Eric Aldwin Bellinger Jr. has come a long way since his career jump-started with 2014’s “I Don’t Want Her.” A Grammy-winning songwriting career and roughly 45 projects later, the crooner’s decades of hard work are about to pay off with what many will consider to be his magnum opus.
Bellinger’s eponymous new album is his Thriller and Confessions, all rolled into one. The crooner was already placed on a certain pedestal when his new album cover art featured that signature R&B lean, but pairing that with a self-titled album? None of this should be taken lightly. Bellinger peeled back the layers of himself as a father, husband, son, and artist, and it only happened because he’s now just discovering those parts for himself. The confidence that stemmed from that brave “self-healing” was boosted, thanks to his manager, Lee Villegas, who helped him “attack those different types of song concepts.”
He explained, “I’ve never had this album. Now I’m feeling like people are gonna be able to have some ammo to champion the movement.”
For the bulk of his career, that “movement” has been independent, which led to longevity and success. However, this new era comes with new partners and a new label, Berry Gordy’s legendary Tamla/Motown imprint and Rodney Jerkins’ Evolve Music Group. “I’m commanding and demanding what’s rightfully mine without saying a word,” Bellinger noted. “I didn’t wanna sign too early, but I felt like it was just the right time where I had been in rotation and still had just enough relevance. So, I was like, ‘Now let me strike while the iron is hot.’ I never looked at it like I was competing, but now I wanna go No. 1. I wanna get four Grammys. There’s just things that need to be plugged in in order for you to really maximize as an artist out here because these big artists have a powerhouse behind them.”
Despite all that’s brewing around him, he admits that he made this album for himself. “I saw an interview where Kendrick Lamar said music is supposed to be artistic expression and that couldn’t be more on the nail of what this album is,” said the father of two. “These are my experiences and my stories that I really wasn’t planning on sharing with anybody. ‘Thank You For Telling Me No,’ ‘Heavy Is The Crown,’ some of these are like burdens that maybe it’s like you wanna bury, but in making them songs and giving them life, it’s just dope because I’m getting more listeners who are connecting with me.”
THE ALBUM
Eric Bellinger (out on August 21, 2026) will arguably become the best album in his catalog, and just like his past releases, it’ll all make sense later. It’s been nearly a three-year journey, marking the longest process to make an album of his. That was because he wanted to sit with each producer when their schedules aligned. He worked with Oak Felder, Troy Taylor, Harmony Samuels, Khris Riddick-Tynes, Antonio Dixon, and more. One particular track, “Closure,” reminded us of a hybrid between Usher’s “Confessions” and Brandy and Wanya Morris’ “Brokenhearted.”
On its conception, Bellinger explained, “When we were writing it, me and Harmony actually had a long conversation. I was like, ‘Man, I have to buckle down on my truth.’ For me, when I fell in love and me and my wife got reacquainted, you just go. When you find that one, you know. There’s really no other way to say it. I had to just go guns blazing. Anybody that I was talking to or dealing with at the time, I didn’t say, ‘Hey, so I wanted to let you know.’ I didn’t do that. I guess you could say [this is] like an apology, just for leading anyone on ever. As a man, even going back and just cleansing any uncertainty.”
The hardest song to write for the 42-year-old, though, was “Just Like You,” a heartfelt tribute to his late mother. It was initially called “To This Day” and spoke to his ongoing grief. However, Villegas challenged him to go deeper, and he wound up celebrating his mother instead of mourning her.
Overall, the album will cater less to commercial success. “We didn’t go for any singles,” Bellinger revealed. “Like, normally I’m like, ‘What’s the single? We need to up the BPM. We need to make sure we got something for the radio, something for the club.’ This time it was like, ‘No. Which emotion did we not tackle? Did we tackle all the emotions? All right, we good.’”
With his emotions at the forefront, Bellinger is looking forward to connecting with fans more in depth as well when he tours the album next year. “The plan is to be able to perform the whole thing so they can experience Eric Bellinger in its entirety,” he quipped.
It’s also the first album where he has no co-writers or featured artists.
“It was almost like, to me, no one could be a part. Not this time. Maybe remixes, but this initial drop needs to be people learning me for real,” he noted, adding that his new home under Tamla/Motown had something to do with that decision. “With it being under Motown, I’m gonna do real music. I’m gonna really sing. I’m finna do everything. You think of the other artists that dropped on this label like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell, and now Eric Bellinger. I’m with such perfect company for what I’m trying to do and the legacy that I’m trying to leave behind.”
Bold Enough To Plant The Seeds
In terms of his own legacy, it’s bigger than his wife La’Myia and children, Elysha and Eazy. Bellinger believes “it’s being bold enough to plant seeds, but being okay with not seeing them blossom.”
He shared candidly, “I’m in a place where I know what needs to be done, and I’m gonna do it whether I get to reap the benefits or not. That’s for the cause of music. For the betterment of artist development, I’m willing to stand in the gap and help out 45 artists, whether it’s other artists that I’m writing for, my artists signed to my label, artists that are just looking to me as their mentor, people on Instagram hitting me for a DM.”
“I’m in a position to pass on knowledge, to let my trials and errors be someone’s stepping stones that can expedite their trajectory, you know? I think God sees that character in me. He gave it to me, but He sees me actually exercising the ‘pay it forward’ motto, and that’s why He just keeps blessing me. He keeps blessing me because I’m so eager to bless others.”
Having a record like “Heavy Is The Crown,” Bellinger opened up about the pressure associated with being “Eric Bellinger.”
“I do so many things that go unseen because I don’t do them to be seen. I do them because I know it’s necessary. I do them because I know that if no one else picks up that slack right there, the whole train could go off track. I don’t even need the credit. I just go do what’s necessary. So with doing that in totally different fields for my whole life, it’s like, ‘Man, y’all don’t even know.’ If I do [something] for a cause and not for applause, the result’s gonna be different, but God see it. God see me. He gonna be waiting for me at the gates. We gonna have our own handshake. Feel me?”
Looking back on his career trajectory, he’s grateful for a humble albeit meteoric beginning. With “I Don’t Want Her,” Bellinger attained immediate success and admittedly didn’t know what to do with it. “I had a long gap where I was actually pursuing those things again, and I was like, ‘Oh, it ain’t as easy. I thought you could just drop a song.’ It’s not how it goes,” he reflected. “So, it taught me to appreciate what I felt. God gave me a sampler of what I could expect and what was to come. I’m glad I got to feel that because it sustains you and gave me enough ammo to push to where it could become reality.”
The RNB Tour
Bellinger is currently on the road with Usher and Chris Brown for their joint R&B Tour. He’d been in conversation with both men about opening for their respective tours in the past, but it never panned out. Like most things in his career, however, this redirection was him “being preserved and being protected” because “this time with them coming together, it’s just larger than life.” It also helps promote his own wave properly because he’s got the machine ready to “capitalize and maximize” this opportunity.
He further nudged that this moment with the men of R&B is long overdue.
“We need it. We’ve needed it for a long, long time,” Bellinger explained. “I feel like rappers come together. I even feel like the ladies of R&B come together. I think right now it’s showing so much unity that it’s putting R&B in a space where it’s cool again, and everybody wants to do it. For us to be on tour? We’re the runners. We’re the soul singers. It’s been too long where people say, ‘Runs don’t matter. Soul don’t matter. You can just put a vibe-y, airy vibe on [everything.] Impress me, bruh.”
The evolution of Eric Bellinger has impressed us undoubtedly. This “honesty hour,” as he called it, will hopefully open up some hearts and allow people to understand that it’s not as “easy” as you may think to be Eric Bellinger. His legacy is cemented, confirming that his name will live on far beyond a catchy hit or viral moment.
