On Thursday, January 30, 2025, Will Smith revealed the title of his fifth studio album — Based On A True Story. His first album in nearly 20 years, Based On A True Story is the first album of a trilogy from the Academy Award-winning entertainer. While speaking to Gail Mitchell of Billboard, Smith said the process of returning to music began in 2022 while filming Emancipation.
“It started with [2022 film] Emancipation. It was a drama set during slavery, the first time I really did a deep dive on that period in America. So, I go into this character, getting a really profound comprehension of the relationship between God and suffering. People in those circumstances were generally spiritual; you have to be to survive those circumstances,” he told Mitchell. “That’s a long way to say that a well opened up inside of me, a well of understanding of art and pain … all kinds of things that I didn’t even know were in there. Then, after the Oscars, that spiritual investigation continued, and a whole world woke up inside that I didn’t even know was there. Dreams, visions; parts of my inner landscape that I had no awareness of prior to three years ago. 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.”
Smith, the first artist to win Best Rap Performance at the GRAMMY Awards, has steadily moved back into music over the last decade. He appeared on “Icon” with his son, Jaden, “Will” with Joyner Lucas, and “Don’t Be Afraid To Be Different” with Logic. Within the last year, he performed at the BET Awards and recorded with Russ and Joyner Lucas. Most recently, he teamed up with Big Sean for his new single, “Beautiful Scars.” Next up, he’s expected to release his fifth studio album, Based On A True Story.
