Chris Pizzello/InVision/AP
Will Smith (center) performs at the BET Awards at the Peacock Theater on Sunday, June 30, 2024 in Los Angeles.
CNN
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Will Smith brought passion and conviction to the BET Awards stage on Sunday.
Smith returns to his musical roots with the debut of his new song, “You Can Make It,” a gospel-inspired track featuring Friday and the Sunday Service Choir in which Smith raps about perseverance.
“The darker the hell we have to endure/The brighter the heaven we can enjoy/The harder we fall, the higher we soar,” Smith rapped while surrounded by onstage fireworks. “When the devil closes the door, God opens the window/Trust me, they tried to make Will Smith bleed/I look in the rearview mirror and I see adversity was a gift/It takes faith to make the gift soar.”
Smith’s BET Awards performance follows a surprise appearance at Coachella in April, when he joined J Balvin onstage to belt out “Men in Black,” the song that accompanied the 1997 hit film Men in Black.
The “Independence Day” star’s new music marks his first solo work in over five years and his first major music release since his 2005 album, “Lost & Found.”
In recent years, Smith has collaborated with other artists, including Bad Bunny and Marc Anthony. In 2017, he released the EDM single “Get Lit” and a song with Sean Paul called “Light ‘Em Up,” which appears on the soundtrack for his upcoming film, Bad Boys 4.
Smith is a four-time Grammy Award-winning artist in the Rap Performance category, both solo, duo or group, his first win being for the 1988 song “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” which he performed with DJ Jazzy Jeff as The Fresh Prince.
The two also won for the 1992 song “Summertime.” As a solo artist, Smith won consecutive Grammys for best rap performance in 1998 for “Men in Black” and the following year for “Gettin’ Jiggy With It.”