The Usher Hit That Almost Got Scrapped: ‘My Boo’
Some songs feel inevitable once they become hits. “My Boo” is one of those records. The duet dominated radio in 2004 and became a defining R&B single of the decade….
Some songs feel inevitable once they become hits. “My Boo” is one of those records. The duet dominated radio in 2004 and became a defining R&B single of the decade. But according to songwriter Adonis Shropshire, it nearly never made it out of the studio.
During a recent conversation on Storytelling with Dominique Renee, Shropshire shared how close the song came to being scrapped.
A Late-Night Beginning
The record started with a phone call.
"I got a call at midnight. Jermaine Dupri's like, 'Yo, come to the studio.' He got this beat. And he's like 'Write to this one'. It's all he had. And he already had the melody for the beginning ["There's always that..."]. He already had that. But he don't have the words," Shropshire recalls.
Producer Jermaine Dupri had the melody ready, including the now-famous opening line. What he did not have were the lyrics. Shropshire helped build the song around that foundation.
Usher’s First Reaction
When Usher arrived at the studio, the team expected excitement. Instead, they got the opposite.
"We do the song. Usher comes in the studio. It's like 4:00 a.m., in the morning. We played 'My Boo.' He hates it. Hates it. He told us, whatever y'all do, don't ever play that for me again. So at 4:30 in the morning, Usher gets in the booth. I'm like, 'I've never seen nothing like this in my life.' I'm thinking, 'Do it tomorrow.' He did it right then."
At 4 a.m., after hearing the finished track, Usher was not impressed. He was clear about how he felt. Still, just minutes later, he stepped into the booth and recorded it. That decision proved crucial.
The Beyoncé Plan That Changed
The original vision for the song included a different superstar.
As for the female vocals, Shropshire claimed, "Beyoncé was supposed to do the girl part originally, but she was on tour. So she didn't have the time to do the vocals."
Beyoncé was in the middle of an extraordinary year. She won five Grammy Awards for her debut solo album and co-headlined a tour with Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott. She also celebrated the release of Destiny’s Child’s final album, Destiny Fulfilled, followed by a world tour. Her schedule left no room to record the track.
Because of that conflict, Alicia Keys stepped in to provide the female vocals. The pairing turned out to be a perfect match.
A Defining Hit
With Keys on the record, “My Boo” became a major success. The single spent eight weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one. It remains one of the most recognizable R&B duets of the 2000s.
Two decades later, the song’s impact was clear when Usher and Alicia Keys reunited to perform it during his Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2024. The performance introduced the track to a new generation while reminding longtime fans why it resonated in the first place.
Although Beyoncé did not appear on “My Boo,” she and Usher still crossed paths in 2004, including a tour stop in Puerto Rico where she danced while he performed “Bad Girl.” A few years later, they officially collaborated on “Love In This Club, Pt. II.”
In the end, “My Boo” stands as an example of how uncertain moments can still lead to lasting success. A song that was once rejected at 4 a.m. became one of the biggest hits of Usher’s career.
