It’s been over 20 years since Will Smith released his last album, but he’s ready to drop a new project. Speaking with Billboard, he says that decision stemmed from filming 2022’s Emancipation, where he was forced to live in the world of a runaway slave named Peter — an experience that helped him get a “profound comprehension of the relationship between God and suffering.”
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and he had to “live in that space” for nearly a year, during which he “started having dreams as the character.”
“A well opened up inside of me, a well of understanding of art and pain,” Will recalls, noting that “spiritual investigation” continued after the 2022 Oscars incident. “A whole world woke up inside that I didn’t even know was there. … And that opened up this bubbling to share what I’m seeing and experiencing, to explore.”
“A big part of my music now is about that: the ecstatic kind of joy I remember from church when I was growing up; the ability to try to make this place more bearable,” he says. “There’s something new happening with me that’s demanding I explore musically.”
That exploration will be heard on Will’s new album, Based on a True Story, which will be separated into three seasons: Rave in the Wasteland, The Gift of Madness and the as-yet-untitled third season.
The first, arriving in March, is “about the idea of learning to dance in your darkest moment” and will feature what Will wrote after the Oscars, as well his Big Sean– and Obanga-assisted single, “Beautiful Scars.”
He explains of the song, “Sometimes it can seem like the worst thing that’s ever happened to you, that’s completely unsurvivable, can turn out to be one of the most magnificent experiences of our lives.”
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