Usher: Album represents evolution

Usher says that "every album should represent an evolution".

The R&B star is currently promoting his latest record Looking 4 Myself and explained that he has been experimenting with new influences over the last few years.

The Without You singer has been spending time travelling and connecting with different artists to broaden his musical and cultural horizons - the results of which are obvious in his latest work.

"You know, for me, every album should represent kind of an evolution. The last three years of my life have been extremely experimental in style, lifestyle, in music and in fun. I travel to different places, met and sat with different artists, made a lot of friends, and in doing that I created new music," he told MTV.

Usher feels he has finally found the style of music he feels comfortable with.

He explained that writing the tracks was an emotive process and he used his memories from exploring the world to recreate the atmosphere.

"It was about what felt good. After I had an understanding of different styles, I began to find the music that I felt comfortable with, even though it was a little bit different," he said. "I would find the melody and the emotion in it, most of the time it's a beat, it's a beat on the guitar or the piano, and then the melody finds its way and then the words begin to find a way. A lot of them came from travel so I thought back to where I was, kind of took my mental diary out and began to take myself back to that experience to what I think the people were experiencing or what I felt in that moment."