There are a number of pressing issues in the world today, such as: what does and doesn't constitute a single in 2012? A few years ago a pop star would release a CD single, people would buy it and it would get into the charts, then they'd have a bit of break and the next one would come along. Sometimes singles would differ depending on which country you lived in, but generally it was all pretty much the same across the board. In 2012, CD singles don't really exist, album tracks can be downloaded and turned into "singles, while buzz tracks can anticipate the release of a new album. It's an act of pleasing as many people as possible, turning subsequent albums into genre jukeboxes.
So it is with Usher's forthcoming seventh album Looking 4 Myself, which is out in June. Already there are three "singles" circulating: one being the future soul classic Climax, which recently peaked in the UK top five (the "proper" single, if you like), then there's Scream, the Max Martin-produced club banger out in America, and now there's Lemme See, which was premiered on a predominantly hip-hop and R&B radio station on Wednesday. Produced by Jim Jonsin (who crafted Kelly Rowland's excellent Motivation), it's sensual, drip-feed beat, shimmering synths and lyrics about how much Usher enjoys sexual intercourse recall when he was one of the world's biggest stars.
• Looking 4 Myself is due on 12 June 12 via RCA.
