Usher Got Us Fallin In Love

[Walda Caesar]

Ushers "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" featuring Pitbull is a vibrant dance-pop track that captures the electrifying atmosphere of a night out. The song's lyrics describe the transformative power of music and the DJ's ability to reignite a sense of passion and excitement on the dance floor. The repeated chorus, "'Cause, baby, tonight, the DJ got us falling in love again," suggests a rejuvenation of spirits, as if the music has cast a spell that makes everyone feel alive and in love, even if just for the night.

The verses of the song paint a picture of a club scene where the week's fatigue is shed away, and people come back to life with the beat. The lyrics, "I feel like a zombie gone back to life," metaphorically express this revival. The song also touches on the theme of seizing the moment, with lines like "So dance, dance like it's the last, last night of your life," encouraging listeners to live in the present and enjoy life to the fullest.

Pitbull's rap verse adds a layer of playfulness and swagger to the track, with cultural references and clever wordplay. His lines, "My life is a movie and you just TiVo," and the playful "Yabba-dabba-doo, make her bed rock," showcase his signature style and contribute to the song's theme of carefree enjoyment and the pursuit of pleasure. Overall, the song is an anthem for letting go of inhibitions, embracing the moment, and allowing the music to guide one's emotions and actions on a night out.

SHAPIRO: Usher, the chart-topping singer/songwriter, will be this year's halftime performer. It's his first time on stage at the Super Bowl since a guest appearance in 2011. So how will he squeeze 30 years of music into just 13 minutes? NPR music editor Sheldon Pearce is here to talk about it. Hey there.

PEARCE: Well, you know, Usher's stock is way up right now. It's sort of interesting. In the late 2010s, he was kind of just hanging around. He had a 2018 collaboration he released with the rap producer Zaytoven that felt pretty low-stakes and didn't quite land...

PEARCE: And he's been doing this residency in Las Vegas that has been really, really successful, and he had another stint in Paris. He just dropped an album ahead of this Super Bowl performance, and it almost feels like it exists primarily to bolster that performance.

PEARCE: It's kind of what you would expect from Usher - this supreme display of professionalism and polish. It explores a lot of the familiar Usher modes, but with great skill - sort of running the gamut as a R&B masterclass. And since much of modern R&B is about vibes and atmosphere, it can be refreshing to hear a seasoned artist be so, like, craft-focused. At the center is the club-adjacent pop R&B he has trafficked in throughout the late stages of his career and with songs like "Keep On Dancing," which feels both sort of retro and modern at the same time.

PEARCE: Lyrics that speak directly to Usher's ethos of staying out on the dance floor as a metaphor for persevering through a turbulent romance - it all feels deeply connected to everything he's done up to this point.

PEARCE: Well, you know, I wouldn't be surprised to see Usher at least sort of test the waters for some of this new music, especially with a world tour coming up later this year. But I think his set will lean heavily on sort of the classics of his early discography. I wouldn't expect anything crazily groundbreaking - probably more in the realm of dramatic displays of virtuosity. He has a history of sort of connecting with the music of past entertainers. He's performed with James Brown, with Michael Jackson. At the 2020 Grammys, he did a tribute performance in the role of Prince.

PEARCE: But I really do think it'll play strongly off the Las Vegas residency, which - those sets leaned into him being sort of this grown and sexy performer - you know, super fit, abs out, gyrating, some level of theatricality, maybe pyrotechnics, backup dancers and the like. But he has also said that he wants to connect with and honor artists in this performance, and the Vegas residency did see him bringing out R&B performers across eras - Keith Sweat, Teddy Riley, Robin Thicke, Faith Evans and Ashanti, even - so perhaps there is something in store that puts his music in conversation with the broader R&B legacy. I think, in either case, he plans to put the typical glitz and pageantry of Vegas on full display.

USHER: (Singing) Cause baby, tonight, the DJ got us falling in love again - in love again. Yeah, baby, tonight, the DJ got us falling in love again - in love again. So dance, dance, like it's the last, last night of your life, life, gon' (ph) get you right. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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