Everyone cries every now and then. Usher finds himself wiping a few tears on his eye-watering new song “I Cry.”
Penned by the R&B superstar and Grammy-winning tunesmith Nasri Atweh, the subject matter reflects the current times in America.
“I cry / For the sons without fathers / And the pain that their mothers hold deep inside / And I’ll fight for the future we’re making / We can change if we face it / Cause these tears won’t dry / So I cry,” he sings, painfully.
The R&B legend opened up about the song in an Instagram post. “This song was inspired by wanting to teach my sons that it is ok for a man to feel emotions deeply and to cry,” Usher wrote. “Like many men, I was raised to believe that we have to be ‘tough’ and not show our vulnerability, which I don’t want to teach them. While I was shut in during the pandemic and watching the death of George Floyd, the ongoing slaughter of Black men and women, the protests and the events that unfolded, I became very connected to the wider universal feeling of hopelessness.
“Like many, I grew increasingly frustrated by how slow things have been to change. I became very depressed thinking about all the sons who have lost their fathers to police brutality, social injustice and violence; the daughters and mothers too. So I returned to this song and realized it was intended for this time, so I finished it and here it is.”
On June 27, Usher will perform the poignant song at the Global Goal: Unite for Our Future television special, presented by Global Citizen. The concert airs on NBC at 8 p.m. ET.
Usher will be donating 100 percent of the proceeds for “I Cry” to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Black and minority small business owners affected by the economic crisis amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) threat.
Earlier this month, Usher dropped the season two Songland-winning track “California” featuring Tyga. He also made R&B chart history for “Don’t Waste My Time” with Ella Mai.
Stream “I Cry” by Usher below.
