Will Smith isn’t the only one engineering a grand musical comeback, as it seems like his son Jaden Smith is picking up the pace with his own return.
The 26-year-old musician and model dropped a string of lead-off singles earlier this year, and has now seemingly announced the grand project to tie it all together.
Earlier on Wednesday, September 26, which also happened to be his dad Will’s 56th birthday, Jaden took to social media to announce an upcoming project.
“2024: A Case Study Of The Long Term Effects Of Young Love. October 18,” his caption simply read, with a clip of someone putting up a poster with the title inside a light booth.
Many of his fans quickly believed that a new album was finally on the horizon, his first in four years, since the 2020 record CTV3: Cool Tape Vol. 3. He teased the LP with the single “Roses” in June, which was his first single in three years since 2021’s “Bye.”
The post also got a like from his sister Willow Smith (who happens to be releasing a deluxe version of her acclaimed sixth album, the jazz influenced empathogen, this Friday), plus fan responses like: “This better be an album title ISTG,” and: “WE GETTING NEW JADEN IN THE BIG 2024,” as well as: “IS THIS THE ALBUM IVE BEEN WAITING ON!?”
While there’s no official confirmation whether this is an actual album, another single, or some other kind of project, fans on social media have taken to assuming it’ll be his newest LP.
During a recent conversation with High Snobiety (in which he was also asked whether an album was on the horizon and he simply replied: “What album?”), he spoke about what fans can expect from the new musical era.
“I’m just trying to continue the story,” he shared, also referencing the title of his upcoming project. “That’s really what it comes down to.”
“This is a case study of the long-term effects of young love. And I’ve been doing my own self-reflecting on everything I’ve gone through in my life. And now, I’m ready to start revealing what I figured out.”
Earlier this year, Will released his comeback single, “You Can Make It,” an inspirational piano ballad that serves as an empowerment anthem. He performed the single the same night at the BET Awards as well.
He was also one of the headline performers at the recent Rock in Rio festival in Brazil, giving him another chance also to perform the track “Work of Art,” his latest release that happens to feature Jaden as well.
“Work of Art” was actually Will and Jaden’s first official musical collaboration, aside from a featured turn on the Reggaeton remix of Jaden’s 2018 single “Icon” with Nicky Jam. The pair have previously worked together on screen, though, most notably in 2006’s critically acclaimed The Pursuit of Happyness and 2013’s critically panned After Earth.