Will Smith is having a stellar start to 2025 with the announcement of his album, Based on a True Story, which will mark his first full-length project in 20 years after 2005’s Lost and Found.
Now, the veteran actor is taking his music on the road with a tour spanning several cities in Europe and the UK, including festival slots in France, Morocco and Italy.
Will couldn’t have been more excited for the endeavour, which will see him spend months on the road away from his family. He shares kids Jaden and Willow with his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and his son Trey with his ex-wife, Sheree Zampino.
“I’M GOING ON TOUR THIS SUMMER!!” he wrote on Instagram alongside the tour poster. “We’re hitting up UK & Europe to bring U all the hits, some new joints, and a few surprises. All these years, I’ve NEVER done a headline tour and I can’t wait to see you guys!!”
The A-lister’s upcoming album will feature a slew of stars like Teyana Taylor, his original collaborator Jazzy Jeff, and his son, Jaden.
Will has already released the single “Beautiful Scars” alongside rapper Big Sean, with the track exploring how he felt about the controversial Oscars incident in 2022 that saw the father of three banned from the awards ceremony for 10 years.
“I hate when I lose it, but I face the music/ ‘Oh, why did he do it?’ See, I’m only human,” he raps on the song.
The infamous Academy Awards moment saw the Men in Black star deliver a slap to the host, Chris Rock, for a joke he made about Will’s wife Jada and her alopecia.
He issued an apology after the event, sharing that the joke had been “too much”.
“Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear emotionally,” he said in a statement.
“I would like to publicly apologise to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.”
“There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness,” he finished.
© Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagSpeaking to Genius about the lyricism on “Beautiful Scars”, he likened the aftermath of the Oscars slap to the Japanese art of kintsugi that sees broken pottery mended with gold and lacquer, seeking to highlight its imperfections.
“I can look at [the Oscars incident] as an absolute mess, horrible, terrible – or I can look at it as a really great kintsugi opportunity, to rebuild something beautiful and powerful,” he told the outlet.
The superstar rose to fame in the ’90s as one half of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, and the pair even won a Grammy with their single “Parents Just Don’t Understand”.
© Getty ImagesWhile Will became one of the most bankable actors in Hollywood and even nabbed an Oscar for his role in King Richard, he shared with Genius that he has now set his sights on perfecting the art of music after decades in the film industry.
“I’m a master actor but I’ve never given myself the opportunity to elevate my poetry, my concepts, to the level of the mastery I’ve attained as an actor,” he said.
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