Source: Jeff Kravitz / Getty
Usher — Coming Home
How does a Super Bowl Halftime Show performer get ready for the big game? If you’re Usher, you might just release a new album. In fact, that’s what Mr. Raymond has decided to do as he prepares for the NFL’s San Fransisco 49ers to face off against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The veteran hitmaker called on some famous friends for this 20-song offering. Latto (“A-Town Girl”), The-Dream (“Cold Blooded”), H.E.R. (“Risk It All”) Burna Boy (“Coming Home”), Jung Kook (“Standing Next to You”) and 21 Savage and Summer Walker (“Good Good”) all make appearances.
Usher dedicated this album to longtime fans. “To my Day 1s…I love y’all,” he wrote via social media. “I know it’s been a long time coming. I hope U love it as much as I do. #COMINGHOME go get it!!!”
After a newsworthy Las Vegas residency, Usher is taking on the Super Bowl, which is, coincidentally, also taking place in Sin City. “This is just a testament of dedication. I don’t have this moment by myself. All of my fans, each and every person that had anything to do with the music, the creativity, everybody is a part of this celebratory moment,” he recently told Apple Music.
But the show and this album are particularly important for other reasons as well. “I launched that album as an independent artist and I will be, up until this date, the only independent artist who’s ever performed the Super Bowl Halftime Show. So this is a beginning,” he added. “This is a new beginning for me.”
Latto — “Sunday Service”
Latto gets ready for the weekend with the release of her newest single, “Sunday Service.” The “Big Energy” hitmaker returns to the scene with a high-profile banger that’s been buzzing even before its release.
Prior to dropping the song, Latto unveiled the song’s presumed cover art featuring several prominent women in rap with their eyes crossed out. She stood at the center with her own eyes crossed out. Many wondered if this was a tribute or a diss, particularly as rumors of an Ice Spice feud brewed.
The song only adds to some of the speculation. “Do you rap or do you tweet? ‘Cause I can’t tell, get in the booth,” she says on the track. Later, she seemingly plays with words: “Think I’m the sh—t? B—h, I know it, h-e / Jesus walked on water, I got ice boilin’ though.” Some see this as a response to Ice Spice’s “Think U The Sh-t (FART)” song on which she asks: “Think you the sh—t? B—h, you not even the fart.”
Go Grizzly, Pooh Beatz, and Bankroll Got It produced the new track. Meanwhile, Latto says a music video will follow as soon as one of her Instagram posts about the song gets 50,000 comments.
GloRilla — “Yeah Glo!”
GloRilla makes a self-motivating anthem with her newest banger, “Yeah Glo!” After making a name for herself with “Tomorrow” and “F.N.F. (Let’s Go),” the rising Memphis star shares some affirmations with her own twist.
“Get ’em Glo! Them b——s fraudulent, you know the truth / Get ’em Glo! Stop overthinkin’, these h—s can’t f—k with you / Get ’em Glo! Standin’ on business in these Chanel shoes / Before I let a h-e play with me, I’ll go eat some jail food.”
Big Glo plans on dropping a music video to go with the new single. In it, she pulls up to a drive through where she works and serves herself. Later, she goes to jail and visits herself. The clip is expected to drop later today.
GloRilla recently opened up about her upcoming plans during an ELLE interview. “You see [with] the EP, three, four of the songs I wrote before I got into the industry—that was me being me fresh into the industry,” she said. “This [new album] is going to be still me, still raw and uncut. But just me knowing what it’s like being here and [experimenting with] different sounds. Because I was on my hood sh-t the whole time. This go-around, it ain’t just me being hard. I got a couple of different sounds coming on this one.”
ScHoolboy Q — “Back n Love” & “Blueslides”
ScHoolboy Q reemerges with two new songs, videos to match, and an album announcement. The Top Dawg Entertainment veteran delivers “Back n Love” and “Blueslides” as he preps for the upcoming Blue Lips! project, which is due to arrive March 1.
“Blueslides” is a touching and somber record that reflects on inner turmoil and improvement. “Better climb out of that hole before you f—k up your blessings / Beore you realize that it’s over with and start to get desperate,” he raps. “Keep your mind, body on pressure, give your time when it’s needed / Know a man gon’ be a man, if he don’t work, he ain’t eatin’.”
Some see the song as a tribute to Q’s friend, the late Mac Miller, as the song title seems to reference Miller’s Blue Slide Park LP. The video features a collage of visuals and a reminder that Blue Lips! is coming.
The TDE MC also dropped the non-album single “Back n Love.” A “back in love with this sh-t” mantra chant appears throughout the song. A young Q also makes a cameo in the video thanks to an old home movie. “First car my daughter drove was a Bach,” he boasts on the track. “I was headed to the bread ‘Where we at, where we at?’”
Q revealed the greater meaning of the album title on social media. The definition reads: “speechless, especially as the temporary result of shock or some strong emotion.”
