After her brilliant Tiny Desk takeover, actress-singer Willow (Willow Smith) released her newest album, Empathogen on May 3. Comprised of 12 upbeat and earnest tracks, Willow unveils a new side of herself that reminisces on her complex journey of growing up. Harnessing her smooth and powerful vocals, Willow gifts music lovers with some intriguing self-reflection and diverse sounds.
Though Willow (along with her brother Jaden) has long been associated as the “nepo baby” of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, she’s truly graduated to a distinctive realm of raw maturity in Empathogen. The album features breathtaking instrumentals from John Batiste and a spectacular duet with musician St. Vincent.
During her funky and down-to-earth Tiny Desk concert, Willow dropped one of the album’s tracks, “run!”. Earlier this year she released “Symptom of Life” and “big feelings” as singles.
With a deep, groovy bass and strong vocals, her songs explore the fragility of childhood and life’s unpredictability. “Symptom of Life” in particular illustrates Willow’s introspection on the fleeting nature of beauty, unpeeling her true layers and finding her identity.
“I’m settling into more of who I am… It’s about being a well-rounded musician more than anything for me and not being pigeonholed into any specific genre.”
– Willow Smith in an interview with Allure
The singer also mentioned classic artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker and Sarah Vaughan inspired the stylistic choices of Empathogen.
Her Tiny Desk concert treated fans to her throwback, “Wait a Minute!” from the debut album Ardipithecus, released nearly ten years ago. Willow changed up the beat and instrumentals in her Tiny Desk take on “Wait a Minute!”, giving listeners one of the richest live performances ever.
Empathogen’s statement cover art is the perfect cherry on top to its untethered and shameless songs. The album cover features Willow sporting grills that have made appearances on her Instagram since earlier this year.
Rocking her new look, Willow also attended this Monday’s Met Gala following her album’s release. The singer walked the carpet with her brother in a monochrome black fit, a mini blazer dress with a large headwrap and some Christian Dior heels.
Missed the Met Gala? Catch up on the best looks from the first Monday in May here.
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