Maxwell has kept his legion of fans waiting for his long-promised album NIGHT, the final installment of the blacksummers’NIGHT trilogy, for so long that we’ve lost count, track and, quite frankly, our minds. Originally expected in 2022 on the heels of its lead single “OFF,” we’re already over halfway through another year with no album in sight. Max is well aware that we’ve been waiting and aniticipating, though, and earlier this week he threw us a bone – or, better yet, a tweet – to give everyone an update of sorts.
“that _NIGHT music takes time,” Maxwell wrote on Twitter on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 19th live from Brooklyn, NY. He continued his tweet with the words, “she dressing,” giving the album a gender and likening it to a woman getting ready for a night out (or perhaps a night in). He wrapped up his mysterious message with a full moon emoji and an intergalactic image of the moon and the sun with the word “NIGHT” in block letters in the center of the picture.
Maxwell made sure that we saw the tweet by tagging SoulBounce in addition to Billboard, TIDAL and others who he wanted to make aware of his progress report. Many of his fans on Twitter also peeped his semi-cryptic message and encouraged him to take his time and do it right, which we can appreciate.
After waiting seven years between the albums BLACKsummers’night (2009) and blackSUMMERS’night (2016), this extended wait for NIGHT/blacksummers’NIGHT was to be expected. And with Maxwell now admitting that he’s still working on the album, we will just have to hang on a little while longer, or whatever he sang in “The Suite Theme.”
In the meantime, at least Maxwell isn’t depriving us of opportunities to see him perform live. He has numerous concert dates coming up, including his NIGHT: The Trilogy Show Vegas residency in a few weeks. Looking ahead to 2024, he’ll be rocking the boat on the inaugural Urban Hang Suite Cruise with Ledisi, Musiq Soulchild, Robert Glasper, Leela James and a host of talented folks scheduled to perform. Who knows, maybe we’ll even have NIGHT by then? Or maybe not. Maxwell and his Musze are on no one’s clock.
