, whose prior releases feature John Legend, Snoop Dogg, Sting, Smokey Robinson, Mariah Carey, Common and Sheryl Crow, among others. In fact, it was listening to Snoop Dogg\u2019s installment and how listeners responded to it that convinced Usher to set his own project in motion.<\/p>\n
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