WILLOW has released her new single ‘t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l feat. Travis Barker’, out now via MSFTSMusic / Roc Nation Records, via Polydor in the UK.
Willow Smith’s previous music may not have necessarily been posted on the pages of RAMzine, though this particular writer was obsessed with ‘Whip My Hair’ which was out 10 years ago! However, Willow has been working on a new album and has ventured into the pop-punk/alt-rock world; if this first track is a good representation of what’s to come then this will be an evolution that we are ready to see!
Willow says: “I am so grateful for this tune because it was created in such an introspective time (during the first couple months of quarantine)”. “It was the song that proved to me that I needed to let go of the insecurities I had about making a project of this genre”
Watch ‘t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l feat. Travis Barker’, here:
One major influence for the direction of the new record comes from her own mother Jada Pinkett Smith. These days, the two co-host the Facebook Watch talk show Red Table Talk with her grandmother Adrienne Banield-Norris. But prior to that, Pinkett had a rocker past that she fulfilled alongside her acting career. Pinkett formed the nu metal band Wicked Wisdom when her daughter was an infant. “I was always so inspired by the power of her voice,” Willow says. Wicked Wisdom was at their most active during her most formative years. The group has released two albums, opened for Britney Spears on her Onyx Hotel Tour in 2004 and a year later appeared at Ozzfest. While she admired her mom’s musical route, Willow was sceptical of her own ability to channel that rock side. “I never felt like I could sing that kind of music because I was always trained to sing R&B and pop.”
Letting go of that insecurity proved to be a breakthrough when she realized how influential R&B and pop vocalists are on her pop-punk heroes like Hayley Williams, Gerard Way and Patrick Stump. She used the soulful range of her own vocal chops to add a fresh flare to the mosh-ready records she wrote for this release and learned how to stop looking at that training as a disadvantage. “I realized that it’s not my voice that can’t sing this kind of music. I was afraid to sing this kind of music because I wasn’t sure what people would think.”
Willow’s forthcoming album will feature Travis Barker, Avril Lavigne and more.
