"Don't Waste My Time" is a song by American singer-songwriter Usher featuring British singer-songwriter

Ella Mai Ella Mai Howell (born 3 November 1994) is an English singer-songwriter. Her musical career began at London's British and Irish Modern Music Institute in 2014, during which time she auditioned as part of a trio on the 11th season of ''The X Fa ...

. The song was first uploaded to

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming s ...

on November 19, 2019, although it was officially released by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

on December 13, 2019 to

online music stores A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings without ...

and streaming services. It serves as the lead single from Usher's upcoming ninth studio album ''Confessions 2''. The song was written by the artists alongside Vedo, Christopher Allen Jones, and producers

Jermaine Dupri Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and DJ. Early life Jermaine Dupri Mauldin was born on September 23, 1972, the son of Tina (Mosley) and Michael ...

and Bryan Michael-Cox. The song takes inspiration in part from "

I Like the Way (The Kissing Game) "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)" is a song recorded by American R&B group Hi-Five for their 1990 eponymous debut studio album. The song was written by Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle and Dave Way, and released as the album's second single on Janu ...

" (1990) by American R&B quintet

Hi-Five Hi-Five is an American R&B quintet from Waco, Texas. Hi-Five had a No. 1 hit on ''Billboards Hot 100 in 1991 with "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)". The band was formed in 1989 and consisted of founding and original members: Tony Thomps ...

and "

Show You the Way to Go "Show You the Way to Go" is a song written by Gamble and Huff and recorded by the Jacksons for their 1976 CBS debut album, ''The Jacksons''. Released as a single in early 1977, it was the only number-one song for the group in the UK. It was late ...

" (1976) by American family group

the Jacksons The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most ...

Background and release

Usher has been in the studio working on the sequel to '' Confessions.'' In March 2019, he posted a picture of himself in the studio next to a whiteboard with the words "Confessions 2" and a blurred out tracklisting. The following day

, who produced the original ''Confessions'' went live on Instagram and previewed new music. This is following his last collaborative album ''A'', with

Zaytoven Xavier Lamar Dotson (born January 12, 1980), professionally known as Zaytoven, is an American trap music record producer, disc jockey, and keyboardist from Atlanta, Georgia. He has released collaborative projects with artists including Gucci Ma ...

. YouKnowIGotSoul exclusively premiere 'Don't Waste My Time" through SoundCloud. It was released for digital download on iTunes,

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sy ...

and online streaming services,

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

on December 13, 2019.

Music video

The music video for "Don't Waste My Time" was directed by LeSean Harris. It was released on March 25, 2020. It features cameos from Snoop Dogg,

Jamie Kennedy James Harvey Kennedy (born May 25, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He has played Randy Meeks in the ''Scream'' franchise (1996–2000) and a multitude of characters in '' The Jamie Kennedy Experiment'' (2002–2004) on The WB. His oth ...

Eric Bellinger Eric Aldwin Bellinger Jr. (born March 26, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles. He began songwriting in 2010, and his co-writing credits including "Lemme See" by Usher, " New Flame" by Chris Brown, "You D ...

Evan Ross Evan Olav Ross-Naess (born August 26, 1988), is an American actor and musician. He made his acting debut in the comedy-drama film '' ATL'' (2006), and has since starred in the films ''Pride'' (2007), ''According to Greta'' (2009), ''Mooz-lum'' ( ...

Christian Combs Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent direct ...

, and

Justin Combs Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent direct ...

As of April 2021 the video has over 20 million views on YouTube.

Live performances

Usher, Ella Mai, and Jermaine Dupri performed the song for the first time on BET's ''SOS: Saving Ourselves - A BET Covid 19 Relief Special'', benefiting African American Communities Impacted By Coronavirus on April 22, 2020.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

. * Usher – vocals, lyrics *

– vocals, lyrics *

– lyrics, production, mixing engineer *

Bryan-Michael Cox Bryan-Michael Paul Cox (born December 1, 1977) is an American record producer and songwriter who is notable for his work with artists such as Usher, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and Toni Braxton. Among his most notable productions are "Be Wit ...

– lyrics, production * Wilbard "VEDO" McCoy III – lyrics * Christopher Allen Jones – lyrics * Colin Leonard – mastering engineer * Bill Zimmerman – assistant engineer * Phil Tan – mixing engineer

Charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2019 songs 2019 singles Usher (musician) songs Ella Mai songs RCA Records singles Songs written by Usher (musician) Songs written by Bryan-Michael Cox Songs written by Jermaine Dupri Song recordings produced by Jermaine Dupri Songs written by Ella Mai