In an interview with People magazine, singer/songwriter Sean “The Pen” Garrett said Usher’s new track “Papers” is not about Usher’s old ball and chain Tameka Foster.
“Some of it is true, and some of it isn’t,” Garrett says. “That’s what makes this record so intriguing and explosive. Some of it is about his life and some of it is not.”
Garrett said he penned the line about Usher “damn near” losing his mama, not Usher.
“That was more from the perspective of when Usher and his mom [and sometime manager] weren’t working together that much. And, in every relationship, it’s important for the man to get his mother’s approval. That’s the perspective I was coming from,” said Garrett.
Gareett said he wrote the tune 8 months ago, way before Usher’s divorce filing. But everyone knows that Usher and Tameka were a foregone conclusion around that time. He admits that Usher “inspired” his words in the song.
“He definitely had a lot on his mind,” Garrett says. “We talked about this record coming out quite a few times. ‘Should it come out? Should it not come out?’ We had questions about how it would be taken.”
There is also word out of Usher’s camp that Usher was “urged” to make that recent call to 911 himself to publicly humiliate his estranged wife Tameka Foster. Normally, calls of that nature are handled by Usher’s assistant or manager — that would be his mom.
Garrett said the ultimate decision to release the track came from Usher’s label. “We knew it was a smash,” says Garrett.
What exactly constitutes as a smash? “Papers” debuted on the Billboard Top 100 chart at #17 and tumbled all the way to #60 after only 2 weeks on the chart. I would hardly call that a “smash.” But then again, I didn’t write it.
