Jaden Smith, the youngest son of Will Smith, lives life a little differently, and so does his famous family. After all, when it comes to living the high life, no one does it better than Hollywood's elite. Jaden Christopher Syre Smith also known by the mononym Jaden was thrust into the spotlight at a young age, and experienced fame and glamour from the moment he was born. Given that his parents are reportedly worth a combined $320 million, according to media reports, it's no surprise Jaden has experienced all the finer things in life at a very young age and enjoyed it.

With both of Jaden Smith's parents being ultra-famous stars, it only made sense he would follow in their footsteps, much what his parents intended.

Born in Malibu, California to actors Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, Jaden attended New Village Leadership Academy before being home-schooled by his parents. Jaden has an older half-brother, Trey Smith and a younger sister, Willow Smith. Growing up, he was fascinated by his parent’s film career and showed interest at a very young age to pursue the same. But soon he realized that this also took a toll on him when he was left all by himself when his actor parents were on work. He has spoken about this loneliness widely in the media.

Before fame could catch up with the Smith siblings, Jaden and his brother and sister were youth ambassadors for Project Zambi, which provides assistance in conjunction with Hasbro for Zambian children orphaned by life threatening disease AIDS.

Smitten by the film bug, Jaden made his major role debut in the 2006 film ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ playing the role of Christopher, the son of Chris Gardner, his father's onscreen son. For his role, Jaden won an MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance in 2007. The same time along with Abigail Breslin, he presented two awards at the 2007 79th Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. In 2008, he appeared in the remake of the 1951 classic science fiction film 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' alongside Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly, which was directed by the acclaimed Scott Derrickson. In 2010, he starred in 'The Karate Kid' a remake of the 1984 film opposite the legendary Jackie Chan.

Three years later in May 2013, the father – son duo starred once again, playing father and son, in ‘After Earth’.

With his father not only an actor, but a singer and rapper, was music a career choice Jaden to take up? Jaden knew only better as he considered his father, Will Smith, as an inspiration when he stated in an interview, "He started in music and transitioned to movies. I started with movies, and then I transitioned into making music, I look at him and use it as a blueprint of how good of a person he is, but not necessarily the success that he reached”. Will Smith is famous for the 1997 theme song Men in Black from the film ‘Men in Black’ and the funky up-tempo track Getting’ Jiggy With It, from his debut solo album ‘Big Willie Style’. Thereafter Will Smith released four solo albums and almost a dozen albums with DJ Jazzy Jeff and other musicians.

In 2010, Jaden joined a tribe who was on the verge of making a big name for himself when he rapped alongside Canadian singer Justin Bieber in the song Never Say Never, a song that peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified 5× Platinum in the US. On 1^st October, 2012, Jaden released his debut mixtape, The Cool Café and a sequel to The Cool Cafe on 8^th November 8, 2014, titled ‘CTV 2’.

With a lot of music in his kitty, Jaden started work on his debut studio album in 2014, which finally saw a release to much fanfare. He named it Syre (taken from his middle name) with a lead single of the same name, followed by three more singles, Batman, Watch Me and Falcon. The album was finally released on 17^th November, 2017 and debuted at number 24 on the US Billboard 200 charts and clocking at no. 3 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.

Around this time, Jaden raised controversy in 2016 after modeling in a women’s wear campaign for French fashion house Louis Vuitton wearing a skirt. Smith continued to wear womenswear throughout the rest of 2016 supporting the cause he says “would counter kids being bullied at school”. Jaden was the first male model to model women's wear for Louis Vuitton. He later also created a denim-line with fashion brand G-Star in 2018.

Fashion conscious, Jaden is "in a league of his own" in terms of fashion and a "superstar who has taken fashion to an entirely different level. Smith has called American rapper Tyler the Creator, Batman, and Poseidon his icons when it comes to fashion. Batman's dark, gothic scenery has influenced the clothing he has created through his brand MSFTSrep. He is known to have worn Batman protective armor to Kanye West's and Kim Kardashian's wedding and his prom.

To focus more on his album, Jaden took a break from acting following the release of his mixtape, Cool Tape Vol. 2 to focus on music, returning to act in Netflix original, The Get Down in 2017.

A month after the release of his debut effort, Jaden announced that another of his project named ‘Syre: The Electric Album’ would be out soon. Leading up to the release of the project, he released the single Ghost featuring Christian Rich. Six months later the hip hop star released the entire album exclusively on social media handle Instagram marking his 20^th birthday. The project was later released four days later to streaming platforms. But what is the ‘Syre: The Electric Album’ all about? It’s basically a guitar-centric rework of Smith's studio album ‘Syre’ and is influenced heavily by his musical influences - rock legends Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles' ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ album.  Less than a year later on 5^th July, 2019, Jaden officially released his second studio album ‘Erys’ which debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200.

During the ongoing Corona virus pandemic, 22 year old Jaden (8^th July 1988) released a new single Cabin Fever, from his third album ‘CTV3 Cool Tape Vol. 3’ which he describes is a completion of the trilogy of the previous Cool tapes he had done in the past and also completing the trilogies of both his albums. Fans would be happy to learn that the album includes collaboration with Jaden’s friend and previous collaborator Justin Bieber on the song Falling For You.

Will Smith has been a regular to Indian shores and is known to love Bollywood. In 2018, Will was in India and was seen having a gala time with Gully Boy star Ranveer Singh and producer Karan Johar. He was also seen shaking a leg alongside Tiger Shroff, Ananya Panday and Tara Sutaria in ‘Student of the Year 2’.

Now fast forward to February 2019 and you had Jaden visit India, making us fall in love with him as we saw him as a kid in ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’. The young star performed his debut set in India at the sixth edition of Vh1 Supersonic 2019 in Pune. The international sensation set the stage blazing with his performance of some of his finest hits, with the crowd grooving to his songs Ghost, Watch Me and Batman, also rapping along to his rhythmic beats. He also sang songs from ‘The Electric Album’. The crowd came in huge numbers to witness the youngest and the most popular rapper at the festival perform live. His entry with the Indian flag was a moment that will be edged in the hearts of every single person present at the festival. He stated that he has an undying love for desi movies and a strong desire to be a part of Bollywood, though nothing as of now has materialized. On his arrival at the Mumbai airport, he was seen obliging fans for selfies and signing autographs. He kept his look super casual wearing a grey hoodie and dark track pants. He was all smiles for the paparazzi.

On the personal front, it’s no hiding fact about Jaden and Tyler’s relationship status which has always managed to make headlines. In end 2018, Jaden has often opened up about his sexuality and dropped hints that he is dating Tyler The Creator, whereas Tyler has never given a precise and clear answer about the same. Thus it’s a worry for they are not sure if Jaden and Tyler The Creator are serious about each other or just playing with the audience. 

But going back in time, we can surely confirm that Jaden dated actress Sarah Snyder from 2015 to 2017. Infact Snyder inspired numerous songs on Jaden’s debut album ‘Syre’. Prior to this, model and fashion designer Sofia Richie (younger daughter of singer Lionel Richie) and Jaden have been close friends for years and go way back together when there were whispers that they were a romantic item in 2012 at the age of 14.

Not many know that Jaden is infact a vegetarian and has a mobile restaurant providing free vegan dinners for the homeless which was widely reported. However his sustenance on a vegan lifestyle caused his parents to worry following a rapid decline in health that led to his skin turning gray. But he’s remained a vegan even now.

Photos courtesy: Vh1 Supersonic 2019

By Verus Ferreira