“I ain’t got no condition,” Avant says in response to rumors that he was dying from lupus. “I got like a nerve condition. That’s it. That’s a lie. They try to create s—.”
As for the new project, fans can expect a welcome reminder of what made Avant a part of that pantheon of the R&B elite at the top of the millennium.
“I had to get the temperature of what was going on out here nowadays,” he explains. “That was really the process — just trying to find out what I wanted to talk about and who did I really want to approach with this album, which I’m always approaching my fans, per se, but this time I wanted to get deeper in conversation because there’s a lot of different conversations still going on in life.
“[There’s] a new way to write songs all the time. I get tired of people saying, ‘Well, you know, how do you continue to come up with ideas?’ We livin’, bro. Life is a living idea. You never run out of ideas.”
Since re-emerging with the well-received “Not Gon’ Lose” in January 2019, Avant’s own MO-B Entertainment secured a distribution deal with Universal Music Group to support his comeback. With added production influence by Travis Sayles (Dark Child Productions), who Avant understandably calls “amazing,” his official return begins with “Edible,” a flirty mid-tempo song that has the makings of a chart-topper.
“I was like, ‘Whatever I do, I got to make sure it ain’t too nasty but truthful, too,’” he discloses. “That was the idea with the song, and it just came off perfect.”
Perhaps a testament to his ear and definitely to his voice, Avant’s ability to make the perfect song is nothing new. It is in fact a testimony to his staying power, his ability to overcome obstacles and acceptance of being the gift God intended him to be — no matter what.
“A lot of people get in the game for a little short minute of time, and you don’t see him no more,” he says. “And then it’s like, ‘OK, well, what happened to him? That’s the dude. It sounded like such and such,’ because they didn’t put that stamp on who they are as an individual.
“I’ve been blessed to be able to put a stamp on who I am, and I’m never trying to be nobody but myself.”
Story by N. Ali Early
Photos courtesy of 2Rs Entertainment & Media PR
