Following the release of his fifth studio album Detroit 2, Big Sean stopped by the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform "Harder Than My Demons."
Showcasing Sean as he's surrounded by friends in what appears to be a family home, the performance steadily gets more creative as his surroundings slowly fade away. Enveloped by a dark void, he's eventually joined by more scenes playing out in the background via spotlights. It's an interesting take on the late night talk show performance in the quarantine era.
Sean also sat down for a brief interview with Fallon to talk about how Detroit 2 came together, namely Dave Chappelle and Stevie Wonder's appearances on the record.
"A few months before I met Dave Chappelle myself, my dad called me and he was like, 'Yo, man, what's up? Hey, I just got back from this Dave Chappelle show, man. I was backstage with him. Yo, he loves your music, son,'" said Sean of how Chappelle got involved with Detroit 2. He doubted his dad had a proper conversation with Dave, thinking he might have exaggerated, but the first time he bumped into the comedian he was greeted with, "I love your dad."
As for Stevie Wonder's interlude contribution, Sean explained that he came on very last minute. "To me, he's the greatest singer and songwriter of all-time," he said. At one point in time he considered delaying Detroit 2 to work on a track with him, but he didn't want to rush the chance to collaborate so they did one of the three "Story" tracks instead, following Chappelle and Erykah Badu.
Sean also tackled the subject of his mental health in the interview, describing how he "felt broken inside" and was creatively "burnt out" before working on the album. Thankfully he was able to make some changes in his life, take some time off, and went to therapy. "We all come to a point in our life where we have to come back to our passion," he said. "When you do something for over 10 years...you lose some of that passion. You have to learn how to relight it."
Watch his interview and performance above.
