Will Smith’s new album, Based on a True Story, has just been released and it doesn’t have the effect that Smith intended. The album attempts to dive into his issues, including topics like the infamous Chris Rock slap, but fails to hit the mark.
Smith takes a bold approach with this album since it has been 20 years since his last album, and he breaks out of his clean-cut image by cursing in his songs for the first time, delivering a more raw-feeling experience. However, this album cannot be listened to well and is average overall.
It starts off with a skit about people in a barber shop who are sharing their different opinions on Will Smith. This is quite funny, and it shows that Will can make light of his controversy. The first song on the album, “You Lookin’ For Me?” has verses with little impact, and the chorus is very annoying to listen to.
Then the album goes into one of many interludes that plague this album, “The Reverend (Rave Sermon).” These interludes say nothing profound, making it confusing as to why they were included at all. “Rave In The Wasteland” is also more or less the same as the previous song. This shows a massive problem for this album, which is that most of the songs in this album sound very similar to one another.
Most of the songs in this album feel like fillers with no substance. Multiple of them try to tie in religious themes into the lyric, is but they don’t work to give that emotional impact expected from an album meant to dive into the artist’s issues.
The only songs that sound good and are unique are “WORK OF ART,” featuring Jaden Smith, and “Hard Times (Smile),” featuring Teyana Taylor.. Another issue with this album is that most of the content of the album revolves around responding to past controversies, which does not make for a good listening experience. The production of this album compared to his past albums cannot hold up at all due to it not improving from the 2010s era.
Overall, this album is not worth a listen because it does nothing that can differentiate itself from albums of the past or present. Will Smith has failed to deliver what is supposed to be a return album. I don’t recommend this to someone trying to get into Will Smith’s discography, and most fans will most likely not deeply enjoy this, but some enjoyment could be found in some specific tracks.
