In addition to co-penning Chris Brown’s first single “Fine China,” singer-songwriter Eric Bellinger has been in the studio with Usher. The two have cultivated a brotherhood over time and are currently working on the R&B superstar’s new album alongside Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox, and Brian Alexander Morgan.
Bellinger likened the sound to Usher’s Confessions era. “More R&B, more urban,” he said of the follow-up to 2012s Looking 4 Myself. “[Usher] said, ‘This is the one where I have to show I’m still Usher.'”
They recently collaborated on the Diplo-produced “Go Missin'” and previously worked on records including “Lemme See,” “I Care for U,” and “What Happened to U” off Looking 4 Myself.
In addition to Usher, the hitmaker has been writing for Keri Hilson. “We worked on a song with RoccStar and Timbaland that’s absolutely something that you haven’t heard. It’s just completely different,” said Bellinger, whose mixtape Born II Sing, Vol. 3 drops April 15. “Timbaland has come back and recreated his sound.”