BIG MONEY era begins: Jon Batiste announces new album arriving August 22

Jon Batiste has officially announced the release of his upcoming album BIG MONEY, which will showcase his venture into Americana blues territory. The new album is set to drop on August 22 and follows Batiste's last album, Beethoven Blues, which was released last year. The album is set to have nine tracks in total, and an impressive roster of collaborations has already been lined up for the album.

With BIG MONEY, Jon Batiste aims to bring the emphasis back on traditional American musical forms. Batiste had already announced his plans to take off on a North American Big Money Tour a couple of months ago, creating excitement for the upcoming album. The title track has already been released, and Jon Batiste has described BIG MONEY in the following words:

"This is the circus of love. Under our tent there is revival and joy. You don’t lose your soul—you gain it. When Mama says, ‘Don’t be a dummy, everybody chasing that BIG MONEY,’ Mama is pushing you—while warning you. It cuts both ways."

What has Jon Batiste said about BIG MONEY?

Jon Batiste's upcoming album BIG MONEY draws heavily on blues and Americana influences, and is set to have 9 tracks. According to Rolling Stone, No ID (known for his work with Jay-Z and Kanye West) has produced five of the album’s nine tracks, and the presence of other collaborators such as Andra Day and Randy Newman has only caused more excitement amongst fans.

Jon Batiste opened up about the themes of the album in an interview with Rolling Stone on July 11, where he stated:

"I’m just now making an explicit Americana blues statement, but for me, it’s at the beginning. It’s always the undercurrent. I think about everything that I have done, and it all is in some way a form of homage to the blues."

BIG MONEY's title track has already been released and has made a lot of waves on social media. While the whole album was completed in just two weeks, the album's title track, particularly, has caught the public's eye. This is partially due to the track's insistence upon keeping musical traditions alive in the age of technological advancement.

While addressing the surge of Artificial Intelligence in the music industry, Jon Batiste says:

"I think about this album being a direct statement of the importance of people keeping these traditions alive. AI is not going to ever replace this sort of practice. But I do fear that in the short term we’ll forget what this means, and why it’s important, unless artists make statements that are definitively of the essence of communal expression in the traditions of our music, and make them in a way that’s relevant to the contemporary mind and contemporary culture."

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Apart from the tilte track Big Money, the official tracklist for the album also includes songs such as Lean on My Love (feat. Andra Day), Lonely Avenue (ft. Randy Newman), Petrichor, Do it all again, Pinnacle, At all, Maybe, and Angels (ft. No ID & Billy Bob Bo Bob).

Batiste's North American Big Money Tour has already been announced and will begin shortly after the album release on August 27. Looking back at the artist's discography and his Grammy-winning credentials, the upcoming album is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing releases of this year.

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