Classic University REALNESS!!!

Maxwell may appear smooth and suave onstage, but he says it's all just an act.

The soul singer says he's actually insecure — so a concert tour last fall helped boost his confidence about releasing a new album."Just the encouragement, you can't imagine," Maxwell said at a reception Tuesday. "I'm an insecure person at best. ... I feel like going on the road, I got so much inspiration.".

On the other hand…Maxwell says "The way I make good music, it's not about what's expected of me," he said recently after a Manhattan reception for his upcoming CD. "It's hard to make good music when you're thinking about what somebody wants you to do." So he didn't think about what the fans or his record label wanted. As we say in the 'hood, Max did him. It's been eight years since he released his last album.

"It was a lot easier than I thought it would be," he said about his prolonged vacation. "It was a lot easier than I thought it was to enjoy. [My career] started when I was 21. I don't want to complain about my life, because I don't want to sound crazy to a person that's living a life. I've been blessed. But the common things people take for granted, I never had for a long stretch, such as riding on the train."

"I feel like I've relished these few years, where I got to kick it, where I got to meet girls who didn't know who I was, where they would be like, 'What's your name?' " he said. "Knowing you're appreciated for you as a person was something that was very easy to be into for a while. “
"What tends to happen when records are coming out and all the things that come around you, you're never sure [how genuine people are]," he added. "I'm very insecure, and I want to know people appreciate real things. You want to know somebody's around you not because of what you could offer or who you are."

Maxwell, through the inspiration of his fans, seems to have put his insecurities aside for now. His new work of art BLACKsummers'night, due to be released July 7 and marks Maxwell's first album in almost 8 years, is a nine-track Columbia Records set, the first installment of a planned trilogy, was recorded with a ten-piece band. The first single, the lullaby-like "Pretty Wings," was released Tuesday. The second and third parts of the Trilogy are supposed to be released in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

The single “Pretty Wings” made the highest debut in four years at Billboard’s Adult R&B chart where it landed at no.15 this week. But that is not the only chart victory for Maxwell. The former “Fortunate” singer leaped up to no.22 on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop songs chart which also scored him the best debut by a male artist in a year.

When asked what kind of reception he expected for the album, he said: "I try not to live by expectations. "If you just do it with love, the rest will be taken care of."

"I wanted to be like, 'I like how this sounds,' " he said of his pressure-free recording process this time around." 'I don't care if people buy it or not. It makes me feel good.' "

I really like what he is saying here, it seems that Maxwell is so real as a person that the fame and celebrity actually stalled his career. As a fan, I am glad he is back making great music, but as a human being, it sickens me that he has to go through this just to do what he loves. Do you Maxwell!