Chance the Rapper‘s latest album, Star Line, arrived roughly six years after his project The Big Day, and he says that delay between projects was because he was lacking confidence. During a conversation with Cam Newton, he said he didn’t take well to fans’ negative reactions to the 2019 album.
“You want people to love your music. A little while after I dropped, I started to feel this intense criticism — really only on the internet. And it took me a long time to recognize that part, but I felt it so intently that — and it was such a first-time feeling — that I … second-guessed myself for a second,” Chance explained, noting he eventually decided to “pull back a little bit in terms of … my creative output.”
He credited his exploration of creativity “in a different lane” for helping him get out of the funk.
“I started working with cameras, I started learning film and learning cinematography,” he said, “basically putting myself through a fake film school.”
He noted this led to the concept and creation of his “The Heart and the Tongue” music video. Though he expected praise for the video itself, Chance said he was actually applauded for his lyrics.
“Once I made that song and that video and put it out to be like, ‘Look at how good this video was,’ everybody was like, ‘No, look at how good them raps is, n****. Keep rapping, n****,"” he said. “And I had to keep rapping and keep making videos.”
Star Line is now available on streaming services.
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