Evolving as an artist can look different for everyone. Some change their persona entirely, while others forge a completely new sound. But then, there are those who, after years of creating crowd-pleasing hits, finally get to embrace the path they've always wanted to follow. This is the case for five-time GRAMMY-nominated artist Akon, who is beginning to carve a lane for himself in the country music scene.
"Country is a passion project. It's an opportunity for me to actually do what I always wanted to do," Akon tells GRAMMY.com. "Now that I'm fully independent and own my masters, I'm free to do what I need to do and put my money where I want to put it."
It may be a rather surprising switch for fans of the Senegalese-American singer/songwriter, who built a chart-topping career off of hip-hop and R&B bangers like "I Wanna Love You" and "Smack That." While that has largely remained his focus since his mid-2000s heyday, Akon has also dabbled in the dance music world, and even released a Spanish-language album, El Negreeto, in 2019. But as two of his 2025 releases — collaborations with Rascal Flatts' Gary LeVox ("Hold the Umbrella," which also features De La Ghetto) and rising country singer Josh Ross ("Drunk Right Now," a reimagined version of his 2008 hit "Right Now") — hint, country music feels as organic to him as anything he's ever done.
In fact, Akon loves the genre so much, he plans to remake his biggest hits with country flair. He's keeping things tight-lipped regarding the project's featured guests or release date, but hints that it will be released by the end of the year.
The new musical venture doesn't mean Akon is completely pivoting from his original sound, though. In the last few years, he's released a number of collaborations across the hip-hop, R&B, Latin, and Afrobeats genres, as well as a few one-off solo singles, like his reflective 2024 anthem "Akon's Beautiful Day," that feel in line with the hits that put him on the map. What's more, his live sets still highlight his beloved hits, and TikTok has even caught on to one of his oldest gems (more on that later).
Between celebrating his past and exploring new sounds, Akon insists that he's never been more thrilled about making music than he is now.
"When you [have] been in the business for so long, you start to lose your love for it," the singer explains. "My mindset and how I'm approaching all this is totally different [now]. My energy is completely at an all time high. I feel like a brand new artist again."
Akon caught up with GRAMMY.com about reigniting his fire for music, being embraced by the country community, gaining a younger audience, and doing a potential legacy tour.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
How would you describe this new era you're entering?
I think this new era of me is going to be more on the executive side of things. I really want to reshape music back to feel-good music, music that reminds you of moments in your life. There's a lot of music out there, but they're not really giving me the nostalgic [feeling] where, 10 years from now, I'll be able to play this record and be like, This was a classic.
I think a lot of records are quickly put together just for the sake of getting views and streams. I really want to come back into the music industry and give people music that really feels good, that means something to their everyday lives again.
You've been working on redoing your whole catalog in the style of country music. Where did this idea come from?
Interestingly enough, I grew up listening to nothing but country and reggae. I was introduced to hip-hop when I came to the U.S., but in Africa around that time, there was no such thing as a genre — music was just good music.
When I came to the States and started doing music, I was writing records [as if they were] country. I think that's what also allowed me to have that difference in style and melody because I was using African melodies with the country state of mind, compiled together with hip-hop beats. Even now, as I'm recording all my new songs, they go back to the original way that I wanted to do it, and it flows right, as if these songs were already country.
You recently collaborated with country artist Josh Ross on a reimagined version of your hit single "Right Now," to create "Drunk Right Now." Tell me about that process.
I love Josh Ross. I've always built my career helping others build their careers. I always had a real energy and excitement for working with up-and-coming artists that I believe are the future and are going to take the world by storm. Josh is one of those guys. He's making tremendous headway in country music.
He's been a fan since he was a kid, and even got some country renditions of my older songs. I was like, Wow, he fits the profile of what we're looking for. So, we ended up doing the song, Josh picked it, and the rest is history. I felt like he was the perfect artist to start the process because of the fact that he's been a fan since day one. It made all the sense in the world to do it with him.
Aside from "Right Now," what other songs do you plan on recreating?
I'm redoing "Smack That," "Locked Up," "Sexy Bitch," "Mr. Lonely," "Don't Matter," and "Hypnotized." Pretty much all the main hits.
Now that you're entering the country scene, have you felt embraced or have you faced some pushback? Artists like Shaboozey, Beyoncé, and K. Michelle have had challenges being fully accepted into the community — so I want to know what your experience has been like?
Mine's been amazing and super welcoming. I feel like I'm at home — maybe because of this route that I chose. I really wanted to not only pay homage to the genre, but work with the people that helped build it as well. I think that's probably the mistake a lot of [artists] make. I look at the idea of what it took to build that genre, where it's at now, and how long it took for it to become mainstream. It's a matter of respecting the genre, the creative process, and involving the people that help build the genre itself.
My whole album is being made in Nashville, with all the biggest writers, producers and shakers that've been a part of country forever. I'm involving everyone, but not only that — for the purpose of respect, I also wanted to learn and make sure that when I do it, it sounds authentic as well.
More than anything, I wanted them to accept it. It's almost like trying to do Afrobeats. You'd think it's easy to do, but if you go to places in Africa, where it's flourishing, you get a better product. You're involving the people that're there to help build it. You get a better reception.
Your 2005 single, "Soul Survivor" with Jeezy has become a popular sound on TikTok as of late. Have you seen the trend? If so, what was your first reaction?
Oh yeah, I definitely caught the trend. It feels amazing, especially to share a street record like that and watch it go mainstream in a way. When that record came out, it did what it was supposed to do, but it didn't cross over to the pop side. But with this trend, it gave it that pop market and pop audience. It gave us a young generation that probably didn't know what that record was.
I know sometimes you may think everybody knows this record. I thought that too. I thought everybody knew me — until I went on [the radio show] On The Radar, and then I realized that this generation didn't even know who I was. It feels good to be accepted by the younger generation and also to be respected, and people still know that you're relevant enough to entertain the generation that you came up.
Is there a greatest hits tour in the works?
Absolutely! I'm putting the world tour together as we speak. All of this will add to the excitement and the rebuilding of myself, and reintroducing my catalog to the younger generation — giving them the experience they weren't born to see. But more than anything, I'm giving my current audience the re-experience of what they thought this was, but what it is today.
I'm approaching all this totally differently, my energy is completely at an all-time high. I feel like a brand new artist again, and this is the feeling I wanted to feel. When you've been in the business for so long, you start to lose your love for it. Now because of the internet, and seeing how people react to certain songs on social media, it gives you another creative level to explore and it also gives you the opportunity to entertain a brand new market as well. It makes me feel amazing to see that this new opportunity exists for me today.
After so many years in the industry, how do you continue to nurture that passion and fire for your work?
I think it goes back to finding your passion, and music is a passion for me. My granddad always said, whatever you do for your profession, make sure you love it, and make sure it's something that you would actually do for free. Anything that you do all the time, you're going to be great at it, and what you're great at, people will pay you for that service.
The first half of my career, it was all about the money — it was more of a business for me. Now, it's more fun. It's not even about the money, because I'm in a good place. So now, I can creatively put any and everything I want to do out there and enjoy doing it without having to worry about no pushback and comments.
Aside from the upcoming project, what can listeners and fans expect from you in the future?
We just refurbished Konvict Muzik into Konvict Kulture and we got a lot of new artists that are dropping music. The whole idea is to push every artist that I believe in, give them the platform to be able to come out while opening the door for them to really flourish. We got Sheesh from Elkhart, Indiana. Those are the guys that I featured on "Ghetto Livin," (released June 2025).
We're also going to be introducing a lot of new artists as we go. I got CAMINO, who's my country artist based in Nashville and he'll be dropping as well, too. I'm trying to put out 10-15 artists a year, and just give them all opportunities to get to that final stop.