Songoftheday 11/26/20 - Before anything began between us you were like my best friend...
"You Make Me Wanna..." - Usher
from the album My Way (1997)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (seven weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 40
Today's song of the day comes from R&B singer Usher Raymond IV, who started his music career in Atlanta, Georgia, where after singing with a vocal group for an indie album struck out on his own. Eventually landing on Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and L.A. Reid's label LaFace, Usher's first single at the age of 15 was a track from the 2Pac/Janet Jackson movie Poetic Justice. The result, "Call Me A Mack", landed his first minor R&B hit in 1993 at #56. A year later, he released his self-titled debut album, which was helmed by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs. The record's lead single, "Can U Get Wit It", reached the R&B top-40 at #13, followed by "Think Of You", which scored his first R&B top ten at #8. However the pair had a much more muted reception on pop radio, landing in the 50s (#59 for the former, #58 for the latter), probably hindered with Combs' attempt to frame this teen as a lothario in the Jodeci/Montell Jordan vein. While the Usher album got to #25 on the R&B albums chart, it stalled down at #157 on the all-genre Billboard 200 sales list. It took a two-year-plus break and a recalibration with producer Jermaine Dupri to re-emerge with this sophomore effort, My Way. The lead single was "You Make Me Wanna...", written by Usher with Dupri and Manuel Seal, with the latter pair producing the track. Still pretty racy in terms of trying to convince a girl to cheat on his girl with her, nevertheless had production that was much more radio-friendly, with acoustic-style guitar notes (like TLC at times) and vocal studio tricks (like starting out with the chorus) that made the record incredibly catchy. And the music video, which highlighted his newfound ace dancing skills, sealed the deal with MTV and BET...
"You Make Me Wanna..." became Usher's first top-40 pop hit, going all the way to the runner-up spot in October of 1997. The song also spent a jaw-dropping eleven weeks at #1 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart as well. Internationally, the single went to #1 in the UK, and made the top ten in Australia (#6), the Netherlands (#6), and Spain (#10). It also reached the top-40 in Norway (#12), Switzerland (#12), New Zealand (#15), Canada (#17), Germany (#18), France (#20), Sweden (#24), and Belgium (#30W/#42F). The My Way album peaked at #4 in the U.S., going on to sell over six million copies. At the 1998 Grammy Awards, "You Make Me Wanna..." was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, losing out to R. Kelly for his grandiose "I Believe I Can Fly".
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next up in concert at the iTunes Festival in 2012...
and lastly, at an intimate televised show...
Up tomorrow: Las Vegas trio grabs a Good Burger for a top-40 hit.
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