Music works as a therapy for actor-rapper Will Smith.
At the Grammy Museum for An Evening With Will Smith on Thursday, Smith opened up about his new music, sharing how the process of turning his pain into music has been the ultimate inspiration for the new musical pivot in his career, The Hollywood Reporter said.
“Music is a more honest place for me where I feel like I can say things that I wouldn’t say, and I can express things, and there’s uncertainty and there’s sadness,” he said. “The two things I would never let myself publicly be is sad or mad. Now I’m just starting to be more honest with myself — I have a lot of fun in life, but I’m sad sometimes and I can get mad sometimes.”
The process of self-discovery and the journey through self-acceptance meant allowing himself to feel those negative feelings, and finding strength in vulnerability.
“I absolutely have a warrior’s heart but with a warrior’s heart, the greatest thing you can do is surrender to reality, you surrender into the difficulty. As important as the successes and wins, I want everybody to see that I’m not different in that way,” he said.
Smith shared that he is trying to tap into “the most honest and authentic space within me.”
During the conversation, the star said, “For years I’ve done really deep-dive soul searching, more than almost any point in my life, and I’ve found a new well. There’s a well of authenticity that I’m trying to tap into, the most honest and authentic space within me.”
While in 1989 Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff won the very first hip-hop Grammy for best rap performance, the space he’s in now has led the star to explore another genre — gospel — with songs like You Can Make It and Work of Art, which he also performed at the event.