On Apr. 19, Jaden Smith released his EP “ERYS Is Coming,” a fitting title for a preview to his full album “ERYS,” reportedly planned for release on May 31.  

Pronounced like “iris,” Jaden’s upcoming album is a companion to his 2017 album “SYRE,” which is the name of the “hypebeast” character/alter-ego (also one of his own middle names) who experiences a coming of age that the album tells over the course of its 17 songs. “ERYS” is supposed to represent the dual, balanced nature of people, hence the inverse spellings of the album titles.

The small taste –– just three songs –– we get from “ERYS,” show that Jaden has evolved into a trap sound, which is a rather drastic shift from his more soft, laid-back earlier music; already, we see how “ERYS” is meant to balance out “SYRE” both sonically and thematically.

The first two songs on the EP, “Pass” and “Beautiful Disruption,” are a solid introduction to Jaden’s trap style: heavy bass, voice distortion and hard-hitting beats, though their lyrics are pretty basic. Jaden has achieved a fairly cohesive sound on the EP, but these first two songs lack lyrical depth compared to the third and final song on the EP, “New Direction.”

It seems that Jaden is able to create some of his more profound songs when he has either solo or co-writing credits, primarily because such songs tend to be his most self-reflective and personal. “New Direction” makes most of its meaning at the very end of the song, “Big drip down in Africa / This year, just how I did in Flint / I tried to tell ’em all, they wasn’t listening / I think it worked to my benefit / Only seein’ nothin’ but the benefits / I just pray to God that somebody get a grip / They yellin’ and tellin’ me let ’em live / I’m guessing the vision’s ahead of ’em.”

Here, Jaden references the positive things he’s done in the recent past, both on a personal and societal level, most notably his contribution to help put an end to Flint’s now five-year long water crisis. These lyrics about making major transformations, as well as the title itself, call back to Jaden’s goal of presenting a new side of himself as an artist. I’ll look forward to hearing the full album and seeing what Jaden will do next in his career.

Find out where you can listen to the EP at http://smarturl.it/jadeneic, and you can order Jaden’s merch at MSFTSrep.com and www.erysiscoming.com. Follow Jaden on Twitter to get the latest updates on the full album.