Fresh off the release of his innovative new mixtape, CTV3: Cool Tape Vol. 3, Jaden Smith dropped by Apple Music to chat with Ebro Darden on everything related to his creative project.
“This album is a time piece in the sense that I am speaking from the perspective as an artist, as a rapper, as a singer, as a poet,” he explained. “I’m speaking from the perspective of being 16, 17ish. That’s when a lot of people get their first love, or heartbreak, around that time, and same for me. So I’m going back there.”
On linking up again with Justin Bieber on “Falling for You,” Jaden shared that he wrote the song “last summer with my guitar teacher, in my room.”
“I was thinking ‘Man, I want Justin on this song so bad,’” he continued. “And I didn’t tell him I wanted him on the song until 10 months into me working on the song. I worked on it for almost a year before I played it for him one time.”
Trending on Billboard
The mixtape pulled on a variety of music for inspiration, from the Brockhampton to Tyler, the Creator. “What happened was I went to Abbey Road with Brockhampton — so I went to go work with them on their album ‘Iridescence’ and they were working at Abbey Road and I was like ‘wow, that’s a really interesting choice,'” he shared. “And then, I just started to do a lot more studying into music because that’s also something that Tyler told me to do when he heard one of albums he was like, ‘you need to – it sound likes you haven’t listened to any music.’ I just starting studying more and more.”
Jaden even dished on what would happen in a guitar battle with his talent sister Willow. “In the battle scenario, she would destroy me on the first song, vocally and guitar-wise,” he admitted. “After that, I’d be mad, and then she would play for another hour straight.”
Listen to the full interview below.