Success gets in way of Maxwell’s new CD

May 29, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

NEW YORK

The plan was for Maxwell to release the second album in his “BLACKsummers’night” trilogy this summer. But success is getting in the way.

The best-selling crooner said the popularity of his comeback disc is forcing him to delay the release of the next one.

“These are good problems, I guess,” Maxwell joked this week.

“I had a plan — every year something new, and I thought that that would be a good enough time to sort of give people space to feel like they weren’t being inundated by what I was doing,” he said.

“I’ve had this entire trilogy with me for years, for four or five years, so I can wait. I just want people to get it when they want it. ... At this point, it’s in their hands.”

“BLACKsummers’night” — his first album in eight years — has sold more than 1 million copies since it was released last summer. It won the 37-year-old the first two Grammys of his career earlier this year.

He’s just launched a tour with singer-actress Jill Scott; he will also be touring with Erykah Badu and Melanie Fiona on other dates.

This is his third tour in two years, so he’s made some changes to the song list to cater to his audience.

“We’re doing songs that we don’t really always do, because I’ve gotten so many requests for those songs,” he said. “It would be blasphemous if I didn’t do this song or that song.”

While Maxwell and Scott perform separate sets, he’s hoping that at some point they can join together on stage.

“Once we get into a flow, which is coming pretty soon, I think we’ll ultimately be able to craft or do something,” he said.

He’s also hoping to meet more listeners, teaming up with Renaissance Hotels for meet-and-greets in various cities.

“It was fun,” he said of a recent get-together in Chicago, joking: “I wish I could have had more to drink — but it’s all about soda water and wine and things like that right now, seeing that I’m on the road.”