‘Empire’ Season 2 Soundtrack: New Songs From Jussie Smollett, Ne-Yo, Pitbull, And More
Empire season 2 will be hitting TV screens in a couple of weeks, and fans got a taste of the vibe of the new season today with two new songs from the season 2 soundtrack.
The songs were released on the Empire VEVO Channel on YouTube. Both songs will be featured on the show and available on the compilation soundtrack, Entertainment Tonight reports. One of the songs, “No Doubt About It” was written by Ne-Yo and performed by Pitbull and lead Empire actor, Jussie Smollett. Smollett plays Jamal Lyon on the show. You can listen to the song below.
The second song is called “Ain’t About The Money” also features Jussie Smollett and his co-star Yazz The Greatest (Hakeem Lyon) on vocals.
According to Billboard.com, The Empire TV show season 1 soundtrack, Empire: Original Soundtrack from Season 1 debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 albums charts when it was released in May. The album featured a wide array of popular recording artists including Mary J. Blige, Courtney Love, Jennifer Hudson, and Rita Ora. The team behind the show is obviously hoping for a repeat of that kind of success for the Empire season 2 soundtrack. That soundtrack is expected to come out later this year
Fans are eagerly awaiting the return of Empire the TV show, however, Empire season 1 ended on a cliff-hanger with Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) headed to jail and vowing revenge on everyone who double-crossed him.The Empire cast and producers have been pretty tight-lipped about what’s going to happening in season 2 but there are some spoiler-like predictions out there.
Episodic photos from the Empire season 2 premiere have been released and they show Cookie Lyons (Taraji P.Henson) wearing three different hairstyles. Does this mean that fans can expect some more flashbacks from Cookie in Empire season 2? We’ll have to wait and see.
The episodic photos also show the Empire cast in a courtroom, presumably related to Lucious’ arrest. There’s also a photo of Lucious standing triumphantly over a boardgame which could be foreshadowing him winning the chess game that is his life. Also, there’s a photo of Jamal playing background for Hakeem (Yazz) but that’s nothing new.
In March, E! Online asked Empire executive producer, Ilene Chaiken, about the direction she’d like season 2 to take and she dropped a couple of hints of what fans could probably expect.
“I’m excited to see what Cookie does with her new status, especially in the absence of Lucious, however long he’s absent,” Chaiken said. “One of her main drives has been to bring her family back together, and she suffered a bit of a setback. She lost her relationship with her most beloved son, and I want to see how Cookie resolves that or regains her relationship with Jamal.”
Chaiken also said that she’d be really excited to see how Jamal grows in his new “gangster” role.
“I want to see what Jamal does with his new position and his gangster status.” she said. “Has he really fully assumed the mantle of his father’s heir? Is he the most deserving son? Or is there still a lot for him to overcome before he can truly be the leader?”
Empire season 2 premiers on FOX on September 23.
[Photo via FOX]
