Usher: I'm too old to get naked

Usher is too mature to drop his trousers these days.

The 36-year-old musician has reminisced about when he started out in the business. During a showcase in London, UK, when he was 19, the star decided to give the audience a thrill by slipping off his clothes - although nowadays things have changed.

"That was crazy," he laughed to British newspaper The Guardian. "It's a bit of a different show now. I'm more mature, I don't drop my trousers any more. Unfortunately they do fall down from time to time – I'm losing weight. A wardrobe malfunction."

The musician has been touring America recently, using the shows to relive some of his biggest songs like U Make Me Wanna. He was due to release his new record UR around now, but it has been pushed back to next year. That's not to say he is taking time out though, with Usher putting as much into his performances as he ever has.

"I'm a go-hard type. It's in my DNA. I physically prepare my body as if I'm a trained athlete," he said. "After the shows, I sit in an ice tub and do a hot dip, cold dip, and sometimes I sit in a hyperbaric chamber to rejuvenate my energy. I have a workout regimen that I do, just to keep my body going. If you get lazy when you're onstage, it shows."

Usher also discussed the stars he likes at the moment, praising FKA twigs, Adele and Sam Smith. He mentioned Justin Bieber, who he has mentored, too, and insisted people shouldn't expect him to crash and burn. The 20-year-old heartthrob has had a tough year, including brushes with the law, a tangled love life and the release of videos in which he used racist language when he was younger.

"Any artist has ebbs and flows in their life and career," he suggested. "I think the story has just begun, you've not seen the best of his talent. In life, you have to go through something to get to something. From that the inspiration comes having something of substance to talk about; otherwise you're just considered to be fluff."