Globally recognised R&B singer Usher is set to headline popular music festival Smokin Grooves on Saturday, 15 June 2019, in Long Beach, California at the Queen Mary Park.
It was first announced on the festival’s social media pages on Thursday, 2 May 2019, when they shared the official electronic poster of this year’s upcoming event line-up. Usher was announced as one of two co-headlining artists for the event, alongside musical legend Erykah Badu. Following the release of the poster, the festival shared a teaser video of the festival’s line-up on Saturday, 4 May 2019.
The video and the poster were treated in the same way, designed in the style of the 1980’s flower power period, using sunflowers and 2D animations of the sun and greenery. The teaser video audio-visually animated the line-up, with the first name mentioned being Usher’s. The video also used his 2004 hit song, My Boo, which featured fellow R&B singer Alicia Keys, as the soundtrack.
The video has already received over 10 000 views, which is higher than the follower count on Smokin Grooves’ Instagram page. Continuing to remind fans that the artist will be at the event, on Tuesday, 28 May 2019, Smokin Grooves shared a gif of Usher sliding across the floor, using the gif as a visual representation of how followers should handle the week ahead.
Besides Usher and Erykah Badu, the one-day festival has a host of contemporary artists on its line-up. It will also have performances from artists like Common, Ella Mai, Daniel Ceasar, The Dream, T-Pain and Kali Uchis.
Sabelo Makhub