The Weeknd has recalled how he felt ‘angry’ after hearing Usher’s hit ballad Climax as he felt the singer copied his sound.
Crooner Usher, 41, released the sensual R&B ballad in 2012 as the lead song from his album Looking 4 Myself and marked a change of pace from his most recent hits such as OMG and DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love.
But when The Weeknd, 30, heard the track, his initial thought was that it borrowed from the sound of his critically-acclaimed mixtape House of Balloons, which boasted atmospheric tracks like High For This and What You Need.
In an interview with Variety, The Weeknd – real name Abel Tesfaye – said: ‘House of Balloons literally changed the sound of pop music before my eyes.
‘I heard Climax, that Usher song, and was like, “Holy f**k, that’s a Weeknd song. It was very flattering.’
The Canadian singer explained: ‘I knew I was doing something right, but I also got angry. But the older I got, I realised it’s a good thing.’
Coincidentally as The Weeknd’s comments emerged, Usher spent the evening listening to the #ClimaxChallenge attempts on Instagram.
The challenge features fans trying to sing the incredibly high-pitched falsettos in the song’s chorus.
After hearing some questionable efforts, Usher then showed how it’s done and belted out the lines while laying down with no problem at all.
The singer’s girlfriend, Jennifer Goicoechea, later attempted the challenge herself but to disastrous effects.
Panning to their dog chilling on the floor, Usher jokingly captioned the clip: ‘Scarlett is like these silly humans.’
Diplo, who produced the ballad, previously revealed that Climax was actually intended to be a techno record.
‘The production actually started as a house thing with a chord progression that I wrote, but with some time in the studio alone, I was making a sort of ‘wildfire’ beat out of it,’ he explained after the song was released eight years ago.
‘The idea of pushing cut-off on a synth used so much in progressive house music but pulling back. I was making something like a minimal techno record with Atlanta strip clubs in mind.
It’s a big month for The Weeknd, who has just released his new album After Hours, which debuted at number one in the UK.
Even more impressively, his monster single Blinding Lights just earned its sixth week at the top of the charts.
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