Usher’s hit single “You Make Me Wanna…” is from the nineties, having been released in 1997. It became the lead single from his second studio album, My Way, and helped turn the young singer into a major R&B star.
The song was written by Usher with Jermaine Dupri and Manuel Seal, with Dupri also producing it. Its story follows a narrator caught in a love triangle who wants to leave his current relationship for a close friend. That emotionally conflicted premise helped distinguish the track from a straightforward romantic ballad.
“You Make Me Wanna…” was a major commercial success. It reached number one on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number two on the Billboard Hot 100. In the United Kingdom, it became Usher’s first number-one single there.
A common mix-up is placing it in the 2000s because Usher’s biggest mainstream era continued into that decade with songs such as “U Remind Me” and “Yeah!” The song itself, however, clearly belongs to the late-1990s R&B era.