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Shallow Nation

May 27th, 2008 at 3:24 pm

Video: Usher on “Good Morning America” - GMA 5-27-08

Usher

Usher was interviewed on Good Morning America on May 27, 2008, the release date of his new album, “Here I Stand.” He spoke candidly about his transition from a “hustler” and a “player” to “a man of integrity”; how marriage, fatherhood and family life changed him for the better, themes which are pervasive in his new album. He also announced his new official Web site, UsherWorld.com

Hip-hop star Usher has done it all, from award-winning R&B albums to television — even Broadway.

His impressive 14-year career has garnered him five Grammys, and he’s sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.

But Usher says it is his new role as husband and father that has really made him a man.

“When I became a husband, I became a great man,” Usher told “Good Morning America” this morning.

Usher will be performing Friday on GMA’s Summer Concert Series, but he stopped by Times Square to talk about his new role as family man.

“Everybody knows what I used to be. Now, [I’m] a man of integrity,” he said, “To be a father — daddy — to my family [and] my wife is the most incredible thing ever.”

Source: Usher’s New Album Showcases His Transformation

Usher - Here I Stand - album cover

Reviews of “Here I Stand” have generally been favorable, e.g., from the Chicago Sun-Times:

During the long wait for his new music, the artist starred on Broadway in the hit musical “Chicago,” fired his mother, replaced her as manager with veteran Benny Medina (Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez) and married his former stylist, Tameka Foster, eight years his senior and already the mother of three before she gave birth to their son, Usher Raymond V. Now 29, the boy has become a man, and that’s the theme of his fifth album, “Here I Stand,” which arrives in stores today.

“The manhood is symbolic of a type of independence, as well as a desire to communicate with his fans on a different emotional level,” Medina told the trade magazine Billboard. “This isn’t just a record for him. This is a component and an extension of a personal journey.”

To that end, Usher explores a much wider range of emotions and topics than he has on previous discs, or than Kelly has at any point in his career.

Source: Usher replaces R. Kelly as king of R&B

For a round up of reviews of Usher’s new album, “Here I Stand” see: