It has been over seven years since Jussie Smollett released a full-length musical project, and he’s officially back, embracing a new era of love and freedom with Break Out.
Break Out marks a new era for Smollett as he returns to his musical roots with an album that blends soul, R&B, and raw storytelling.
The project is a joint release from Music of Sound, Smollett’s independent label, and Rowdy Records, founded by Dallas Austin.
“This album is incredibly special to me. So much love was put into it, and I hope folks feel that. This music is about freedom. It’s a timeless album filled with love. I think we can all use a lot of that right now,” Smollett said. “Working with Dallas and Rowdy Records has been an incredible creative partnership. Grateful to share this journey with them. We’re ready.”
“Jussie embodies classic R&B. His voice is effortlessly smooth and uniquely expressive, bringing a rich, old-school soul to this fresh new project. It’s been an incredible experience to be part of his journey,” Austin said.
In addition to the album, Smollett can currently be seen on Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test and continues to showcase his acting work with films streaming on Amazon Prime Video (The Lost Holliday) and BET+ | Tubi (B-Boy Blues).
The Atlanta Voice sat down with Smollett in the Warehouse Studios to discuss his upcoming full-length LP, love, and more.
The Atlanta Voice: The last time you were here at the Atlanta Voice, you released your film, The Lost Holliday. Now you are back and about to release an album called Breakout. Sept. 30. It has been a long while since your last full-length project, 2018’s ‘Sum of My Music’. How did we get here?
Jussie Smollett: Life. We have lived about eight lives in the last decade, so certainly I’m in a place where my universe around me is in a place where I’m not fully there, but searching for peace and searching for harmony and joy and whatever that looks like to any one of us, knowing that we all deserve that. I’m going through changes, and as you get older, it gets exciting in so many aspects because you get to feel like you’re taking your power back, and it’s a good place to be.
AV: Break Out marks your first project since 2018, what has been your creative process been like just going into the studio?
JS: I find such peace in the studio. It really is a sanctuary for me, and I don’t know if every studio is that way, but I know the studio in which I work in LA with my music partner, David Michael Ott, is such a place of safety, and it’s tucked away. Nobody knows where we are, and it’s peaceful sitting in there. He’s one of my best friends. I’m the godfather to his son. We’ve been friends for 15 years, and we’ve produced and written songs that ended up on Empire season one through season four, and he’s just a great guy. With this project, we wanted to lean into the musicality of it all into the original place that we were in, which about 95% of this album is live instruments, and the musicians we have are legendary. We wanted to create a timeless album.
JS: I didn’t know what timeless looked like at first when we started recording, but we didn’t start recording a project, I was just recording, and it molded, and we kept on moving. I knew from the start, I wanted 10 solid tracks on the album, and we’ve been putting a little bit out in the last two years just to see what people are feeling and what they are liking and not feeling. It was to see what they wanted from me and what I mostly wanted from myself. This album is kind of the realization of the fact that life moves on.
Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice
AV: You recently signed with Dallas Austin and his record label, Rowdy Records. How was that process?
JS: Dallas has been a friend and a musical brother of mine for a couple of years now, and has been incredibly supportive, even when we were not working together. He would call and check in with no ulterior motives. He really helped and was one of the people that walked me back to performing and music, with the idea that he didn’t rush me and understood it was a process, and he’s worked with so many of our most legendary artists. It has been incredible, incredible musical partnership so far.
AV: Last time you were here, you made it an emphasis to focus on a new chapter in your life and a new era and hearing this album, you can hear the different space you’re in. You got engaged in June. This project embodies love. Some of my favorite tracks include ‘SomethingsThatISimplyCannotDo’ and the title track, ‘Breakout’. What does breakout mean to you?
JS: That term means freedom in so many ways. Freedom from perception, freedom from misconceptions, freedom to even in the moments that we go through in our lives or in our world, in our country and our families, whatever it may be, that knock us down and make us feel like either we’re never going to feel the same or we’re never going to be understood. That may be just moving past that realizing looking around and seeing how blessed we are. Break Out, to me, is breaking out of old habits and ideas of what you must be to be palatable for everyone else. It doesn’t necessarily come with age but with growth.
AV: In a time where people make music for hits for TikTok, hearing the album, you can tell you love your craft. Why was it important for you to tell your story through Break Out?
JS: I think music has always been the thing for me. I’ve been saying this a lot on this promo tour, It’s nice to as an actor, to get to hide behind the characters that you play every once in a while, and try out different things. You can always blame it on the character, but you find elements of yourself within that character. However, with music, there’s no hiding, it’s just you. Even the songs that I did not write lyrics for this album, I think three on the album that I did not physically write, they still touch you in a way that’s very personal.
JS: I grew up loving the autobiographical writers like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and Janet Jackson. These are my journals.
Break Out will be available on all major streaming platforms Sept. 30