"Here I Stand" is a song by American recording artist Usher. It was sent to

urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

radio on August 18, 2008 by

LaFace Records LaFace Records was an American record label based in Atlanta, Georgia, that operated as a unit of Sony Music Entertainment from 2008 to 2011 and was historically a part of Bertelsmann Music Group from 1989 to 2004. It was most active and achie ...

and

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 ...

as the fifth single from Usher's fifth studio album of the same name. Penned by the singer with

Polow da Don Jamal Fincher Jones (born October 15, 1977, or 1978), professionally known as Polow da Don, is an American record producer and rapper. Jones has produced a variety of singles for a multitude of artists including "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj (2014) ...

Adam Blackstone Adam Blackstone (born December 4, 1982, in Trenton, NJ) is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and bassist. He is the musical director for Nicki Minaj and Justin Timberlake. Blackstone has also directed and played in performances with ...

, Gerrell Gaddis, and

Dre & Vidal Dre & Vidal is a songwriting and production duo consisting of Andre Harris and Vidal Davis, who are best known as the main producers for Jill Scott and Glenn Lewis. Alumni of DJ Jazzy Jeff's A Touch of Jazz production team, Dre & Vidal were also ...

, and produced by Dre & Vidal, "Here I Stand" is a slow

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 ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

and contains similarities to

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

's music. The record was nominated for the

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance was awarded between 1968 and 2011. The award has had several minor name changes: *In 1968 it was awarded as Best R&B Solo Vocal Performance, Male *From 1969 to 1994 it was awarded as Best R&B V ...

award at the

51st Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

. "Here I Stand" maintained a position on the United States

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

for several weeks in 2008 and 2009, reaching the top twenty. It also appeared on the US Radio Songs and

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

charts, peaking at numbers seventy-two and six, respectively.

Background and composition

"Here I Stand" was written by Usher,

and Gerrell Gaddis, as well as

, who also produced the track. The song was recorded by Vincent Dilorenzo, with assistance from Geoff Rice, at

Sony Music Studios Sony Music Studios was an American music recording and mastering facility in New York City. The five-story building was a music and broadcasting complex located at 460 W. 54th Street, at 10th Avenue, in the Hell's Kitchen section of Manhattan. I ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and Zac Recording,

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 ...

. Dilorenzo also mixed the record, with assistance from Matt DeSando, at Studio 609,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. According to Josh Eells of ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...

'', "Here I Stand" was written for

Tameka Foster Tameka Foster (born January 1, 1971) is an American fashion stylist. She has worked as a personal stylist for Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, Toni Braxton, Ciara, Patti LaBelle, Nas, and her ex-husband Usher. Career Her professional career started with her ...

, whom Usher married in August 2007. Composed before their engagement, "Here I Stand" was played at Usher and Foster's wedding, on Foster's request. The tune is an assurance of sexual

fidelity Fidelity is the quality of faithfulness or loyalty. Its original meaning regarded duty in a broader sense than the related concept of ''fealty''. Both derive from the Latin word ''fidēlis'', meaning "faithful or loyal". In the City of London f ...

and commitment. In an interview with

MTV News MTV News is the news production division of MTV. The service is available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network. In February 2016, MTV Networks confirmed it would refresh the MTV News brand in 2016, to compete with the likes ...

, Usher stated, "If you listen to the words f 'Here I Stand' it is very heartfelt, simplistic, yet very soulful. ... It's a man's words to his woman: a vow to say that you are the one, and I'll be there for you." A

slow jam A slow jam is music with rhythm and blues and soul influences. Slow jams are commonly R&B ballads or downtempo songs, and are mostly soft-sounding with heavily emotional or romantic lyrical content. The earliest known use of the term is the 1983 ...

, "Here I Stand" has been compared to the work of

by critics. It was included on Usher's fifth studio album of the same name, released on May 13, 2008 by

Release and promotion

The song was released to

radio by

LaFace LaFace Records was an American record label based in Atlanta, Georgia, that operated as a unit of Sony Music Entertainment from 2008 to 2011 and was historically a part of Bertelsmann Music Group from 1989 to 2004. It was most active and achie ...

and

on August 18, 2008, serving as the fifth single from ''Here I Stand''. Usher sang "Here I Stand" along with "

Trading Places ''Trading Places'' is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis, with a screenplay by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod. Starring Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Jamie Lee Curtis, the fi ...

" and "

What's Your Name What's Your Name may refer to: *'' What's Your Name?'', a 1997 album by Adam Sandler * ''What's Your Name'' (album), a 2007 compilation album by Lynyrd Skynyrd * "What's Your Name" (Don and Juan song), a 1962 top-ten single written by Claude Johnsto ...

" at the warmup concert for the 2008

National Football League Kickoff game The National Football League Kickoff game, along with related festivities, marks the official start of the National Football League (NFL) regular season. A single game is held, preceded by a concert and other ceremonies. This first game of the se ...

on September 4. Usher performed "Here I Stand" at Sony's keynote address at the 2009

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...

. The song was performed on his One Night Stand: Ladies Only Tour, with a slower tempo.

Reception

Leah Greenblatt of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' called "Here I Stand" a throwback to Stevie Wonder, and was disappointed that it was placed near the end of the parent album. ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' Steve Jones noted the track as a highlight of the album. Joshua Alston from ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' wrote that the song "lyrically and musically sounds more passionate and more adult than Usher ever has," and called it a "syrupy ballad". However, ''

'' Josh Eells called the "chivalrous" number "sweet but taxing, like looking at photos from someone else’s wedding," while Jim Farber of the '' Daily News'' wrote that "the ong'smelody fails

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 ...

" The song ranked at number one on

AOL Radio AOL Radio powered by Slacker (formerly AOL Radio powered by CBS Radio, and prior AOL Radio featuring XM) was an online radio service available in the United States only. It had over 200 free internet radio stations. History Roots AOL Radio ...

's list of top Usher songs. At the

, "Here I Stand" was nominated for the

award, but lost to

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario's 2004 hit " Let Me Love You ...

's " Miss Independent" from his 2008 album, ''

Year of the Gentleman ''Year of the Gentleman'' is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Ne-Yo. It was released by Compound Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings on September 16, 2008 in the United States. As with his previous albums ''In My Own Words' ...

''. Following its radio release, "Here I Stand" debuted on the

at number seventy-five on the issue dated September 20, 2008, and peaked at number eighteen on March 14, 2009. On July 18, 2009 it fell off the chart, having spent forty-three weeks on the chart. "Here I Stand" entered the

at number fourteen on the chart of December 17, 2008. It peaked at number six on January 3, 2009, before it slipped off the chart the following week, having lasted four weeks there. On February 7, 2009, the song appeared on the

Hot 100 Airplay (Radio Songs) The Radio Songs chart (previously named Hot 100 Airplay until 2014 and Top 40 Radio Monitor until 1991) is released weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and measures the airplay of songs being played on radio stations throughout the United States acr ...

at number seventy-three, but failed to reappear on the chart the next week. It re-entered one place higher, at number seventy-two, on March 14, 2009, but again did not gain any traction, with no place achieved on the following chart. However, it became his first number one hit on the

Adult R&B Songs The Adult R&B Songs chart (formerly called Adult R&B Airplay) is an airplay chart that is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on urban adult contemporary radio stations, whose playl ...

chart on December 6, 2008.

Credits

–

writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically Epigraphy, inscribed, Printing press, mechanically transferred, or Word processor, digitally represented Symbols (semiot ...

, additional musician *Matt DeSando – assistant mixing *Vincent Dilorenzo –

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, ...

, mixing * Dylan Dresdow – mixing *

– writing,

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 ...

, all instruments *

Gerrell Gaddis Gerrell Gaddis (born July 22, 1976), better known by his stage name Rell, is an American R&B singer and songwriter from Bowman, South Carolina. He was the first male R&B singer to sign to New York City-based label Roc-A-Fella Records, where he ...

– writing *Mark Pitts – executive production *

– writing, additional musician *Geoff Rice – assistant recording * Usher –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, writing, executive production :Source:

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Good article 2008 singles 2008 songs Usher (musician) songs 2000s ballads Soul ballads Songs written by Polow da Don Songs written by Vidal Davis Songs written by Andre Harris Song recordings produced by Dre & Vidal Songs written by Usher (musician) Songs written by Adam Blackstone