"Euphoria" is a song recorded by American singer Usher for his seventh studio album ''

Looking 4 Myself ''Looking 4 Myself'' is the seventh studio album by American singer Usher. It was released on June 8, 2012, by RCA Records; it is Usher's first album for RCA after the October 2011 merger of the Jive Records group which also included his label, ...

'' (2012). It was written by Axel Hedfors, Juan Najera,

Klas Åhlund Klas Frans Åhlund (born 11 April 1972) is a Swedish songwriter, record producer, and guitarist. He is the founding member of the Swedish rock band Teddybears. As a songwriter and producer, he has worked with artists such as Robyn, Sugababes, J ...

, Ryon Lovett,

Sebastian Ingrosso Sebastian Carmine Ingrosso (; born 20 April 1983) is a Swedish DJ and record producer. He is also a member of the Swedish House Mafia, together with friends Axwell and Steve Angello. Career 1999–2007: Career Beginnings Sebastian Ingrosso ent ...

Steve Angello Steven Patrik Josefsson Fragogiannis ( el, Στέφεν Πάτρικ Γιόζεφσον Φραγκόγιαννης; born 22 November 1982), better known by his stage name Steve Angello, is a Greek-Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and record ...

, Terry Lewis and Usher himself. The production of the song was done by Axwell, Angello and Ingrosso under their stage name

Swedish House Mafia Swedish House Mafia (SHM) is a Swedish house music supergroup consisting of Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. The group officially formed in late 2008, were placed at number ten on the ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJ Poll 2011, and have been ...

. After their joint performance at the 2010 American Music Awards, Usher and Swedish House Mafia managed to start working on recording sessions for Usher's seventh studio album in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. "Euphoria" is a

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

and

euro-trance A list of trance music Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from the British new-age music scene and the early 1990s German techno and hardcore scenes. Trance music is characterized by a tempo generally lying between ...

song which "include the DJs' glimmering

synths A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

while Usher croons in his coolly-controlled

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

." The track received generally mixed to positive reviews from contemporary music critics with many of them praising its Ibiza sound which is also present on Usher's previous singles " OMG" and "

DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" is a song by American singer Usher, featuring guest vocals from American rapper Pitbull, who co-wrote the song with the producers Shellback and Max Martin, with additional writing from Savan Kotecha. It was release ...

". Upon the release of ''Looking 4 Myself'', the song debuted at number 60 on the South Korea Gaon International Chart, with sales of 6,029 digital copies. This song appears as DLC along with "Twisted" in

Dance Central 3 ''Dance Central 3'' is the third game in the ''Dance Central'' series. It was revealed at E3 2012 at the Microsoft Conference. It was released on October 16 in the US, Canada and South America and October 19 everywhere else. Gameplay Gameplay has ...

with choreography from both Usher and his choreographer Aakomon “AJ” Jones.

Production

Speaking to The BoomBox, Usher explained that he wanted to work with

ever since they both performed together at the 2010 American Music Awards. The group agreed to work with Usher, saying "We'll see if we can come to Atlanta, and if we can, we'll start to work on some tracks, writing, and moving the ball forward." In an interview with MTV News, regarding the collaboration with Usher, Steve Angello commented, 'sic''.html" ;"title="sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''"We met Usher couple of years ago, we did the AMA's together and then we came to hang-out in Ibiza. We were in Atlanta and we were all working together for five days. He has always been a great artist and he always knows what he wants so it is a good collaboration all in all. We rather work with somebody who we respect, than to rather work with just big name."

Composition

"Euphoria" is a

and

song with a length of four minutes and 20 seconds. It was written by Axel Hedfors, Juan Najera,

, Ryon Lovett,

, Terry Lewis and Usher himself. The production of the song was helmed by Hedfors, Angello and Ingrosso under their stage name Swedish House Mafia. Swedish House Mafia together with disc jockey Alesso also co-produced one more song from ''Looking 4 Myself'' entitled "Numb". According to Lewis Corner of Digital Spy both "Euphoria" and "Numb" "include the DJs' glimmering

while he

sher Sher can refer to: People * Sher, a Baloch tribe in Pakistan * Sher-e-Bangla (''Lion of Bengal''), a popular title of 20th century Bengali statesman A. K. Fazlul Huq * Sher-e-Punjab (''Lion of Punjab''), a popular title of Maharaja Ranjit Sing ...

croons in his coolly-controlled

." Jim Farber of ''

The New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in t ...

'' wrote that the songs which were produced by Swedish House Mafia propose a possible crossover point from

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

to R&B like Usher’s biggest hit " Yeah!" did from

crunk Crunk is a subgenre of hip hop music that emerged in the early 1990s and gained mainstream success during the mid 2000s. Crunk is often up-tempo and one of Southern hip hop's more dance and club oriented subgenres. An archetypal crunk track freq ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

. Mark "Exit" Goodchild recorded the song at Silent Sound Studios in

and Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, while Jorge Velasco, Kory Aaron and Randy Warnken served as recording assistants. It was mixed by

Manny Marroquin Manny Marroquin (born September 21, 1971) is an American mixing engineer.Daley, Dan (May 2005).Manny Marroquin. ''Sound on Sound''. Retrieved February 10, 2007 He has received ten Grammy awards for his professional audio work. Life and career M ...

Larrabee Sound Studios Larrabee Sound Studios is a recording studio complex in North Hollywood, California, originally established in 1969. Facilities Located at 4162 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, Larrabee has six studios, three tracking spaces, and a produ ...

, Universal City, with Chris Galland and Delbert Bowers serving as mixing assistants. Natural did the vocal production of the song while the track's producers Hedfors, Ingrosso and Angello provided the complete

instrumentation Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...

of "Euphoria".

Reception

In a review of ''Looking 4 Myself'', Matt Cibula of

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

commented that Usher "absolutely rips '

Climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

' and 'What Happened to U', nails party anthems like '

Scream Scream may refer to: *Screaming, a loud vocalization Amusement rides * Scream (Heide Park), a gyro drop tower in Soltau, Germany * Scream! (ride), a tower ride at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags New England * Scream! (roller coaster), at ...

' and 'Euphoria' to the wall, and puts across harder things even while multitracking himself 35 times over with the greatest of ease." Nathan S. of DJ Booth wrote that "'Euphoria' hews even closer to the 4 AM in Ibiza template, as does the essentially identical Scream."

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

's Chuck Arnold wrote that Usher "is an Ibiza-ready club kid on electro thumpers like current single 'Scream' and the Swedish House Mafia-produced 'Euphoria' that build on the success of ' OMG', '

' and ' Without You' (with

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

)." Regarding the song Jody Rosen of ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' wrote that "Euphoria" "is an absurdly bombastic dance track, concocted by Usher and a few hundred thousand Scandinavians." Erika Ramirez of ''Billboard'' concluded that "Euphoria" is grittier, more startling and arguably more powerful than "Numb" and commented that it "leaves listeners with a feeling that reflects the song's uplifting title". Alex Macpherson of

guardian.co.uk TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...

was more critical to the song and labeled it as "eurotrash trance", while Danny Walker of ''

RWD Magazine ''RWD Magazine'' (also known as ''RWD'' or ''RWDmag'') is a British-based magazine which features music, style, sport, gaming, film, technology, news, interviews and charts on hip hop, grime, dubstep, R&B, UK garage, drum and bass and U.S. ...

'' called the song pacy. According to Carrie Battan of

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

Usher "sounds most uncomfortable and the least sharp on overblown club tracks 'Euphoria' and 'Numb', and the presence of rote numbers is almost comically predictable." Katherine St Asaph of Popdust stated that the track would sound great in the clubs, however it isn't standout by any means, further stating "Usher and Swedish House Mafia talk about euphoria, but what they deliver is perfectly passable excitement."

Credits and personnel

;Recording and mixing *Recorded at Silent Sound Studios,

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

; Glenwood Place Studios, Burbank,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

; mixed at

, Universal City, California ;Personnel *

Songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

– Axel Hedfors, Juan Najera, Klas Åhlund, Ryon Lovett, Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello, Terry Lewis, Usher Raymond IV *

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

– Swedish House Mafia *Vocal production – Natural *Mixing –

*Mixing assistants – Chris Galland, Delbert Bowers *

Recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

– Mark "Exit" Goodchild *Recording assistants – Jorge Velasco, Kory Aaron, Randy Warnken *

Instrumentation Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...

– Axel Hedfors, Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Looking 4 Myself'', RCA Records.

Chart

Upon the release of ''Looking 4 Myself'', due to digital downloads "Euphoria" charted in the lower regions on the singles chart in South Korea. It debuted on the South Korea Gaon International Chart at number 60 on June 10, 2012, with sales of 6,029 digital copies.

References

{{authority control 2012 songs Usher (musician) songs American dance-pop songs Songs written by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis Songs written by Usher (musician) Songs written by Klas Åhlund Songs written by Axwell Songs written by Sebastian Ingrosso Songs written by Steve Angello Song recordings produced by Steve Angello