Jeremih’s third studio album, Late Nights, was released on December 4, bringing to a close a saga that has been dragging on for (literally) years. Originally called Thumpy Johnson, and given a release date in 2013, Jeremih’s record kept getting pushed back and delayed, with the artist blaming his label, Def Jam. In a 2015 interview with Billboard he said,”My label is hesitating and not being on my side. I see other artists and how they’re supported. It’s hard when I’m on a roster with Rihanna, Rick Ross and Kanye West.”
The whole situation is especially strange, as Jeremih, although not as big as Rihanna, has been having undeniable success with the music that actually gets released. 2014’s “Don’t Tell ‘Em” went double platinum and the No More EP with Shlohmo was incredibly well received. This year, before the album dropped, he had already featured on one of the songs of the summer (“Freak of the Week“) and released “Planes” with J. Cole.
When Late Nights—a sexy, fun, raunchy, excellent album, it must be said— was finally released, there seemed to be little promotional push, and now Jeremih is claiming that hardly any copies of his new album were delivered to stores, with fans corroborating his claims. Earlier this week it also came to light that Jeremih mixed the album himself—whether this speaks to his perfectionism, a lack of support from the label, or a bit of both, it’s definitely a surprising turn of events.
Listen to Late Nights here and Jeremih’s feature on Chance The Rapper’s new song “Somewhere In Paradise” here.
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