Usher has urged men not to be afraid to show their emotions in his powerful new song “I CRY”.
“I can’t keep it together. I usually don’t show my emotions,” he sings in the song that he says is inspired by his two sons, Usher Raymond V, 12, and Naviyd Ely Raymond, 11.
The 41-year-old singer shares custody of his sons 50/50 with ex-wife Tameka Foster. He admitted he wants to set an example for his boys that there’s no shame in a man crying.
“This song was inspired by wanting to teach my sons that it is ok for a man to feel emotions deeply and to cry. 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,” he wrote in a statement on Twitter.
Usher added that the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests around the world also motivated him to drop the inspirational tune.
“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,” he explained.
“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.”
