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Usher is the 2024 recipient of BET’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
After being named the NAACP Image Awards’ Entertainer Of The Year and receiving the President’s Award for this year, Ursher is, yet again, getting his well-deserved flowers.
“The relationship between BET and Usher spans decades, from his multiple appearances on 106 & Park, to most recently winning the Entertainer of the Year trophy at the 55th NAACP Image Awards,” said Connie Orlando, BET EVP, Specials, Music Programming & Music Strategy, in a statement. “From his chart-topping hits, electrifying performances, and unforgettable vocals to his signature moves and sound, Usher continues to stand on culture, setting new standards for the music industry and Black Excellence. We look forward to creating an amazing lineup to pay tribute to our global icon.”
Like Orlando said in her statement, with an honor this coveted, the question of “Who’s doing the tribute?” began to surface on social media.
Options came rolling in, with suggestions such as Luke James, Elijah Blake, Miguel, Tank, Joe, Ginuwine, and Toni Braxton, but VIBE took the time to create our own list of worthy contenders.
We broke down who should sing what and why, as we combed through Usher’s discography to also determine which songs should be included in the tribute. Some were left out of his Super Bowl Halftime set, so we’re also here to right that wrong. So, hear us out.
Check out our predictions below and watch the 2024 BET Awards live from the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 30 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
1DIXSON
Photo : Theo Wargo/Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows
DIXSON is so slept on as an artist, producer, and songwriter, but for the sake of this, let’s focus on this man’s vocal range. He has a soul-stirring lower register, but his falsetto will make you fall out of your seat, plus he knows how to arrange a song to fit him—as opposed to the other way around.
After seeing him perform a cover of Usher‘s “Good Kisser” during GRAMMY week earlier this year, we vote for DIXSON to tackle that with Anderson .Paak on drums.
2Victoria Monét
Photo : Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Victoria Monét is a singer, dancer, and all-around performer. She covered Usher‘s “Nice & Slow” during her 2024 Coachella performance, and while we know she’d 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 a cover of “My Way”—mainly because of the dance break—we want to see the Grammy-winner tackle the aforementioned ballad in an official capacity.
3Tone Stith
Photo : Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Tone Stith has the ability to serenade an audience and has the range to hit that high note in Usher‘s “Superstar.” If we had to pick one person to pay tribute with that record, it’d be the P.O.V singer who can riff and run with the best of them.
4Eric Bellinger/Vedo
Photo : Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for EMPIRE
We initially placed Eric Bellinger and Vedo together because we saw them tackling “Confessions” and “Confessions, Pt. II” in a two-punch combo. However, we think that one can actually handle “There Goes My Baby” and the other can serenade us with “Burn.” The pair, who sang background during Usher‘s Tiny Desk, can also transform “Lovers & Friends” into a full R&B song. Hear us out: the options are plentiful.
5Kenyon Dixon
Photo : Leon Bennett/Getty Images For NAACP
Kenyon Dixon is R&B at its core, but right now, he is single-handedly reviving beggin’, singing-in-the-rain R&B. Have you heard The R&B You Love, specifically “2000’s R&B?”
With that said, we need him on that BET stage tearing down the house with his rendition of “U Got It Bad.”
6Josh Levi
Photo : Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Josh Levi is so eerily reminiscent of Usher in his early days. Think circa 1997 and one of the top songs from that era is “You Make Me Wanna…,” of course. This may potentially be the longest part of the tribute because of the dancing involved, but it’s worth it, and if you’ve seen Levi live recently, then you know every second will be captivating.
7Monica feat. Lucky Daye
Photo : Bennett Raglin/BET/Getty Images for BET
To kick off the female inclusion in Usher‘s tribute, we volunteer Monica. Their duet, “Slow Jam,” was a cover of Midnight Starr’s 1983 classic, but it’s one of those records that the two made their own.
If she didn’t want to perform the song solo, we suggest including Lucky Daye or Durand Bernarr in the special duet.
8Chris Brown
Photo : Christopher Polk/Getty Images
Chris Brown is the most requested pick to honor Usher, despite there being a debate on whether or not he’d actually partake. Many view the men as adversaries as opposed to seeing them in a teacher-student or mentor-mentee dynamic. Regardless, if Breezy were to celebrate Ursher, the song would have to be “Bad Girl.”
9Usher
Photo : Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Tiffany & Co.
Usher could pull a move like artists in the past and pay tribute to himself. We feel like he did this with his Super Bowl LVIII Halftime performance, and some of his choices in terms of song selection and guests were debatable. Now, if he followed the formula we laid out back in February, then there’d be no argument.
While he shouldn’t perform the entire segment solo, he should definitely close it out—preferably with “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)” or “My Way.”
