Usher was invited to the Christmas party by MGM’s top brass. Ring (right hand), price upon request, Chopard.Īpparently, there had been some miscommunication. Jacket, £3,265 and trousers, £855, Rick Owens.

At least before he found himself again, here in Sin City. But in the 2010s his output mellowed, and he seemed to disappear from the spotlight. He performed at both of Obama’s inauguration concerts and introduced the world to a shy Canadian teen named Justin Bieber. From his sophomore album, My Way, on, he has become almost synonymous with both a good lay and a good time. His music is for house parties, clubs, breakups, grind trains, and affairs. Across eight studio albums, Usher is one of the defining artists of the ’90s and the noughties.

He’s the world-famous singer of a dozen club anthems and a dozen more crooning, desirous ballads, but tonight the superstar is politely waiting at the door. And inside the glass foyer, between the double doors into the space and another set of double doors outside, is Usher, who is trying to get into the party and – at least for the moment – can’t. A Hallmark-movie-handsome singer is belting out jazz standards to a tipsy audience of Gen Xers who are doing the office-party two-step. So it’s on a chilly night in December that MGM is throwing its annual company Christmas party, about 15 minutes off the Strip in an otherwise bland event space.

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