Usher says his upcoming record Looking 4 Myself is about his personal life.

“There’s an emotional side to it. Over the last three years of my life, it’s no secret I went through some heavy transitions and in that I really came out new. I came out feeling a sense of entitlement and a sense of ownership of all of that I went through to become better and in being able to survive it. So I was looking for something in the music,” he told MTV News during MTV First.

“I was looking for something in life. I was looking for something in it has always been right here. It has always been there. So I kind of used the music as a diary in a way, but a creative, artistic, art-in-motion diary.”

Usher has explained the concept behind the lead single from the album, Climax.

The promo sees him as a jilted lover who is contemplating shooting his girlfriend’s other interest. Usher insists the song isn’t about sex.

“Climax was an interpretation to really give people a better understanding ’cause I felt like people really looked at the record for what you heard first, which was Climax. So, people thought sex. It’s not about sex. Well, climax is about sex, but not the song. Just so we’re clear,” he smiled.

“The song is really about kind of the crescendo of a relationship, where you’ve re

“I like to work with a lot of different people that can provide a lot of different sounds,” he said. “Usher and I have been putting our heads together on how we can present that perfect collaboration between him and myself.”

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How many Grammys have you won?
7

How many US #1′s have you had?
9

If I said to you, you can only have one more Grammy or one more US #1, which would it be? Which would mean more to you?
It would mean more to me to have a #1 Grammy

How did you get your name?
My father named me. I’m actually Usher Raymond IV. My father’s name is the third.

Tell me how you break into singing?
It was a robbery, I broke in. I’m just joking. My big break was in Atlanta, GA at a talent show. I went on to be apart of a talent search, actually a TV show in America. I was recognized and signed by a label.

Watch the video here.

The ‘Climax’ singer told Billboard that in the creation of his seventh studio record he is “striving for greatness” and has made sure to give his all.

“It’s all about striving for greatness and offering the best I have. It’s no different than a boxer: Standing in front of the person trying to tear his head off, he has to give his all to make it out of that ring,” he confessed.

The star is currently preparing for his role as Sugar Ray Leonard in the new boxing biopic Hands of Stone, which also features Gael Garcia Bernal and Robert De Niro.

The R&B star has already premiered two different sounds to the album including his latest single ‘Scream’ and recently told Capital that the album is “full of collaboration”.

Usher will also be heading to Wembley Stadium this summer to perform at the Capital FM Summertime Ball 2012 alongside the likes of Coldplay, The Wanted and Katy Perry.

On his new sound: “Electronic music has given me a new story, a new opportunity to build something I think a mass audience will understand.”

On debuting “Climax” on Twitter: “I really wanted to offer the greatest courtesy to my fans first—they are ultimately who brought me to this point, and I want to make sure they understand my journey. Twitter is kind of like my outboard communication, one of the places I’ve chosen to speak directly to my fans.”

On his new album, Looking for Myself, out June 12: “The cool thing about Diplo and the thing that made me want to work with him is that you can’t put him in a specific category or a box. He does everything. That represents what this album is. This album doesn’t fit into a specific box. It is an all-world experience that gives you a multitude of genres, a multitude of experiences: electric soul, revolutionary pop, classic, new tradition, dance, tech. And it brings me to more of a relevant place.”

The ‘Climax’ singer is already known to have collaboration with the likes of Justin Bieber and Rick Ross on his seventh studio record, but says there are more duets and producers he worked with that have yet to be revealed.

“I’m all about collaboration man,” Usher revealed to capitalfm.com. “This album is full of it!

“You know I worked with Luke Steele of Empire of the Sun,” the ‘Without You’ singer teased. ‘I worked with many producers that I worked with in the past.

“But it is a bit of a different experience, even for those producers that I do had e kind of a connection and an understanding or a brand built with,” he added.

Last week saw Usher give his next single ‘Scream’ its first play on Capital FM and the R&B star has also unveiled a new song called ‘Lemme See’ , featuring Rick Ross, as a special free bonus for those who pre-order his album in May.

Usher is set to release his new single ‘Scream’ on 4th June followed by his brand new album ‘Looking For Myself’ on 11th June.

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According to TMZ, Usher has asked a judge in Georgia to dismiss his ex’s suit, insisting that her case is based on lies.

Back in November, Raymond claimed that the ‘Lil Freak’ creator has repeatedly violated the terms of their joint-custody agreement. In particular, she charged the singer with traveling outside of Georgia with the children, hiring nannies without her approval and depriving her of money to hire a nanny of her own.

She also said he took away her Saks 5th Avenue card, something he patently denies, and last month, she tried to make him take a drug test.

The warring former spouses are due in court on Feb. 27, when things will undoubtedly get a whole lot uglier.

The core programs managed by New Look include the New Look Leadership Academy, Moguls In Training, Powered By Service and the World Leadership Conference. New Look has also made impacts internationally in Kenya, Haiti and Manila. There are five chapters of the foundation: Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New Orleans, New York and Detroit.

Some of the work by the foundation includes:

September 2005 – In response to Hurricane Katrina, Project Restart Concert raises financial resources to provide 1000 youth & families from New Orleans with rent and utility assistance

*November 2008 – 1000 youth served through youth conference sponsored by Casey Family of Programs
*2010 New Look Issues a Call to Action for Haiti Relief to youth internationally; receiving responses from youth in 17 countries
*August 2010 – First Annual World Leadership Conference and Awards held with 2700 guests, including President Clinton

Since 1991 the Freedom Awards has recognized individuals who demonstrate national and global work for justice, equality, philanthropy, civil and human rights and humanitarian work.

Usher will join the following honorees for the November 12th awards event in Memphis, TN: Cicely Tyson, Susan L. Taylor, Alonzo Mourning, Bill Russell, Dr. Bill Frist, Kirk Whalum, Hill Harper, The Southern Poverty Law Center, The NAACP, Marva Collins and Icons of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Previous recipients include: President Nelson Mandela (South Africa), President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, President Jimmy Carter, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia), Bono, Oprah Winfrey, Ambassador Andrew Young, Ruby Dee, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Eva Longoria, Magic Johnson, Julius Erving, Myrlie Evers Williams, B. B. King, Diane Nash, Dr. John Hope Franklin, Marian Wright Edelman, Dr. Dorothy Height, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, the Dalai Lama and Elie Wiesel.

The sponsors are NIKE, FedEx, International Paper, the Ford Motor Fund Foundation, The Hyde Family Foundation, ExxonMobil and the First Tennessee Foundation.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/449898#ixzz1aVpiXh63

Last month, a California federal judge found there to be sufficient possibility that Usher and co-defendants who produced the song had access to Slaughter’s work, “Reasons,” created in 1998. The judge accepted a musicologist’s report that noted substantial similarity between the songs and denied a motion to dismiss the case on summary judgment. That means a jury might have the rare opportunity to listen to two songs and determine if the Usher song was stolen.

But before that happens, Usher’s camp is pleading with the judge to re-examine whether there was any chance he was familiar with Straughter’s work.

Attorneys for the defendants, including Usher, producer Jermaine Dupri, EMI April Music, Sony Music, Arista Records, and others filed a motion on Friday that asks U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder to reconsider her August order denying summary judgment.

In the case, Straugther alleges he created a song entitled “The Reasons Why,” which showed up on an album by the R&B group Reel Tight under the name “No More Pain” in late 1998.

To make the claims stick, Straughter needs to show two big elements – that the defendants had access to his work and there was substantial similarity in the songs.

Here’s a YouTube clip of Usher’s “Burn” and a clip of Reel Tight’s “No More Pain.” Hard for us to hear significant resemblance, but an expert for the plaintiffs submitted a report that the two songs shared measurable similarities, including a “highly unusual” 18-bar introduction, musical instruments that enter at the exact same bars, similar guitar and vocal stylings, the pitches and phrasings of certain melodies, and other compositional congruity.

Leaving aside the issue of whether these songs sound alike, the big controversy at the moment in the lawsuit is whether Usher and Dupri had access to Straughter’s song.

Straughter offered several theories, some more convincing than others.

In her decision, Judge Snyder didn’t buy the one about Usher and members of Reel Tight having much personal contact with each other. But she did rule it to be an issue of material fact whether a third-party intermediary, hip hop star Warren G, may have provided the link, having had mutual collaboration with both parties. Further, the judge did her own independent research and found Reel Tight’s album to have reached position 197 for a single week in 1999 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip Hop chart of top 200 albums. As such, the judge says the song may have been heard by Usher because it was available through “wide dissemination.”

In papers to the court on Friday, Usher’s camp attacks these theories.

Usher says there was no attempt by the court to show access by anybody who had responsibility over “Burn,” as Warren G played no role in the song’s creation.

As for “wide dissemination,” the defendants attempt to school the judge on the fact that an album isn’t a song. The plaintiff’s song, it’s pointed out, was a “random and unproven song buried on an album.” Further, they show the song got played on the radio around the nation just three times, twice in Chattanooga, Tennessee and once in Denver.

“The fact that the song had virtually no radio airplay forecloses any inference that it was widely disseminated, let alone remotely popular,” say the defendants to the judge.

Judge Snyder now gets to decide whether to take these arguments and backtrack. Otherwise, this will be the rare song theft case that goes before a jury.