When Taylor Bennett cemented his vision for his fourth album, Coming of Age, the rapper decided to take more creative risks. For starters, these songs are equally pop-punk, rock and R&B.

Bennett also sings about as much as he raps on the new album. Though he’s done that a bit in the past, he was afraid of jumping into the deep end. Bennett, whose brother is Chance the Rapper, also wanted to the songs to be told from several points of view to challenge the stereotypes of both the characters he sings about and himself, as he came out as bisexual in 2017.

“A lot of people say if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” he said in a call earlier this week from frigid New York City. “But if I’m not uncomfortable when I’m working on a new piece, then I’m not doing something right.”

So, say hello to a new Taylor Bennett. One who works with pop artists like Matt & Kim and Tom Higginson of the Plain White T’s, uses the Smiths and My Chemical Romance as reference points when creating his own songs, writes music that’s formed out of sparkling positivity and “feels like you’re drinking a cup of coffee when you turn it on,” and is OK with failing.

If Bennett seems like he’s looking at the world with a new set of eyes; well, being a new dad of two sons will do that to you.

“With this project, man, I really wanted people to get a better understanding of what I love, and I also wanted to see if I could be successful doing and being myself,” he said.

Bennett began working on the album around 2020. He had his second son, Blake that year. His first, Charlie, arrived in 2018. When he talks about how the new album signifies his coming of age, he compares his own musical development to being a new parent.

He’s learned through failure that in order to be a successful artist, he needed competent management, a booking agent, a music distributor (he praises his, UnitedMasters) and publicist.

“Failure, for me, is a great thing, because it means you get to learn, and you get to try it again,” he said. “Now I have this certain level of understanding of the things that need to also happen for a project. It’s like having a baby; you want to make sure that they have their Pampers, and they have to have the crib ready when you get home. Whatever their vehicle is going to be to transport them into that next level or that next stage, which is me coming of age.”

Bennett felt rejuvenated with the birth of Charlie. Through the connection with his firstborn, the 26-year-old fell in love again with the positive and energizing music he listened to when he was younger, such as Matt & Kim and Plain White T’s, as well as Never Shout Never and English musician Mr Hudson (Benjamin Hudson McIldowie).

Around the same time, he decided to become physically healthier. He started working out regularly and cut all meat besides turkey and seafood out of his diet.

In the video for new single “Fall Short,” Bennett fights off adversaries and rides a motorcycle, which he said isn’t something that he would have considered when he wasn’t as healthy.

“I wanted to be a father that could throw a football with his son,” he said. “Not only is that change physically, which is great for confidence, but mentally. I get a lot more sleep. Those things really do change the level of work that you can put into something.”

Bennett made only the 11 songs on Coming of Age. He said the project bled out of him as a complete entity without unnecessary fat. The first song to be completed was “Good Guy,” which sounds at times like a Blink-182 jam, with elements of emo and even an ‘80s-style hair metal guitar solo.

He’d told his collaborators, DEX Lvl, Dwayne Verner, Jr. and Zxxk, that he wanted the song to sound like running. They were confused until he played them Matt & Kim, The Smiths and “Welcome to the Black Parade.”

The goal was to break the barrier on genre completely.

“I would love hip-hop kids to know David Bowie [and] Elton John. I would love Elton John kids to know Jay-Z. We’re teaching about each other’s culture, but when there’s a lack of conversation, it can feel like a form of segregation.”

Lyrically, “Good Guy” is one of the songs that presents multiple points of view—Bennett’s mission to be more inclusive.

“I was like, ‘Well, there’s the good guy, and the good guy never gets the girl, but what about the girl?’” he said.

The song has many more twists and turns than three minutes and three seconds would typically encompass. Characters are misled. Bennett compares the girl’s situation to that of America itself—“The dream that I hear, I don’t see it”—and reveals that she’s both empowered and “slave to everything that gleams.” Then it’s back to the guy, who’s not so good, either. In the end, Bennett said, it’s clear that neither of these two people are all that great, but they’re still good for each other.

Bennett sings the parts of both the guy and the girl, changing his voice for each character. It’s even more obvious on “Today,” where one character’s lines are sung in falsetto. As an independent artist, he said he has more opportunity to try these things without pressure from “some guy in a suit.” With his music, he wanted to make the same sort of statement he made by coming out as bisexual, and got the conversation started with 2018 album Be Yourself.

“I really wanted to make something where it doesn’t matter if you’re gay; it doesn’t matter if you’re straight; it doesn’t matter if you’re Black, white, rich or poor, and I really, honestly, think this is the power of music,” he said.

For “Don’t Wait Up,” Bennett worked with Mr Hudson (Jay-Z, Ye), who he says, matter-of-factly, is his favorite musician and a mentor. After becoming friends with McIldowie, who recorded a part on “I Miss You” on Bennett’s 2019 EP, The American Reject, McIldowie advised him on parenting, getting healthy and making music. He compares McIldowie to the likes of David Bowie and Elton John—a singular voice who’s not a product of his environments.

“When I was a kid, I used to sit up on this phone with my elementary school girlfriend and sing her Mr Hudson while her dad was away at war,” he said.

For the new song, Bennett had the lyrics finished and then convinced Mr Hudson to add the beat. After he’d agreed, Bennett was encouraged to reach out to others like Matt & Kim and Higginson on social media.

Coming of Age has Taylor Bennett singing more than ever before. He said he was intimidated by the vocal prowess of hip-hop artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat and Roddy Ricch, who effortlessly switch back and forth between singing and rapping. He was afraid that if he gave it his all, he would still fail. But eventually, he realized that everyone fails at some point, and it’s better to fail by trying. That’s what “Fall Short” is about.

“It’s all in God’s hands, and if I do fall short, then at least I know that I did it being myself and not being something else,” he said. “I just want to make sure that if I fall, I’m the one to place that sword right there.”

The new album also continues Bennett’s streak of avoiding sampling. At first, it was just a coincidence. He didn’t need other’s music to make his own. And since he was an independent artist from the beginning, he didn’t exactly have the money to secure the licensing rights to use them. He saw how even a successful major label artist like Juice Wrld could get in trouble and have most of the earnings from hugely successful albums be taken away. That was a learning experience.

But now, most importantly, he avoids sampling because he wants to make sure that the great works of prior Black artists don’t lose their significance. He doesn’t want to dilute the Black narrative in American history, citing the accomplishments of Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson.

“Whether it was the Temptations, and the symphony and the ballad of musical instrumentation that had never been heard before on a Black record—these things were groundbreaking,” he said. “Then, also, the messages that the songs hold dearly. They’re the best example of Black folks having a platform to use their voices freely and to speak on so many different things, like Marvin Gaye with ‘What’s Going On?’ or ‘Dancing in the Street’ [by Martha Reeves & the Vandellas]. Those songs were about revolution. They were about becoming full, respected people. …

“When we do sample … it does show a new generation of children music that they might not be exposed to, but then it can also sometimes have the opposite impact, where they don’t know the original work. They resonate with whatever the messaging is in [the new] song. It’s so important, as an African American artist, for us to know our history, and just as people in general, to know our history is very important. So that was also a reason why I continue to stay away from sampling. If you like my music, I want you to like it because you like my music.”

Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter.