The King of Auto-Tune is looking to be taken more seriously these days. T-Pain is readying the release of his new mixtape The Heath Ledger Project, which will consist of material that he’s recorded while on the road.

“Well, you know how he died. He kind of went crazy because he was so into being the Joker,” Pain tells staging-rapup.kinsta.cloud of the late actor. “After they finished shooting [The Dark Knight], he couldn’t stop being the Joker. I think he went so crazy trying to master his craft that he died for what he loved doing. He died mastering his craft.”

Worried that his fans will anticipate dark music, the “5 O’Clock” singer assures that the mixtape will be more akin to his familiar, jovial style. “It’s going to be called The Heath Ledger Project because that’s how much I love music,” he explains. “That’s how much passion I have for music. I want to master my craft like [Ledger] tried to do before he died.”

While he’s tweaking his alter ego, he’s lined up the next single off his 2011 album rEVOLVEr, “Turn All the Lights On” featuring Ne-Yo. T-Pain is not looking to cast video vixens for the visuals. “I like normal women. They have the most fun at video shoots,” shares Pain. “When models come in they got all that attitude and don’t dance for real. And they get tired after two takes.”

T-Pain is also planning some serious action for the plot-driven video. “Everything that everybody’s doing with effects, we’re going to do it for real,” he says. “The computer can do a lot, but I’m shooting to do real stuff that’s going to be more amazing than effects.”

–Rajul Punjabi