J. Cole is gearing up for the release of his sophomore album Born Sinner, releasing on January 28th. During an interview with Billboard.com, the Roc Nation rapper talked about his decision to release an unconventional single like “Miss America,” stating that he knows it won’t be a radio hit but that he wanted to try and shift music in a different direction.
“I just had a conference call with a bunch of program directors from across the country, and I’m trying to explain to them that as the artists and the program directors and DJs, we have like a responsibility and a certain power that comes with making the music and playing the music. And that comes with a responsibility to keep things fresh and not to fall into the mode of what’s traditional,” he said. “I have singles that fall into that, but if I can use my power in some kind of way, I’m gonna try to use it to shift culture just a little bit. To me, ‘Miss America’ shifts things a little bit, it changes the conversation it takes it in a more aggressive direction, more raw, more social commentary… Any type of commentary is good compared to what a normal single is these days. That’s my aim, is to shift culture slightly, change the conversation. Nobody expects that for your first single.”
Cole, who said that he’s contemplating which single he’ll release next, said that he also plans to release a short film in conjunction with the album. Though he wouldn’t go into specifics about how it will shape up, he said that it could possibly feature all the songs from the LP.
“There are certain things I want to do promotion-wise. We’re shooting a short film. There are certain things I want to do branding wise. There are things I want to do promotionally that I didn’t get ot do with the last one,” he said. “A short film, something way more expansive than a music video.”
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Watch the interview below.
