(LEFT) Photo provided by: Clishe Lavallier (RIGHT) : 2022 Beloved Benefit ATLANTA, GEORGIA - JULY 07: Usher attends the 2022 Beloved Benefit at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on July 07, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images)
Clishe Lavallier and Desiree were ready for the Usher experience on Feb. 24. Two days before, the best friends of more than 15 years decided to drive from Oakland, California, to Las Vegas for the residency show. That quickly turned into a half-finished road trip, missed $999 flights, and less than 40 minutes seeing Usher do his Grammy-winning thing.
Clishe, also known as Shey, documented their back-to-back troubles and shared the footage on TikTok. It went viral. But the aspiring influencer and content creator didn’t expect Usher to offer them the opportunity to see him perform AGAIN.
Instead of paying $385 per ticket this time, the besties will enjoy Usher’s full performance on the singer’s dime.
“@lovelysheyy pick any weekend, on me. Y’all deserve to see the whole thing, someone from my team will reach out,” Usher wrote in The Shade Room‘s comment section.
Shey spoke exclusively with The Shade Room–sharing all the details of what led up to their round two with Usher.
Seeing Usher in concert was Shey’s idea. The tickets were part of Desiree‘s 31st birthday gifts–one for each human sense.
Usher tickets represented sight. Smell was an Ariana Grande perfume. Sound was a customized keychain that plays Coi Leray’s Twinnem. Touch was a gift card to a spa. And taste was another gift card to a restaurant, which Shey planned for them to eat at before Usher’s performance. But, unfortunately, they never made it to that restaurant.
Despite the elaborate gift, the plan to get to Vegas was a quick turnaround. They decided on the 8.5-hour drive about 48 hours before. When Friday came, Shey says the weather was stormy. Still, they pushed forward with their plan to split the drive time among them.
About 4.5 hours in, the besties ran into a major traffic jam caused by an alleged accident. After realizing they’d be stuck in traffic for another four to five hours, they tried an alternative route.
After driving about an hour and a half up a mountain, the women were forced to turn around AGAIN. This time, the issue was snow–way too much for their ill-equipped car to handle safely.
At this point, their only options were to catch a flight or miss Usher’s performance. So after checking the nearest airports, they bought first-class Alaska Airlines flights as a treat for their defeated spirits. The cost? $999 with taxes and fees. But the cards against them kept stacking.
“The odds were literally just against us to where we needed to go home, but we just kept pushing through,” Shey told TSR.
They drive to the San Francisco International Airport, but timing combined with card verification issues with Shey’s ticket caused them to miss that first flight. And no other flights were available to get them to the 9 p.m. Usher show on time. Defeated again, the besties sat at an airport bar and drowned their sorrows with tequila margaritas. Shey contacted Ticketmaster, hoping for a changed date, but their customer service line offered no relief because the tickets weren’t insured.
“[My best friend] is crying, I’m trying to keep it together just because it’s for her birthday and just what we went through. Still, trying to make this work, trying to get our ticket changed to maybe be for Saturday (Feb. 25). [Ticketmaster] is not having it because we did not buy insurance. And this is why I’ve learned buy insurance.”
Then, a breakthrough. While sitting at the bar, the friends came across a newly added $150 roundtrip Southwest flight. They booked it with no hesitation.
“We barely make that flight. We’re running. I have Clear, so I’m holding up the plane for her,” Shey said. “It made sense for me to go ahead and try to stall.”
They made the flight. It landed at the same time Usher started his performance. They get off the plane at about 9:30 p.m. A friend that lives in Vegas picks them up from the airport. Shey and Desiree dressed in the car and pulled up to the concert venue at about 10:40 p.m.–nearly two hours after Usher took the stage.
In total, Shey spent nearly $2,000 getting to Vegas–from the cost of the concert tickets to her Alaska Airlines and Southwest flights. But she says 30-40 minutes of Usher’s performance that they enjoyed was worth all their troubles.
“I would say it was worth it. I was still happy I enjoyed it. Me and [Desiree] were irritated, but I feel like I still got to enjoy,” Shey said. “Like I said on my TikTok, it was worth it cause it’s better than going through all that and seeing something than nothing.”
After The Shade Room reposted Shey and Desiree’s rollercoaster journey, Usher slid in the comments. Shey says she first learned of his offer when she saw the Instagram notification. Immediately after, Usher also slid in her DMs with the same offer, plus a lil’ jokey joke. She immediately called Desiree on Facetime, and they celebrated the moment.
“I fell on the floor like I was just in shock. I had no words,” Shey said. “I have a three-year-old son so I was with him and he didn’t know what was going on. He just kept asking me, ‘mommy are you happy?’ And I’m just telling him ‘mommy’s happy, mommy’s famous.”
Now, the besties are waiting for Usher’s team to reach out with their second opportunity.
“It’s [Desiree’s] do-over. I feel just really happy cause I wanted it to go a certain way. The whole thing was supposed to go a certain way, so now I get to really do it right and hopefully we end up even meeting Usher,” Shey said.
One thing Shey says they’ll do for sure next time is use that restaurant gift card.
