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Usher resisting album pressure


Usher is resisting "pressure" to "rush" his next album.

The ‘OMG’ hitmaker is determined to take his time working on his eighth record – the follow-up to 2012’s ‘Looking 4 Myself’ – and wants to use his current ‘UR Experience’ tour to "reconnect" with his audience before returning to the recording studio.

Ask if he’ll record while on the road, he said: "I found myself feeling pressure to rush it and put out an album, and all of a sudden, I just realised; I’ve been doing this long enough to really get it right.

"So on my eighth studio album, I thought it would be better for me to go out [on tour], feel my audience, reconnect, take some of that, and then go back and finish it up."

And the 36-year-old star also admitted he thinks there is a "pressure" on artists to do something unusual with their new music, such as releasing albums without warning or relying heavily on social media.

He told Vulture.com: "There’s a pressure to cross-market and make sure that all the avenues through which you can reach a consumer make a connection. Musically, emotionally, branding, all of those things together, that’s what makes you significant in this time."