"Here I Stand" is a song by American recording artist

Usher Usher may refer to: Several jobs which originally involved directing people and ensuring people are in the correct place: * Usher (occupation) ** Church usher ** Wedding usher, one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony ** F ...

. 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 ...

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 achiev ...

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 ...

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, Gerrell Gaddis, and Dre & Vidal, 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 att ...

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, s ...

'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 ...

award at the 51st Grammy Awards. "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

, Adam Blackstone and Gerrell Gaddis, as well as Dre & Vidal, who also produced the track. The song was recorded by Vincent Dilorenzo, with assistance from Geoff Rice, at Sony Music Studios,

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 498,7 ...

. 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. Since ...

. According to Josh Eells of ''

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

'', "Here I Stand" was written for Tameka Foster, 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 fin ...

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

, "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 ...

" and " What's Your Name" at the warmup concert for the 2008 National Football League Kickoff game 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 t ...

. 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 ...

'' 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'' 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" 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 51st Grammy Awards, "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''. 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) 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

* Adam Blackstone –

writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...

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

Dylan Dresdow Dylan Dresdow aka "3-D", is an audio mixer. He has mixed songs for such artists as Prince, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Usher, Black Eyed Peas, Nas, Afrojack, Talib Kweli, Britney Spears, Ice Cube, Redman, The Wu Tang Clan, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, ...

– mixing * Dre & Vidal – writing, production, all instruments * Gerrell Gaddis – writing *Mark Pitts – executive production *

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

–

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 withou ...

, 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