Will Smith is making his first new album in 20 years
With the controversy stemming from his infamous Oscars slap getting further and further into the rear-view mirror, Will Smith is going out of his way to rehabilitate the tattered public image that made him one of the biggest stars of his generation.
Blockbuster sequel Bad Boys: Ride or Die was a smart way to kick things off on this new chapter of his career, with the fourth instalment in the buddy cop franchise placing Smith back into the action hero persona that made him an A-lister to begin with, and the next stop will be some brand new music.
The Oscar-winner hasn’t released a studio album since 2005’s Lost and Found, but that’s about to change after the talent confirmed that a new record is incoming. Having recently debuted new song ‘You Can Make It’, the announcement doesn’t come completely out of the blue, but it’s big news nonetheless.
Appearing on Black Film Allies, Smith let the cat out of the bag in an official capacity. “Over the past year and a half I’ve been in the studio,” he said. “I have a project that is the most personal and powerful music project I’ve ever done. The idea of the music is, ‘dance in your darkest moments.'”
It would be fair to say Smith has endured some darkness of his own in recent times, with the fallout from strolling on change and buttressing Chris Rock with a forehand to the mush inciting an industry-wide outrage that saw him tearfully return to the stage moments later to collect his ‘Best Actor’ prize.
In the aftermath Smith was banned from attending the Oscars, and was presented with an uphill struggle to regain his former foothold in both music and film. However, box office hits and bestselling albums are an obvious way to rectify any lingering damage, and if his previous albums are any indication the next one is going to shift plenty of units.
He’s won four Grammys for ‘Parents Just Don’t Understand’, ‘Summertime’, ‘Men in Black’, and ‘Gettin’ Jiggy wit It’, three of his four solo albums debuted on the top ten in the United States, two of them were certified platinum, and the other pair were certified gold, selling a combined total of more than 15million copies.
Speculation is already building that Dance in Your Darkest Moments will end up being the title of the album, but as of yet Smith hasn’t given it an official moniker.