Year of the Fanboy Profile: Writers Fawning Over Subjects Because They Don't Have a Choice

Five years ago, I was an editor at Vibe, and I got an assignment to interview Usher. It was my second time profiling him for a cover story, but this setting would be more intimate than the previous one—instead of meeting in a hotel conference room, we’d talk at an outdoor bar at the Sunset Marquis in Hollywood, just the two of us. We talked about music, career failure, fantasies and sex. “You think I have sex appeal?” he asked me, at one point. “Of course,” I replied. I moved on quickly. I had to bury the crush I’d had on him since “Make Me Wanna” and ignore the fact that the first concert I’d ever been to was his 8701 Tour in 2001. I played it straight to be professional. Had I interviewed him today, there’d likely be a different agenda at play.

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