Last month, Jeremih surprised fans everywhere with the sound of his new single “I Think of You,” off his forthcoming album Later That Night. The Chris Brown and Big Sean featured song came together organically, originally off a session Jeremih had with Yung Berg, who later played it for Chris, making it the first time the two R&B stars have collaborated on a single of their own.
With his new album on the way, which is expected to bring a sound and feeling fans will be surprised to hear from the Chicago native, as well as his first headlining tour, Jeremih recently spoke with Billboard about the new single, Later That Night album, touring and more.
Check out excerpts from the interview below.
ON MAKING “I THINK OF YOU”:
“I was in the studio with Yung Berg. We were working on a couple of records, just shooting out beats and he was like, “Go young Mike [Michael Jackson] on ‘em!” Dropping it right now, I didn’t think that’d it’d throw people too far off of what they thought I’m capable of doing. I know I just dropped a project with Chance [the Rapper]. I dropped a couple of verses on “I Think of You.” Berg ended up hitting me one day like, “I’m in here with Chris [Brown]. Do you mind if he gets on it?” So I was thinking if there’s anyone who should be on it, it should be him. For R&B, it’d be dope. We completed it but then we played it for Big Sean then he blessed it with a verse.”
ON WORKING WITH CHRIS BROWN:
“Every time I work with Chris, the track is for someone else — like DJ Khaled. Chris had never been on a record of mine and I had never been on one of his. What’s crazy is the night before we actually dropped the single, I went in the studio with Chris, which is when Big Sean had his release party in L.A. We connected up there then he asked me to go to the studio and we did some more work. It’s dope for us to be on the same page and for people to accept both of us on the same record.”
ON THE CONCEPT OF ‘LATER THAT NIGHT’:
“It’s after the club. It can be everything after 4 a.m. Even if it’s 8 a.m. and you’re just leaving somebody’s house. I say in the song, I think about you when the sun sets. The album is going to be sexy. You’re definitely going to have a whole lot of bounce on there. It’s going to be for the after, after party.”
ON HIS GROWTH AS AN ARTIST:
“Over the last few years, I just found myself. When I first came out, I was just listening to who I thought was dope. I was just doing me. When I dropped Late Nights: The Mixtape, I wasn’t listening to anybody. I was in Chicago making what I wanted to listen to in R&B. I wouldn’t put out anything that I didn’t want to ride to. Writing records for other artists that I’ve seen become No. 1 records, I know I’m not on the wrong page. For my album, I just wanted to switch it up a little bit. I know what I’ve started. People tell me all the time who sounds like me. I’m still going to do me regardless but I’m evolving … I’m switching it up on this album. They thought I couldn’t do this, so I’m going to show you what I can do.”
ON TOURING:
“I can’t wait to go on tour this year. There’s nothing like putting out new music and being able to perform your old sh-t and knowing that people have been riding to your new sh-t. I don’t want to do “Birthday Sex” forever. Even though I will, probably. I know when I put this out, it’s going to change my show and I’ll go crazier. With the two tours that I’ve done, one with J. Cole and the other with PartyNextDoor, it showed me a lot about touring. I’ve hardly toured. I want to show people a lot more of that.”
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE.
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