Usher’s latest album Looking 4 Myself hits stores today, powered by the chart-topping single “Climax.” The song—which has been in heavy rotation around the Complex office since it came out—was produced by Diplo and written by Elijah Blake, a young R&B artist formerly known as Redd StyleZ.
You may not know his name yet, but just remember where you heard it first. Now signed to Def Jam, Blake’s currently working on his own album with production by No I.D., Salaam Remi, T-Minus, Happy Perez, Pop & Oak, Fuego, and Diplo. Behind every great song is a great story, and this one’s no exception. So read on to find out how Blake’s first-ever session with one of his idols led to “Climax.”
As told to Rob Kenner (@boomshots)
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The making of Usher's "Climax"
“I visited L.A. on a writing trip and two things made me say ‘OK, I'm gonna move here.’ First of all, the hotel bill was like $12,000 and I was like ‘Oh hell no.’ And the second thing was that I was only supposed to be doing some small sessions and they just booked a couple extra days in case something popped off. And bro, I kid you not—just from me going into sessions a lot of things happened through word of mouth.
