‘Nobody wants that from Will Smith’: The song the actor hopes will revamp his image after Oscar loss | People

In the family Guy Episode titled McStrokewhich first aired on January 13, 2008, there is a scene that has gone down in posterity as one of the most accurate portraits of how pop culture has perceived Will Smith’s music. Stewie, the child of the family, brags that he is more popular with the kids than Will Smith’s “nice, clean rap.” Smith is then seen rapping in the studio. His song includes lyrics like, “I respect women when I’m on a date / I take them to the park or maybe the museum / And I only try to kiss them when they’re ready.” And, “Help your mom and dad by getting a job / That can help pay for school supplies.” Rap was supposed to be confrontational, harsh, and uncomfortable, but Will Smith, this parody suggests, rapped to win the love of all ages, races, and classes.

Before Smith became a movie star, he was a rapper. He called himself the Fresh Prince. In 1997, now singing as Will Smith and at the height of his musical fame, he released an album called Big Willie style. The kindest critics called it “friendly, humorous pop-rap,” while the most unscrupulous, such as Andy Crysell of NME, called Smith “the Cliff Richard of rap.” In his review of the song Hunting forever, Crysell writes: “He idles around and says that he wants to buy a present for his girlfriend in Tokyo, that he would be happy if his child became a doctor, and that he has been working very hard lately and that today he wants to drive to the beach in his fancy car.”

Smith was the rapper for everyone, the cool actor, the PR genius, the patriarch of a family whose business structure made some people (like writer Terry McMillan) suspicious but who had been beloved by the masses for decades. Smith was all of these things until 2022, when he slapped Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars.

But the fourth part of Bad Boys, Released in late May, the film was a success – a sign that audiences seem to have forgiven him, or that the nostalgia factor of the ’90s franchise is stronger than the backlash to the slap. In fact, a final scene was added to the film’s script in which Martin Lawrence’s character slaps Will Smith, a more than obvious nod to that episode. It was Smith’s way of asking for forgiveness cinematically, and was well received by audiences, but apparently he had to ask for forgiveness in music too.

You can do it is the debut single from Smith’s first album in almost 20 years – a record with the not so cryptic title Dance in your darkest moments. Smith sang the song about 10 days ago at the BET Awards, in a messianic performance that saw him standing in the middle of a circle of fire. He began the performance by telling the crowd, “I don’t know who needs to hear this right now. But whatever is happening in your life, I’m here to tell you: You can do it.”

vulture described the show as part of the “Will Smith Image Rehabilitation Tour” in an article titled Nobody wants that from Will Smith. You can do it veers between the macho self-improvement mumbo-jumbo you typically hear from so-called coaches on Instagram and victimhood. “Believe me, they tried to bleed Will Smith dry/In the rearview mirror, I see that the misfortune was the gift,” he sings.

vulture said it showed “the urge to radiate spiritual and psychological growth” with a mix of commerce.”You can do it addresses the fluctuations in the public perception of Smith: long-time fans are happy to continue to support him, but some still feel he needs to be demeaned. It’s exhausting. It’s bitter. Nobody wants that from Will Smith.”

The guard reported in May about Smith’s “carefully choreographed comeback,” which looks back in time and aims to remind the world how clean, familiar and cool Smith was. First came a new film in the undeniably successful ’90s franchise, and now the actor has turned to a gospel song about faith and inner strength. Also of note, Smith chose to perform at the BET Awards, which was his first appearance at an awards show since the Oscar scandal.

The BET Awards are organized by Black Entertainment Television and honor the best of African-American entertainment culture. His appearance at the BET Awards sends a message, as many opinion columns (in The guard, USA today And The Washington Postfor example) have argued that the world’s reaction to the Oscars slap had racist undertones. These opinion makers claim that there would have been less of a scandal if Smith had been white, arguing that white men have done worse things on television and have not faced as much criticism. In other words, when a black man makes a mistake in public, he has to apologize much more often than a white man.

There is a certain symbolism in the fact that You can do it was performed at the BET Awards: Perhaps Smith was asking the black community, not the world, for forgiveness for perpetuating the racist stereotype that black men are violent. And this in a country where the black community already faces widespread problems and where the murders of Trayvon Martin or George Floyd – by a racist vigilante or a police officer, respectively – have not yet been forgotten.

For now, Smith’s new song has tentatively reached the gospel and Christian music charts, but with less than half a million plays on Spotify since its release 12 days ago, it doesn’t seem likely that it will reignite interest in Will Smith the musician. Nor does he probably need it: His movie star profile is in top form and his personal net worth is estimated at around $350 million. Not to mention the more than $360 million his latest film has earned at the box office. Perhaps that’s enough of a message.

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