Current:Home > FinanceUsher preps for 'celebration' of Super Bowl halftime show, gets personal with diabetes pledge -Wealth Nexus Pro
Usher preps for 'celebration' of Super Bowl halftime show, gets personal with diabetes pledge
View
Date:2025-04-12 09:21:48
Usher almost can't believe his own fate.
The king of R&B over the past two years has had a wildly successful Las Vegas residency, a spinoff of performances in Paris, a fashionable Met Gala appearance, an instantly viral NPR Tiny Desk concert, and coinciding announcements of headlining the Super Bowl halftime show and his upcoming ninth studio album. It's been a trajectory that wasn't planned in totality and could only come together in this way for Usher (after all, it's Ursher baby).
"I don't think I could have crafted a better story," Usher says via Zoom. "I don't think I could have had a better moment, and it honestly wasn't about a new album."
That new album, "Coming Home," debuts the same day he takes the Super Bowl LVIII stage at Allegiant Stadium on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas, which has become a home away from his Atlanta roots and where he recently received the key to the city.
"When I first came to Las Vegas, I had high hopes that this would offer true passion for me," Usher, 45, says. "When you've done this for as many years and for as many albums as I have, you kind of have a tendency to either become complacent, or maybe you lose the energy and the excitement for it. But man, it reinvigorated my hope, my passion for entertainment."
His final date in Vegas on Dec. 2 will also mark his 100th show, a milestone he says is part of an "amazing journey" from the pandemic to now, as he prepares to squeeze nearly 30 years of hits into the 13-minute halftime show.
"My process of prepping has been day-to-day," Usher says. "How do I manage to get through these shows that were already booked before I decided to take on the Super Bowl, which is one of the grandest stages of all to play?"
His nine No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 include "U Got It Bad," "Yeah!" feat Lil Jon and Ludacris, "Confessions Part II" and "OMG" featuring will.i.am., though he's still deciding on a final setlist for the halftime show. The Grammy Award winner is getting in "the practice that I need … with an actual live audience" of his Vegas residency and is "100% invested in making certain that I get that right for these 13 minutes."
"That's like the most incredible playlist I would have ever put together in my life if I get it right," he says with a laugh.
'My 7 o'clock on the dot has changed':Usher talks new single 'Good Good,' Vegas residency
Fans can expect "a celebration of my life, and a celebration of life, for every experience that I had," including the ones that "allowed me to be transparent about my emotions and feelings."
Usher, making his way through a press day in support of a new pledge with pharmaceutical company Sanofi, has continuously faced the personal head-on in his music – now, he's letting his private journey guide him into urging people to get screened for Type 1 Diabetes with The 1 Pledge movement, which launched Wednesday.
"This has been a personal journey for me more than a passion philanthropically," Usher says. "Not many people know that I have a child who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and before this diagnosis was given, I had a very valuable amount of time to get acclimated and understand what that journey would be for my child." Usher is father to kids Usher "Cinco" V, 15, Naviyd Ely, 14, Sovereign Bo, 3, and Sire Castrello, 2.
Though there's no way to prevent Type 1 diabetes, there are multiple tests to measure blood sugar and detect diabetes early, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which leads to better treatment.
"As a Type 1 diabetic parent, a child having low numbers or high numbers and trying to figure out how to manage that, and then tomorrow, start over, it's like every day the clock starts over."
'Honor of a lifetime':Usher confirmed as Super Bowl 2024 halftime show headliner
veryGood! (1)
Related
- Bill Belichick's salary at North Carolina: School releases football coach's contract details
- Israel-Hamas war death toll tops 1,500 as Gaza Strip is bombed and gun battles rage for a third day
- Guatemala’s president threatens a crackdown on road blockades in support of the president-elect
- Suspect fatally shot by San Francisco police after crashing car into Chinese Consulate
- Don't let hackers fool you with a 'scam
- October Prime Day 2023 Deals on Tech & Amazon Devices: $80 TV, $89 AirPods & More
- Russian teams won’t play in Under-17 Euros qualifying after UEFA fails to make new policy work
- White House condemns a violent crash at the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco
- Meta releases AI model to enhance Metaverse experience
- The US declares the ousting of Niger’s president a coup and suspends military aid and training
Ranking
- Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
- House Republicans still unclear on how quickly they can elect new speaker
- Algeria forces Francophone schools to adopt Arabic curriculum but says all languages are welcome
- How to safely watch the solar eclipse: You'll want eclipse glasses or a viewer Saturday
- New Mexico governor seeks funding to recycle fracking water, expand preschool, treat mental health
- Alex Jones, Ronna McDaniel potential witnesses in Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro’s Georgia trial
- Everything Julia Fox Reveals About Dating Kanye West in Her Book Down the Drain
- Powerball $1.4 billion jackpot made an Iowa resident a multi millionaire
Recommendation
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
Special counsel accuses Trump lawyers of making distorted and exaggerated claims in bid to delay documents trial
Wall Street Journal reporter loses appeal in Russia and will stay in jail until the end of November
'This is against all rules': Israeli mom begs for return of 2 sons kidnapped by Hamas
Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
Deadly bird flu reappears in US commercial poultry flocks in Utah and South Dakota
104-year-old Chicago woman dies days after making a skydive that could put her in the record books
October Prime Day 2023 Deals on Tech & Amazon Devices: $80 TV, $89 AirPods & More