Will Smith Celebrates ‘Comeback’ With Performance on BET

Between the box office success of Bad Boys: Ride or Die and, more importantly, his visit The hottestWill Smith has spent the last few months working his way back into Hollywood’s good graces. While he’s still expelled from the Academy and all the events that will accompany it over the next decade, he has shifted his attention elsewhere, namely his long-dormant music career, which he relaunched in fiery fashion with a performance at the BET Awards last night. But while Smith probably could have accomplished all of this without mentioning why he needed to do a comeback tour in the first place, he took a slightly curious route in his new single, “You Can Make It.” Instead of letting his absence be glossed over, he essentially addresses The Slap head-on.

Smith posted a video of his performance on Twitter/X last night, with the caption: “I’m back home! The comeback is always greater than the setback.”

“No matter what’s going on in your life, I’m here to tell you that you can do it,” Smith said Sunday night, surrounded by a ring of fire. He then rapped a series of lyrics about overcoming challenges (via The Hollywood Reporter):

The darker the hell you have to endure / The brighter the heaven you can enjoy / The harder the fall, the higher you rise / God opens a window when the devil closes the door / Trust me, they tried to bleed Will Smith / In the rearview mirror, I see that adversity was the gift / To rise higher, gifts require faith / So dry your eyes and you’ll find a way / Out of the madness, out of the maze / And out of the saddest into the rays / The darkest night turns to day / And every storm lacks rain

The performance, which was well-received, was accompanied by the Sunday Service Choir, Chandler Moore and Kirk Franklin, and ended with a torrential rain that doused the flames. “Nobody has it easy / We all have a cross to bear / But there’s wisdom in this fire / And every moment of your life is a brand new opportunity / We’re not punished, we’re forged / Dance through your darkest moments,” Smith sang at the end of the song.

While those lyrics are certainly a bit corny, and it’s kind of funny that Smith references an altercation he caused by saying they “tried to bleed Will Smith,” something about that strategy seems to be working. Smith and his team received a standing ovation after his performance, and the video has already been viewed nearly half a million times (at the time of writing). Bad Boys: Ride or Die is also still going strong at number four at the box officeWe’ll see what the comeback tour has in store as Smith’s renaissance continues.