Released in the United States on August 21, 2001, "U Got It Bad" is an R&B ballad that, according to MTV, incorporates "digi-coustic" guitars, a "slow-burning bass line" and "sex funk" drums.

The lyrics notably contain some quick direct allusions to other soul music ballads, mainly Maxwell's "Fortunate" and Prince's "Adore".

The song's accompanying music video, directed by Little X, was filmed as a two-part story with "U Don't Have to Call" and features Usher's then-girlfriend, TLC's Chilli, as his love interest.

"U Got It Bad" was written by Usher, Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox, with production helmed by the former and co-production from the latter.

[4] Recording was done by Brian Frye and mixing by Dupri and Phil Tan, at Southside Studios, Atlanta, Georgia in 2000.

A while later, they started on talking on the phone, which prompted Dupri to kick Usher out of the studio telling him, "We're going to do this [session] later on.

This ignited the inspiration for the song, and once Usher had left, Dupri started writing its lyrics, with the notion that it was going to be a big hit.

"U Got It Bad" is a slow jam, that makes use of "digi-coustic" guitars, a "slow-burning bass line" and "sex funk" drums.

NME called the song 8701's "stand-out track [that] deals with the spectre of first love with passion, honesty and some raw beats.

"[11] Kelefa Sanneh from The New York Times cited "U Got It Bad" as 2001's "best slow jam, coasting along on a double-time vocal line and a whisper of acoustic guitar.

Though it certainly contains the fundamental elements of the subgenre – passionate singing, dramatic declarations of love, and a music video with a grand gesture of desperation – there's a generality to its writing that's preserved its resonance.

[19] In December 2001, Usher became one of the few Arista acts to have more than one Hot 100 number one hit, with Whitney Houston having eleven, Barry Manilow and Milli Vanilli with three, and Monica with two.

[7] On the same week, the song broke the record for the highest audience impression on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, previously held by Alicia Keys, with 149,858,700 listeners.