By Janay Boone

Managing Editor

Usher is going to be busy the next couple of weeks with a couple of things to promote: the upcoming film, Hands of Stone — in which he plays boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard — and Hard II Love, his eighth studio album. The veteran singer formally announced the new project, which follows 2012’s Looking 4 Myself, on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

After teasing us for years with singles, Usher surprisingly announced his new album, Hard II Love, would arrive September 16, 2016.  After releasing singles “Crash,” “Champions,” and “No Limit,” Usher drops “Missin U.”

“Missin U” features a slick, hip-hop infused beat. The verses seem to portray a relationship about sex and good times while the chorus has a more romantic feel, corresponding well with the production, though some of the lyrics don’t always work together as a cohesive theme.  The good news is that Usher’s vocals sound great on the track, so if you’re a person that just wants to hear the singer croon to you without the use of autotune or an inexplicable rap verse, this is the track for you.

“Champions,” a cut off the Hands of Stone soundtrack, plays it more conservatively and works as the song that neatly synopsizes the film’s themes — unfortunately, it takes over five minutes to accomplish this. Of the two tracks, this is the better one overall, but it could leave the singer’s core audience cold due to the Latin feel of the production and the construction of the lyrics.  Usher sounds excellent here as well, but Ramirez is clearly the star of the show as his adlibs are better and his vocals are slightly more dynamic.

Hard II Love is available for pre-order in some international markets. It is not confirmed if “Missin U” will be the next official single for radio, but the song is a skillfully constructed mix of the new and old sounds.