Big Sean Paints A Grim Picture Of Fame On ‘Halfway Off The Balcony’

Getty Image

Usually when in front of a camera Big Sean is all smiles and cheer, but any delve into his catalog of music since he finally broke through into stardom shows he’s truly a tortured soul. His last album, the revelatory Dark Sky Paradise was that concept manifested into a 50 minute, grandiose journey into that mind state, and by the sounds of it his new album I Decided will be a continuation of that.

Sean is slowly dripping out material from the album to his fans and after a lengthy and revealing interview with Zane Lowe on Wednesday, today he releases “Halfway Off The Balcony,” to continue the buzz for his forthcoming LP. Produced by Amaire Johnson and Maximilian Jaeger, the track calmly builds with grim piano keys, and a skidding cascade of snares and snaps as Sean ramps up his delivery as the verses go on.

With that backdrop, Sean takes the palette and paints a dark image of fame and the relationships with women he seems to suffer through more than he maintains them. “People passing faster than I pass the weed,” he laments before later adding “I’m hanging halfway off the balcony, overthinking because my job is way more than a salary” on the chorus. On the second verse he discusses his relationships with women and relies on distortion on his voice to display the twisted nature of his life despite the success he has achieved on the surface. It all makes for an interesting listen and reveals just a touch more of the concept he has planned for the new album.

“Halfway Off The Balcony” is available at all digital retailers here before I Decided releases February 3rd.

[protected-iframe id=”e0b192e642aac8c97bb79c318735df20-60970621-76566046″ info=”//tools.applemusic.com/embed/v1/song/1187413958?country=us” width=”100%” height=”110px” frameborder=”0″]