With a gripping new album and a sleek new look, soul icon Maxwell is primed for a welcome return to the spotlight. The native Brooklynite’s latest record, BLACKsummers’night, recently debuted at the top of the Billboard Top 200 (eight years after his last album Now did the same). Recorded as a trilogy, the following chapters will be released over the next two years, guaranteeing much more Maxwell loving. We caught up with music’s sexiest comeback.
1. Why such a long hiatus?
Some people put out records every six months. Being prolific can be an amazing thing, but I gotta have something to talk about that I actually went through. I can’t just make it up and try to sell it to you.
2. Where did the inspiration to record with a live 10-piece band come from?
I kind of remembered what it was like to not know the audience and just make music from this place of “I just like making music.” It was almost like making the first record again.
3. When you write and produce, you refer to yourself as “Musze.” Why the alias?
I feel like I’m a bunch of things. You gotta watch yourself and make sure you know the reason you are where you are, because people put you there. So you don’t feel like it’s you all the time, because really…it comes from God.
4. So for you, humility trumps fame?
I don’t care if you recognize me or not as a famous type of person, but it means the world to me when people actually respect me as a human being. And that’s more than what this fame thing has to offer and what it all means in the end, truly.
5. How has living in this city shaped you as an artist?
In New York you can meet people from all walks of life. My mom came from Haiti, used to clean houses and now is a nurse. For me to know her struggle and to get my music thing happening… [I feel] anything can happen when you’re from or come to New York. I’ll ride and die with New York till the day—till the lasting days.
