As much veneration as there may be in fan circles for his classics, Usher often faced noisy backlash whenever he tried to change the formula. The critical reception for Confessions and 2001’s 8701, both brimming with passionate performances and state-of-the-art production from hip-hop heavyweights, including the Neptunes and Atlanta’s Jermaine Dupri, never matched the audience’s enthusiasm either. Yes, the late-’90s and early-aughts records went supernova, but it took years for people to warm up to the 14-year-old singer working with Diddy and Jodeci, R&B pioneers who blessed the kid with songs whose themes exceeded his age. But I was just as interested in the times the singer’s meteoric career confounded his audiences. Usher is garrulous in conversation and unafraid to say he revolutionized some shit. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Adele’s 25, and Michael Jackson’s Bad.) ( Confessions’ peers in the diamond club include the Beatles’ Sgt. 1 singles, logged platinum-selling hits in three decades, and seen his 2004 record, Confessions, go diamond certified, an award for albums that manage to sell 10 million units. Those ideas would bear out loudly when clips from the NPR set went viral, reminding anyone within earshot that the man with the golden falsetto and stellar dance moves hasn’t lost his luster as a performer in the quarter-century since he spelled his name for us in 1997’s “Nice and Slow.” It’s generally a terrible idea to count that guy out. The Atlanta R&B veteran was gearing up for a new Las Vegas residency - last summer, he played 20 tantalizing shows in the reopened Coliseum at Caesars Palace this year, he’ll do 23 at the Park MGM - and he had a lot to say about creating a timeless catalogue of records his fans never get tired of. I spoke to Usher on the afternoon that his NPR Tiny Desk concert debuted. Photo-Illustration: Vulture Photo by Carlo Allegri/Getty Images
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