Jaden Smith Turns 18, Releases A Song About Teen Confusion [Video]
Even though Jaden Smith is a media maven in his own right and has been for years, the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith is barely 18-years-old. Indeed, Jaden just celebrated his milestone birthday on July 8, and to commemorate the big event, he released a new song that features some celebratory lyrics and a musical arrangement that MTV is calling “jazzy.”
Jaden Smith’s new song, and (his fans hope) the first track of his long-awaited debut album, is called “Labor V2,” and it’s as eccentric and quirky as Jaden himself. The song begins with a long (almost two-minute) instrumental rift. Fans who stick around for the lyrics are then treated to the words “eighteen, eighteen, eighteen, yeah.”
The remainder of the song’s wordsmithing is one extended verse (no chorus, no bridge, no nothing, just one long string of lyrics) where Jaden Smith vocalizes his teen (but now adult) angst.
“Confused teen, and I might be/ In between an innovator and a hype beast/ And I know you don’t like me.”
In the wake of a rash of police shootings involving African-American suspects, Jaden Smith is also using his 18th birthday song as a platform to discuss the racial divide and discrimination in the United States. It’s apparently just a coincidence that Jaden Smith’s new song seemed a bit prophetic, being released in the midst of some of the worst anti-police violence (in response to race-inspired police shootings) in U.S. history.
“And how many times am I telling them/ Just because you see the melanin doesn’t mean that I’m a felon/ I’m here to show you the intelligence.”
While there’s been no official word as to whether the release of Jaden Smith’s “Labor V2” is a precursor to the release of his long-promised album, his fans are clearly hoping that the album he’s been promising is going to be dropped in the very near future. For months, Jaden Smith’s Twitter feed was topped by a pinned tweet reminding the young star to finish his album.
Finish Your Album Jaden.
— Jaden (@jaden) June 6, 2016
Jaden has evolved into one of the most popular celebs on social media, and he even tweeted out requests for help from other celebrities.
Micheal Cera Please Help Me Finish My Album.
— Jaden (@jaden) May 16, 2016
So far, though, Jaden Smith fans have gotten little more than a few cryptic tweets and (now) one birthday song. It’s hard to say when Jaden will actually complete his album and/or release the rest of it. Especially now that he’s finally turned 18 and is going to be busy adulting.
There were even rumors that Jaden’s relationship with Snyder, who was caught up in a theft scandal last year, could be causing a rift in his close-knit family and even messing with his successful career. Jaden seems to have put most of the dogged rumors and drama behind him, and now that he’s an adult, the rest will likely fall by the wayside.
Even if Jaden Smith makes his salivating fans wait a bit longer for the rest of his long-promised and much-anticipated debut album, it won’t be because he’s busy lazing around. Jaden has become one of the most prolific young talents in Hollywood. After publicly embracing a gender-fluid style, he’s become the first male face of Louis Vuitton’s women’s clothing line and has spent much of the spring and early summer touring and modeling for the high-fashion label.
On top of that, Jaden has been working on a Netflix original series, slated to hit the streaming service in August.
Overall, Jaden Smith’s variety of talents and personal drive have made him incredibly successful; before his 18th birthday, Jaden was estimated to be worth a respectable $8 million.
[Photo by Joel Ryan/AP Images]
