WATCH: From His Forthcoming Album To Las Vegas Residency, Usher's Making Time For What Matters Most
Amidst the anticipation of his upcoming Super Bowl performance and the buzz surrounding his acclaimed residency, Usher shifts his focus to diabetes awareness.
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00:00 I found this at 11 years old and here I am at my older age.
00:04 I'm 45 years old and I'm still just as passionate
00:07 as I was when I first started.
00:09 And you should do the same if you find something
00:11 that you really love in your life.
00:12 This is the kind of commitment that you should have for it.
00:15 (upbeat music)
00:18 - How are you doing today?
00:21 - I'm okay.
00:23 - Okay.
00:24 - Thank you for asking, how are you?
00:26 - I'm doing well, I'm very excited.
00:28 - So we can go ahead and jump right in.
00:31 So I wanted to ask you a little bit about your residency
00:35 and then also what you're doing about diabetes.
00:38 So I know your residency has been a massive success.
00:44 Tons of people have come to see it from celebrities
00:46 and just regular folks who love your music.
00:48 I know my mom went to go.
00:50 So what inspired you to take on a residency
00:54 apart from doing other ventures just like touring?
00:59 - Well, typically right, tours are either a product
01:04 of releasing an album or maybe a collaborative effort
01:09 around grouping of artists.
01:12 But it's a curated experience regardless, right?
01:15 - Yeah.
01:15 - And I think I've reached a place where I was entitled
01:20 to be able to have some sense of a residency.
01:27 If it were not in Las Vegas, it could have been
01:31 in other places that offer residencies for some time.
01:35 The one added to it is the fact that I would be able
01:39 to still manage my regular life as a parent,
01:44 as a human being, as a curator,
01:51 as a person who works outside of music.
01:53 Music requires a certain focus,
01:54 it requires a certain dedication in terms of touring.
01:59 So residency was a brilliant idea in my mind
02:05 after the pandemic.
02:10 I think that the world was kind of in a state of shock.
02:12 We were still trying to figure out
02:13 how to get back to normal.
02:15 I think everybody was kind of tucked away.
02:17 I mean, other than Atlanta, Atlanta was still going hard.
02:20 Which I lived in Los Angeles at the time.
02:23 But we were trying to figure out how to get back to normal.
02:28 And we put the residency on sale just before the pandemic
02:33 and had to pause because there was just no functioning,
02:38 active business at the time.
02:40 So out of this quarantine and out of not being
02:50 in social spaces where there could be
02:53 a most to the people, it was a risk,
02:56 it was a roll of the dice.
02:57 But what it offered was something that was the belief
03:00 that we get back to normal.
03:02 The other side of it was that I could get back to normal.
03:07 I could get back to the thing that I love to do the most.
03:09 And that was performing in front of a live audience.
03:13 Not just because I had a new album or a project
03:16 that I was promoting or either an idea of collaboration
03:20 between me and sharing the stage with said groups
03:24 because we were touring.
03:25 But that was the reasoning for residency.
03:33 - So how has it felt for you to have to extend it
03:37 multiple times?
03:39 Like people are just itching to go see you in Vegas.
03:42 - It feels good.
03:43 - Yeah.
03:44 - Feels good.
03:45 I have to say that there's no better place to be
03:50 than Wanted.
03:51 - Absolutely.
03:53 - The success of this, it speaks to a few different things.
04:00 One, this dynamic of what it is that I offer as an artist
04:03 regardless of whether I have a hit single
04:06 or either a record at radio or record in the world.
04:12 It felt good to get back to this concept of live entertainment
04:17 in a very intimate setting.
04:21 Arenas, they're really great.
04:24 You know what I'm saying?
04:25 But to be able to have a theater where I could curate
04:28 a very immersive and a deliberate intentioned experience
04:33 where people come in and they know
04:35 that they're gonna get their money's worth.
04:37 That they feel like they have a night that is elevated.
04:40 A night that would not only be to remember
04:43 because of what happened,
04:44 but how you felt before you got there.
04:47 One, the anticipation because of the conversation.
04:50 Most shows don't allow cameras to be shown in Las Vegas.
04:56 I welcomed cameras because I wanted people to see
05:00 and experience that feeling that is the true inspiration
05:05 of why I am the artist that I am.
05:07 And it was these kinds of shows that entertainers put on
05:12 in the past where you not only croon to your audience,
05:17 but you found a way to be social
05:19 and serenade your audience.
05:21 You felt a connection to them through the theatrics of it,
05:26 but then also to the emotion of it,
05:30 the dance of it, the lighting of it,
05:32 the culture of the places that I come from
05:35 that I would offer kind of a snapshot
05:38 or maybe a first look
05:39 because people had never seen that culture.
05:41 They don't understand what it's like to be in Magic City.
05:44 Well, you can't go to Magic City,
05:46 but I can bring Magic City to you.
05:48 I can bring a bit of this world
05:50 of what we consider odd theatrics.
05:54 You know, when I think of Cirque du Soleil,
05:57 I think of the women who are incredible performers
06:01 and the fact that they know how to do these incredible things
06:04 as pole dancers.
06:05 I felt like, you know what?
06:06 That's our culture.
06:08 That's our opportunity for the world to be able to see it.
06:11 And it should be put on a pedestal.
06:12 It should be put on the most grand stage in America
06:17 where Cirque du Soleil and Zoomanity
06:21 and Absinthe and incredible shows
06:26 offer something else that's theatrical.
06:28 Burlesque shows, Magic Mike.
06:34 The Thunder Down Under, you know what I'm saying?
06:36 I felt like I could wrap all of those things
06:38 into a very intimate performance that celebrates my catalog,
06:43 but again, made people feel really great for the money
06:47 that they were spending to come to Las Vegas
06:50 and see the show.
06:51 - Absolutely.
06:52 And so Vegas residencies,
06:54 they often bring artists face-to-face
06:57 with the challenge of extended performances,
07:01 day after day, like very long schedules.
07:03 So how have you been able to maintain your energy
07:06 and your enthusiasm night after night?
07:08 - Well, one, I have three shows a week,
07:11 so that makes it easy.
07:12 Normally it's a Wednesday, a Friday, or a Saturday.
07:16 Few times on a few occasions,
07:18 it's been like a show on Sunday,
07:20 but that's really due to my being able
07:22 to schedule my life in it.
07:24 It takes a great deal of efforts
07:28 to try and figure out how to create normalcy
07:31 in this industry period,
07:33 as a parent who likes to actively be around with my kids
07:38 and really help them in engineering
07:42 what their life is gonna be.
07:43 So the residency of it gave me that ability
07:46 to, after seven o'clock,
07:48 seven o'clock on the dot,
07:50 I was putting my babies to bed,
07:52 (laughing)
07:53 to the theater,
07:54 and having a show up until 11 o'clock.
07:59 But as I said, finding the balance
08:02 and having that ability to do the thing that I love,
08:07 that hopefully will be inspiring to my older kids.
08:10 I want them to be able to see that commitment.
08:12 Like, "Oh, I found this at 11 years old,
08:14 "and here I am at my older age.
08:17 "I'm 45 years old, and I'm still just as passionate
08:20 "as I was when I first started."
08:21 And you should do the same.
08:23 If you find something that you really love in your life,
08:25 this is the kind of commitment that you should have for it.
08:28 Sure, I could be doing a myriad of things.
08:30 I could be developing artists,
08:31 I could be in a studio,
08:32 I could become a musician,
08:34 I could become a playwright,
08:36 I could become a director,
08:40 develop products, all kind of stuff.
08:43 But this is a true passion of mine
08:45 that has continued to inspire me to be creative.
08:49 - So I know you also announced an album.
08:54 How do you see your upcoming album fitting
08:56 into the current music landscape?
08:59 And what do you believe sets it apart from your past work?
09:04 - As I made all albums, it's an offering.
09:10 Where it exists is not on me.
09:13 I'm giving the offering,
09:14 and where it lands is where it's supposed to.
09:16 Hopefully it lands on your heart.
09:18 Hopefully what I'm talking about,
09:19 you make a connection to.
09:21 Hopefully this is yet another chapter
09:24 in the catalog that I have been building
09:26 since I decided to start making music.
09:29 There's a truth that I'm speaking on this album,
09:33 a truth that has made me very comfortable
09:36 with the reality of my journey,
09:39 and the things that I have collected
09:41 has brought me back home,
09:43 has brought me to the safest place
09:45 where I can be honoring of the experiences that I've had,
09:49 and share it.
09:52 It's been a long time making this album,
09:55 and I'm really looking forward to it.
09:56 I've had an amazing time making it,
10:00 and I look forward to sharing.
10:02 - You've been actively involved
10:04 with the One Pledge movement
10:06 to promote awareness about type 1 diabetes.
10:09 Can you expound a little bit more
10:11 on your personal connection to the cause?
10:14 - Well, I've lived through my child
10:17 who has type 1 diabetes,
10:19 and I know detecting their type 1 diabetes
10:24 before diagnosis could give you
10:27 a very valuable amount of time to get prepared
10:31 to live with type 1 diabetes.
10:33 So teaming up with Senefie
10:38 and having this kind of spokesperson,
10:41 ambassadorship around this movement
10:43 that is really about screening.
10:45 You go to or either type in the onepledge.com,
10:49 and there's an opportunity to pledge
10:50 to get your family screened for type 1 diabetes,
10:54 and then eventually speak to doctors.
10:56 Rather you have a concern.
10:58 This is a very valuable moment
11:03 that is being offered to bring awareness
11:08 and also to clarity about what it is
11:11 to be a type 1 diabetic.
11:12 The difference, the sparing difference
11:13 between type 2 and type 1 diabetes.
11:17 I've done a great deal of philanthropic work
11:21 dealing with youth,
11:22 but this is something that was a true passion project of mine
11:27 to collaborate with them
11:30 in finding the screening opportunity
11:34 because I have a child that lives with type 1 diabetes,
11:39 and it is really a journey.
11:42 It's not a day that I don't hope that I can get out
11:47 that I could find a more accommodating path
11:50 on a day to day as my child is managing his blood,
11:53 as my child is managing their blood glucose levels.
12:00 There's highs and lows,
12:02 and there is insulin that the pancreas
12:05 actually supplies the body with to balance it.
12:09 These are all things that obviously a doctor
12:11 will better explain,
12:12 but the first step is one having something
12:15 or someone to be able to access the information
12:19 that then begins the journey.
12:21 And the onepledge.com was an opportunity to do that.
12:26 This is a movement that is critically important.
12:30 Type 1 diabetes is not something that can be prevented,
12:32 but it is something that can be detected early.
12:35 And if you have these types of tools of blood testing,
12:39 you could not only detect it
12:42 before any kind of noticeable symptoms arrive,
12:47 before insulin is required or potentially
12:51 the one balancing factor
12:55 to keep your blood glucose levels high or low.
12:57 So I wanted to offer that,
13:00 and I didn't mind being transparent.
13:04 I choose to keep the identity of my children.
13:09 I have four children, one of my children
13:12 is a type 1 diabetic and was diagnosed at six years old.
13:17 So even my understanding of diabetes was different
13:21 because my grandmother, she was a diabetic
13:25 and her choices in life and what she ate
13:29 more than likely led to the reality
13:32 of living as a type 2 diabetic.
13:35 But type 1 diabetes is a bit different.
13:37 And if I could offer this kind of thing,
13:42 this type of informative opportunity for you to get ahead,
13:47 then I felt like, hey, this could be helpful.
13:51 If I had access to something like this,
13:54 I could have been better prepared.
13:55 I could have been able to have spoken to a doctor
14:00 and know before I detected a loss in weight
14:05 or my child's appearance changing.
14:10 So it was all of those things that I think led
14:17 not only to being an advocate for this,
14:19 but a contributor to this community
14:24 of people who live with type 1 diabetes.
14:28 - As an active father and also as an entertainer,
14:32 could you talk about,
14:33 do you feel like you have to be a little bit
14:35 more hypervigilant with your child?
14:40 - Again, preparation is the best key.
14:43 Information is the next.
14:45 And how you really create a strategy
14:48 to navigate through type 1 diabetes.
14:50 It's not something that goes away.
14:53 Once you are diagnosed,
14:55 you live with it for your entire life.
14:58 And there is a growing community
15:02 that is exploring a myriad of things
15:04 of which a doctor can either point you in the direction of.
15:08 But this is a starter.
15:13 And if the One Pledge is an opportunity
15:17 to at least give you some preparation
15:21 before you get to the actual next step
15:24 of living with type 1 diabetes
15:27 or your child living with type 1 diabetes,
15:30 'cause make no mistake.
15:32 I know you've heard this saying,
15:33 you're happy as your saddest child, right?
15:36 And when your child is not in your care,
15:39 they live on your mind.
15:41 Living with a child who's a type 1 diabetic,
15:44 rather it's a device that's notifying
15:47 his or her highs and lows.
15:49 That's a relevant part of your day.
15:53 And you're constantly trying to figure out
15:55 how to assist them and help them navigate that process
15:58 because they're young,
15:59 because they're looking at others
16:03 who don't necessarily have to have
16:05 that type of consideration.
16:06 It feels a bit different.
16:12 It feels a bit confining.
16:14 So I, as a contributor to the community of type 1 diabetes,
16:20 wanted to offer something
16:22 that I really felt could be helpful.
16:24 (upbeat music)
16:26 (upbeat music)