“I thought this was a really dope outlet for a new energy I wanted to bring to my music,” she says.Having worked on the tracks that will be featured on the upcoming LP during the pandemic, she began recording demos that she would later re-record when she felt like she could safely enter a studio. While she has considered her writing process very solitary and insular, this even more siloed approach helped her capture the rawness of her new sound. Willow channels the alt rock, pop-punk and emo heroes she adored as a teenager, like Avril Lavigne, My Chemical Romance and Paramore. From influences that were born during her time accompanying her mother’s nu-metal band Wicked Wisdom, her lean towards crushing guitars and rock vocals is now evident in the new music. While Willow may have faced insecurity around her own ability to tap into the rock side of her abilities, she was able to break through and combine her love of R&B and pop music with the alt-rock sound she was inspired to emulate.
“I was always so inspired by the power of her voice,” Willow says of her mother, Jada Pinkett Smith.“t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l” tees off the album rollout, showcasing her own spin on emo and punk. It feels both nostalgic and modern, with a catchy hook and snappy melody that makes the song move like lightning, and lyrics that were inspired by a quote from a “beautiful swami” she knows personally.
She sees the single as a testimony to her desire to be the highest version of herself, something that she connects well with the angsty, pining feeling of the genres she explores. Willow’s own guitar playing factors into the project as well, which is something she was also inspired to do because of her mom’s band. She’s been playing the instrument since she was around 14, and it was part of a conscious effort to prove herself as a musician and songwriter, one that could have total involvement in more than the lyrics.“It is said that a saintly person is so pure that he or she acts like a spotless mirror. When we come in the presence of such mirror-like soul, we can see both the beauty and ugliness of our inner life,” she says.
Willow compares her fifth LP to her last one, aptly titled The Anxiety. To her, this album showcases an artist who has made it to the other side of that anxiety and is a testament to everything she’s learned. Through the process specifically, she learned how to let go and show herself more compassion. More importantly, it helped her channel the playful inner child she felt she had lost for some time.
“It was very cathartic for me,” she explains. “I want to live more like that.”
