Songwriter Makes Shocking Reveal that Usher’s "My Boo" Was Written for Beyoncé

It was 2004, and Usher was arguably having the biggest year of his career. His mega-hit album Confessions was released in the spring, and it felt like practically the whole world was bouncing between singing “Yeah!”, “Burn”, “Confessions Part II”, and “Caught Up”. And then came the summer of that year, and the album was re-released with a brand-new chart-topping song. 

Fast forward to the present, and one of the songwriters behind that number one Billboard track has stated in an interview that it was a song originally developed for Usher and the Queen of Music herself, Beyoncé. Of course, we’re talking about “My Boo.” 

"My Boo" Was Originally Written for Usher and Beyoncé

In recent years, the podcasting space has made room for quite a few shows focused on telling the stories of the music industry from 20 to 30 years ago. One of these shows is the fairly new Storytelling with Dominique Renee, starring Dominique Renee, who auditioned to be in Danity Kane on the popular Making the Band series on MTV. On her most recent episode, she was joined by Grammy-winning songwriter/producer Adonis Shropshire, a man behind hits like “I Need a Girl (Part One)”, “Say Goodbye”, and “My Boo.” 

Specifically speaking of “My Boo”, Shropshire first revealed to Renee that Usher was not a fan of the song and initially didn’t want to sing it. Shropshire claimed that when he and Jermaine Dupree played the song for Usher, the R&B superstar hated it and quoted Usher as saying,” Whatever y’all do, don’t ever play that for me again.” Allegedly, it wasn’t until Dupree did some convincing that Usher decided to record his vocals. 

Then, Shropshire dropped the bombshell news that Beyoncé, not Alicia Keys (who is actually on the track), was supposed to record the female vocals for the duet. Unfortunately, the “Cuff It” singer was on tour at the time, and Shropshire asserted that “she didn’t have the time to go do the vocal.” Check out the full story of the “My Boo” track below. 

Fans React to the Usher and Beyoncé Duet that Never Was

As a fan of both stars, I can see a world where they both were on “My Boo.” They’re longtime friends in the business, and have collaborated before with her dancing for him when he performed “Bad Girl” live, him appearing in her “Naughty Girl” video, and her joining him in “Love in This Club, Pt. II.” Here’s what other fans are saying on X (formerly Twitter).

I can hear it. I probably would have liked the song if she had done it. I like Alicia too, but she didn’t do it for me on that song.

— Nosidda (@NosiddaAddison1) February 14, 2026

I heard the demo and you could tell the girl part was supposed to be Beyoncé by how it was sang. Luckily we got their duet years later with “Love In This Club pt. II”

— ♕ Via Cash In? ???? ????️????♈️ (@DinahstySZN) February 14, 2026

Bey is always 1st choice on everything ????

— Cowboy Virgo ???? (@Signsofavirgo) February 14, 2026

Alicia did her thing on it

— youtube/Alonzo (@alonzolerone) February 14, 2026

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