My Boo songwriter reveals singer Usher was originally supposed to duet with instead of Alicia Keys

An iconic Usher song nearly went in a different direction, with the songwriter of “My Boo” saying it was initially meant to feature Beyoncé, who backed out due to scheduling conflicts.

Songwriter Adonis Shropshire opened up about creating the 2004 single, which ultimately featured Usher and Alicia Keys, during a recent discussion on the Storytelling with Dominique Renee podcast. However, according to Shropshire, Usher was not a fan of the song when he first heard it.

“Usher comes in the studio. It's like 4:00 a.m., in the morning. We played ‘My Boo.’ He hates it. He told us, ‘whatever y'all do, don't ever play that for me again,’” he said.

He then revealed that the female vocals for the song were originally meant for Beyoncé. “But she was on tour. So she didn’t have the time to do the vocals,” he added. “Her schedule just didn’t line up. She couldn’t do it.”

According to Shropshire, the duet was supposed to be the Grammy winner’s “return” to Usher, since he’d appeared in her music video for the song “Naughty Girl” beforehand.

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However, Keys then stepped in to deliver the female vocals.

“She goes in the booth, she does her part, ‘My Boo’ comes out,” Shropshire said. Renee called the song one of the “biggest hits” in Shropshire’s life, to which he responded: “No question.”

Shropshire's reveal about “My Boo” has gone viral on X, where many fans said they could picture Beyoncé singing the hit song.

“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,” one tweeted.

“Bey is always the 1st choice on everything,” another added.

However, other fans argued that the song is perfect the way it is, with one tweeting: “Alicia did her thing on it.”

Beyoncé was certainly busy the year “My Boo” came out. In 2004, she won five Grammy Awards for her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love. She was also celebrating the release of Destiny's Child's final album, Destiny Fulfilled, before the group went on their world tour.

Usher and Beyoncé went on to work together on multiple occasions. In 2005, Beyoncé performed the song “Bad Girl” with Usher at his Showtime special, One Night, One Star: Usher Live at Coliseo de Puerto Rico. The pair also collaborated on the 2008 song, "Love in This Club, Part II.”