McKnight Jr. offers big take on life’s journey with ‘Junior’ dropping Sept. 23

August 29, 2022

Being the son of a big-name entertainer can be a blessing and a curse, and Brian McKnight Jr. is showing where he and his collaborator, DJ Pleez, are in that life with the upcoming album “Junior,” dropping on all platforms on Sept. 23.

“It’s an autobiography, definitely a big take, current-event-wise on where I am in my psyche, my love life, and just who I am in general,” McKnight said. “I think the album, from top to bottom, you get a sense of who I am and what I stand for and the journey that Pleez, my collaborator, and I have been on this last four or five years. We haven't even been in the same room and have already put out six projects, this being the first full-length album. ‘Breathe Again’ and ‘Nobody but You,’ are out now and ‘All to Myself’ comes out Aug. 26. Then the Album drops on Sept. 23. I’m super, super excited.”

McKnight started in the music business at an early age and is the son of Grammy-nominated R&B and Soul artist Brian McKnight. McKnight has been writing, producing and releasing original music for the better part of the last decade.

In 2012 he formed the rock group BRKN RBTZ (Broken Robots) that included his brother, Niko McKnight, and released “Marry Your Daughter,” which became a huge Youtube hit with over 52 million streams. In 2020 he re-recorded and re-released that hit with Tarsier Records and the song gained over 25 million more streams and counting.

McKnight said the new 10-track album, “Junior,” has something for everyone.

“The album itself is about 45 minutes in run time, we’re not wasting any time,” McKnight said. “I don’t believe there’s one filler on the album, you can listen to this thing from top to bottom and there will definitely be something in there that, even if you yourself don’t personally enjoy it, you know someone you can send one of these songs to that may need to hear it. There’s a lot of inspirational music.

“The best part of this album is that it all comes from a place of wanting to inspire. Whether you're an aspiring artist, singer-songwriter or really any type of creator who is struggling with the uncertainty of your path, I hope this album can help and uplift. That's why we named it "Junior," because that's me. And I want people to know that I’m going through the same thing, no matter who I am, where I came from, who my parents are, you know that at the end of the day I’m working just as hard as you are.”

McKnight said he and DJ Pleez met on an industry website soundbetter.com where people can search for others to help with projects, and they’ve become fast friends.

“We’ve really started to amass this incredible catalogue of music that’s been on Young and the Restless and a few other shows,” McKnight said. “I think this album is the culmination of what we’ve been working towards as this duo that we’ve become and I couldn’t be more excited for people to hear the whole thing. It really is a story, it is an incredible story I think.”

McKnight said he wrote “Breathe Again” at the beginning of the pandemic lockdown and it embodies how everyone around him felt as they struggled with the isolation forced on them by COVID-19.

“It is really just embodying what everyone in the world may have been thinking at that time of wanting to get out, wanting to be somewhere that they felt safe, wanting to be somewhere where they could literally breathe again,” he said. “Not to be on the nose about it, but that's even where I was. This really is a personal song about how I was feeling, someone that’s traveled, who’s been able to get out, who knows what it’s like outside of LA, outside of America and feeling for those people who may never get that chance or didn’t get that chance. I think of all the people that passed during that time that may not have gotten that opportunity to get out of their hometown or find somewhere new, find their people and that really became a huge focal point for where I started to write from at that time. ‘Breathe Again,’ really put that into perspective.”

McKnight said the single “Nobody But You” is the “spearhead for the relationship side of the album.”

“I feel like the album itself is split into two themes,” he said. “It’s more like a dramedy that gets real at the end. You’ve got this guy who’s been a player, who has made as many mistakes as possible in a relationship who has finally found someone that he’s willing to put it all on the line for. And that really led the way for the rest of the songs from that guy on the album as well, songs like ‘All to Myself,’ and others where I’m literally talking to that love-of-my-life character. It just gives the meat to the story about really not wanting anybody else, really being focused, really being all in, which is a theme that I think has been missing, especially in R&B, especially from a black male artist.”