It was two days before the opening of My Way, Usher’s new, rebooted Las Vegas residency, and creative director Simon Hammerstein still had an important puzzle to solve.
Like any artist who does a residency, Usher has a big catalog of hits to choose from — the trouble was choosing which one would end the show. In the afternoon, Hammerstein settled into an empty row of VIP seats toward the front of the Park MGM’s Dolby Live theater, next to production designer Paul Tate dePoo, who quietly argued for “Love in This Club.” “I feel like Vanna White trying to sell this pitch,” he said drolly, pulling the track up on his phone. “Can you just let go of that song?” Hammerstein said with mock desperation. Still, Hammerstein asked DJ Mars — a longtime Usher collaborator who would perform in a booth set up in the middle of the first floor — to try it out.
Hammerstein wasn’t sold, though. So Mars suggested “Good Love,” Usher’s recent summer collaboration with City Girls. “Mars just solved it!” Hammerstein exclaimed. Twenty minutes later, though, his enthusiasm had dimmed, and he returned to an earlier choice: Usher’s dancefloor hit “Yeah!”
Aakomon Jones, Usher’s personal overall creative director, slid onto a stool next to Hammerstein. “Aakomon, perfect timing!” said Hammerstein. “We’re having a fight.” He explained what he wanted: a song that would effectively take advantage of the 23 dancers, roller skaters and pole dancers onstage and feel like “the choreographic version of a high-five … and then end with lasers and walk out to more lasers.”
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