It sounds like Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” success has rubbed off on Robin’s old friend, Usher. When you listen to Usher’s latest single, “She Came To Give It To You” featuring Nicki Minaj, it definitely sounds as inspired by “Blurred Lines” just as much as Robin was inspired by Marvin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up.” However something tells us that Robin will not be suing Usher for being inspired by the groove the way Gaye’s family had done with Thicke. This is because Usher has frequently collaborated with both Robin, and Pharrell Williams, the man who co-wrote and produced both “Blurred Lines” and “She Came To Give It To You.”
Usher Featuring Nicki Minaj
“She Came To Give It To You” (Explicit)
RCA Records
Robin Thicke Featuring Pharrell Williams And T.I.
“Blurred Lines” (Explicit)
From Blurred Lines
Star Trak/Interscope Records
Usher
“U Don’t Have To Call”
From 8701
Arista Records
Usher first collaborated with Pharrell on his smash hit third album, 8701 from 2001. Pharrell produced the album cut, “I Don’t Know” featuring P. Diddy, as well as the hit single, “U Don’t Have To Call.” That track reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 , and eventually earned Usher his second Grammy Award for Best Male R&B performance. Usher and Pharrell later reunited for Usher’s 2012 album, Looking 4 Myself on the track, “Twisted,” which was famously featured in the video game Just Dance along with “Blurred Lines.”
Usher Featuring P. Diddy
“I Don’t Know” (Explicit)
From 8701
Arista Records
Usher Featuring Pharrell Williams
“Twisted”
From Looking 4 Myself
RCA Records
By now Pharrell’s connection to Robin Thicke is an obvious one to most music fans, but his connection to Usher still may be news to some readers. After the release of 8701, Usher was able to successfully re-introduce himself to the public as a musician after the long delay between albums after his 1998 breakthrough, My Way, After that his star only got brighter with the follow up to that album, Confessions in 2004. That would take Usher’s career to new heights, as it became the best selling album of that year, thanks to the success of the first single, “Yeah!” While the album is known by fans for having some of Usher’s best tracks produced by the likes of Lil’ Jon, Jermaine Dupri and Dre & Vidal, one of the album cuts stands out to this day as a career milestone for Robin Thicke.The story goes that after Usher became a fan of Robin’s underperforming debut album A Beautiful World, he reached out to Robin to write on Confessions. He did so in an effort to help get Robin’s talents introduced to more listeners. That effort resulted in the fan favorite album cut, “Can U Handle It.” That track was produced by Robin and his production partner, Pro J, and even has Usher singing in Robin’s now signature falsetto. The track even featured background vocals by Robin’s wife, Paula Patton. After that Usher helped put Robin in the spotlight once again in 2005 when he featured Robin in his film and soundtrack, In The Mix. Robin’s featured song; “Against The World” was also co-written by Usher as well. Robin and Usher would collaborate once again in 2010 when they both were featured on Quincy Jones’ updated version of “The Secret Garden” alongside Tevin Campbell, Tyrease, LL Cool J and Barry White. (From the original 1989 recording)
Usher
“Can U Handle It”
From Confessions
Arista Records
Robin Thicke
“Against The World”
From In The Mix Soundtrack (2005)
US/J. Records/RMG
Quincy Jones Featuring Usher, Tyrease, Tevin Campbell, Robin Thicke, LL Cool J And Barry White
“The Secret Garden” (2010 Version)
From Q: Soul Bossa Nostra
Qwest/Interscope Records
“She Came To Give It To You” marks Usher’s second collaboration with Nicki Minaj (after their 2010 single “Lil Freak”) It is the second single from Usher’s forthcoming eighth studio album, which also features the single “Good Kisser” Stay tuned for more details about Usher’s new music coming soon, until then, check out “She Came To Give It To You”
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