Usher Debuts Two New Songs

2015 came and went without a new album from Usher, but 2016 is looking promising. While performing at a New Year’s Eve party hosted by Samsung Pay at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, the R&B crooner debuted a pair of brand new songs off his long-awaited album.

Usher, who also counted down the new year with the crowd, acknowledged the album’s delay. “I feel responsible. I look at all of my social media and my fans been a little mad at me because I pushed my album back,” he said. “But tonight, if you don’t mind, I just want to share something with you. This is just something I’ve been working on, I figured I’ll just play it for you.”

The first song finds Usher in ballad mode as he sings about the dangers of falling in love. “I know that I’m hard to love, hard to love, hard to love / I know that I’m hard to trust, hard to trust, hard to trust,” he croons, adding, “It’s like you can’t believe falling for me would kill you, but you could win it all.”

He also performed a second song called “Cards,” which he described as a “little, funky, jazzy, high spirited.” “This song is about some of these trifling women out here,” he told the crowd.

While the audience clapped along, he sang the upbeat number, which includes the lyrics, “Could of had it all if we were involved, but you didn’t play your cards right.”

Usher has been working with Jermaine Dupri, among others, on his first album since 2012’s Looking 4 Myself.