Good Kisser

Album: single release only (2014)
Charted: 10 65
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The first single from Usher's eighth album finds the R&B singer giving praise to a lady who is a great kisser. Her smooching skills are not restricted to Usher's mouth as testified by the lipstick on his leg.

    Cause she's such a good kisser
    Got lipstick on my leg
    Oh baby
    She's such a good kisser
    I'ma rain on this parade
    Oh baby


    "Women can enjoy it because it's fun," Usher told Billboard magazine collage of the song's come-ons and pick-up lines. "And it's easier for a guy because it's something they can just talk and say."
  • The sultry make out ode was written by Usher. It was produced by:

    Los Angeles-based Turkish-American record producer "Oak" Felder and his partner, Andrew "Pop" Wansel, who have produced several of Nicki Minaj's singles including "Your Love" and "Right By My Side." They also helmed Big Sean's sex ode "Marvin & Chardonnay."

    Ronald "Flip" Colson, whose other credits include Rihanna's "Numb."

    Jameel "JProof" Roberts, who also contributed to the writing of Nicki Minaj's "Right By My Side."

    Newcomer Terry "Tru" Sneed, for whom this is his first major credit.
  • The song features a throwback sparse bass guitar and drums. "Real music is taking a stand," Usher said. "Artists are going after real instrumentation as opposed to electronic, synthesized music."
  • It was Pop Wansel who originally came up with the song. He recalled to Vibe magazine: "A lot of times when I wake up singing something random, it turns into a song. So I woke up one morning just signing 'Don't nobody kiss it like you baby,' and I was just singing it all day long."

    "And then Flip, who also co-produced on the record came by my house and heard me," he continued. "Then, he started humming it, and I was like looking for this imaginary song on the internet because I really thought it was somebody else's [laughs]. And, that same day I went to sleep with my iTunes on and I woke up to that Foster Sylvers sample playing on my computer."

    "Later that night, I went to the studio and just put it all down, then forgot about it," Wansel added. "About six months later, we were going through old ideas on my computer and that one came up and I was like 'Oh s--t, this is crazy.'"
  • Once Usher got hold of the song, he made some lyrical changes, including altering the word "suck" to "kiss" in order to make it more radio-friendly. Wansel told Vibe: "At first, we were thinking Usher had to be the one to make this song about... oral pleasure."

    "That was in play, believe that, that was in play," he added. "But he actually came in and scaled it back some. Not much, you still have that risqué factor. He didn't want to change that at all but he changed a couple of words that I had wrote. Let's just say he made it less X-rated [laughs]."
  • This contains a percussive sample taken from Foster Sylvers' 1974 cover of Bobby Bloom's song "Montego Bay."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn YankeesSongwriter Interviews

Revisit the awesome glory of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees: cheesily-acted videos, catchy guitar licks, long hair, and lyrics that are just plain relatable.

Glen Ballard

Glen BallardSongwriter Interviews

Glen Ballard talks about co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album, and his work with Dave Matthews, Aerosmith and Annie Lennox.

Randy Newman

Randy NewmanSongwriting Legends

Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.

They Might Be Giants

They Might Be GiantsSongwriter Interviews

Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)Songwriter Interviews

Mike Rutherford talks about the "Silent Running" storyline and "Land Of Confusion" in the age of Trump.