Usher’s ‘Looking 4 Myself’ album is an "art-in-motion diary."
The ‘Climax’ star is about to release his seventh album, and says it draws directly from his personal life, which has been particularly tumultuous in recent years with his 2009 divorce from wife Tameka Foster and ongoing custody battle over their children, Usher, four, and Naviyd, three.
The singer told MTV: "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 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 added he was following his ballad ‘Climax’ with next single, ‘Twisted’, which he describes as "nostalgic" and modernising the R&B sound.
He added: "’Twisted’ is more of a nostalgic record, so when you think about the classic R&B record, we managed a way to modernise it.
"You hear records like Cee Lo Green, you hear Bruno Mars and also Andre 3000, and that sound is very relevant in this time. So this was kind of our way to tie it all together and give you something different that you probably wouldn’t normally get from me."