Usher on Channeling Frank Sinatra for New Ralph Lauren Fragrance Campaign: It's a ‘Grand Moment for Me'

Yahoo

16-07-2025

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Usher is now a brand ambassador for Ralph Lauren Fragrances. The Grammy-winning artist who has brought many iconic hits over the years such as 'Yeah!,' 'U Got It Bad,' 'My Boo' and 'Confessions,' is now the face of Ralph's Club New York Eau de Parfum. This new partnership surprisingly serves as Usher's first fragrance campaign and Ralph Lauren Fragrances' first partnership with a major award-winning music artist.
More from Billboard
'AGT' Contestant Had No Idea Her Mom Signed Her Up to Audition, But She Still Blew Simon Cowell Away
ATEEZ Launches Official In Your Fantasy Tour Merch on Amazon So You'll Be Concert Ready in No Time
Ashlee Simpson's Las Vegas Residency at The Venetian: How to Buy Affordable Tickets Online
Shop Ralph's Club New York Eau de Parfum here
Similar to Ralph's timeless appeal, the new campaign aims to capture the glamour of Manhattan's golden age, celebrating the city's modern energy, authenticity and enduring excellence. Usher, who's known for his Southern upbringing, has always been inspired by the city that never sleeps, which played a major role in the singer's career early on. The Atlanta native recorded his first album in NYC in 1997, while Ralph Lauren founded his brand in Manhattan 30 years earlier in 1967, making it appropriate for both men to celebrate the Big Apple.
'I have the greatest respect and admiration for what Mr. Lauren has accomplished and I could not be more happy and proud to join Ralph Lauren Fragrances,' Usher said in a statement. 'This is a brand that represents the best of who I want to be as an entrepreneur, a creator, and a man. I'm inspired and energized — this partnership feels like coming home.'
The campaign sees the 'Yeah!' singer as the face for Ralph's Club New York Eau de Parfum. Starting at $110, the fragrance debuted Wednesday (July 16), and is available to shop online on the brand's site, as well as in store at Macy's. The fragrance channels the same confident spirit that Usher has long embodied both on and off the stage. With notes of lavender and bourbon and a grounding base of sandalwood, the fragrance is both classic and unexpected.
'We creating something that was a bit more sweet, with black currant being a very high note, and bergamot being something that you smelled at the top, and then lavender and sandalwood being something that was grounding the bottom,' Usher tells Billboard. 'This is a very unique scent that would allow you to feel comfortable wherever you are.'
Ralph's Club New York Eau de Parfum
$135
Buy Now on ralph lauren
To bring the campaign to life, Usher set out to compose an original song to accompany the fragrance, an effort inspired by the sophistication and spirit of Frank Sinatra's iconic 'Theme From New York, New York,' which peaked at No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1980. Speaking with Billboard, Usher opens up his love for New York City, reimagining Sinatra's iconic song, picking out fragrances and what drew him to Ralph Lauren.
From fashion shows to the recent Met Gala to this Ralph Club New York campaign, can you explain your relationship with the Ralph Lauren brand?
If you're from the South, you know, being polo down is obviously an expression of culture. We were all borrowing this idea based off of the cultural relevance of polo sport. I can remember the first time I bought a puffy vest, or if you had a skull cap and the goggles up on the right side of your hat, these were all things that we saw in terms of marketing, but also understanding the imprint of Ralph Lauren at that time.
Fast forward, wearing double RL, going to a ton of tennis events and seeing some of that swag, getting prepared for a formal event, you always look to purple label or Ralph to make certain that you got it right. Whether it was for summer, resort wear, all of those things, he was always there to accommodate something that you wanted to be immersed in. Even going to the stores, nine times out of 10, you feel as though you were immersed in this world. You don't even have to necessarily purchase anything. You can literally go to the store, just to have a coffee and actually feel as though you were in the the idea of his thought.
So to organically now make this moment happen and be a part of now the family and an ambassador of this fragrance, I'm very happy. This is a very bold chapter of my life, but also a very bold chapter in the history and the legacy that Ralph has made. And Ralph Club New York is that introduction.
Can you explain the significance that the city of New York has played throughout your career?
You either get lost in New York, or you find yourself in New York. It is the birthplace of so many cultural moments, rather contemporary, musical, style, architecture, all of these things you find in the melting pot that is New York City. It's the kind of the place where all cultures are accepted and all ideas can fly. My career started in New York City, even though I'm not originally from New York. Even this campaign for me was my love letter to New York and all of what it has offered me and has meant to me as an observer in history and times.
New York is a city that welcomes the entire world with open arms. I remember as a kid finding out so much about life being in this melting pot and understanding the daily hustle, as well as, the nightlife and what it offers and what it creates in terms of a cultural imprint that many cities all around the world try to adopt.
How does it feel to be able to reimagine an iconic song like 'New York, New York' by Frank Sinatra?
This is a very iconic anthem that Frank Sinatra did before I was even born in 1977, which immortalizes this kind of concept that, if you make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. It is the very idea that that embodies a very bold spirit that is about a city that never sleeps. But it also gave us a song that is about this ambitious goal to be innovative and reinvent yourself, and make it big, man.
So for me, to be able to have Frank Sinatra spirit in the middle of all of what I'm creating, and look at even some of the photographs when we were creating it, and then reimagine it in my own way. Pun intended 'my way.' I had this opportunity to re-engineer this idea with the energy of something that is timeless and classic, honoring him, honoring Ralph.
What do you look for when picking out your scent? How does a fragrance stand out to you?
Well, many people approach fragrance and their selection differently. For me, it all starts with the fragrance. Most people would look at a fragrance as an accessory. How I feel starts with the way I smell. So, when I get out of the shower and I did all the things that I needed to do to get myself ready. I spray this. It now puts me in a certain mindset, and now I go and I create from that place.
I think that they wanted to create something by way of the design of the bottle, to create something that was masculine and sophisticated. In terms of the scent, Ralph wanted to create something that was timelessly elegant, that was bold, but had a modern spirit.
Ralph's Club New York Eau de Parfum
$135
Buy Now on ralph lauren
What would you like for fans to take away from this campaign?
I hope that fans are ready to take a journey. I think that that's the one thing that you look forward to with Ralph Lauren, that you feel as though you were immersed in an idea and you're brought to a different place. Well, that place is New York. That place is club New York.
Us being able to work in the short amount of time that we did, with a very incredible group of people to create memorable, creative, iconic photographs, as well as a video piece that is a commercial. For me, it is a next chapter. It's a next chapter of my season, and it's the next chapter in my story. I feel like this is a really, really grand moment for me in terms of where I am, iconically and fashionably, it is something that feels very special in terms of the collaboration between myself and Ralph.