Willow is making a name for herself that requires no reference to her famous parents. Transcended from being a Smith, she is now simply, mononymously, WILLOW.
Willow has earned the title of our new-age pop punk princess—even the Rolling Stone gave her a nod as a pioneer in a modern pop-punk revival.
Besides all of that, she’s just freaking cool.
Willow has graced stages wailing away on electric guitar, serenading audiences as she croons her sweet melodies, jumping up and down and dancing around in a manner that can only be described as restorative, and going as far as to shave her head. Live. On stage. While performing.
Her highly-anticipated pop punk album, “lately I feel EVERYTHING,” or “LiFe,” as she fondly abbreviates it, was released back in July, and I’m still not over it. Willow’s odyssey into the pop-punk scene has been a beautiful sight to behold.
It all began with “Transparent Soul” (stylized as “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l”), which was released as a single last April and featured Blink-182’s Travis Barker. The music video quickly went viral on social media and the song itself gained traction shortly after (augmented by its customary usage for a popular TikTok trend). The music video—a grainy, vintage-style visual tribute to classic rock and roll aesthetics—features Willow dressed in different goth and alternative fashions (spiked collars, Demonia boots, chained belts…the works) as she sings along to her catchy, biting lyrics.
With winning lines like “Smile in my face, then put your cig out on my back/ If you ever see me, just get to runnin’ like the Flash,” “Transparent Soul” is an instant lyrical hit. The metrical composition creates a cadence almost comparable to that of a spoken-word poet. The melody is also extremely danceable. I highly recommend listening to the song while performing for an imaginary audience, dancing in front of the mirror with a hairbrush as your microphone.
Months after the release of “Transparent Soul,” Willow’s full-length pop punk album, “lately I feel EVERYTHING” drops and with it, a dazzling score of new songs to dance to, cry to, scream to…you name it.
“Transparent Soul” is the opening song, setting a high bar for the rest of the album to follow. That bar is effortlessly met by track #2, a surprise standout, “F**k You.” A 36 second interlude, “F**k You,” has undeniable appeal in its simple yet relatable lyrics, “F**k you for f**king up my heart/ Don’t you ever get involved with me again,” delivered with a grittiness and a bluntness that is strangely refreshing. The song has extremely high replay value, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself looping it over and over, chanting along as you reflect on scorned lovers of the past.
The interlude takes you into another memorable song, “Gaslight.” Once again featuring Barker, “Gaslight” is an absolute time machine back to the 00s punk rock melodies we can all recall so fondly. Willow’s uniquely feminine and youthful voice, however, transports us to an alternate dimension. The song itself is a guaranteed hit with its ridiculously catchy chorus: “I had to tell her just stop messing with my head/ And love me instead/ It’s not official but I think it’s common sense/ Or am I insane.” “Gaslight” is definitely one to dance and thrash and jump around to like your life depends on it.
The middle portion of the album is mostly made up of heartache-worthy rock ballads like “Lipstick,” “Come Home feat. Ayla Tesler-Mabe,” and “4ever.” A personal favorite, “naïve,” clearly demonstrates Willow’s lyrical prowess. With lines about “runnin from the cops” and getting “shot by rubber bullets,” Willow expressly gives voice to the Black racialized experience in America in what seems to be allusions to the George Floyd protests of summer 2020. The gut-wrenching delivery of “I need you to tell me when I’m being naïve,” repeated over and over for the outro of the song makes the piece all the more beautifully haunting and clearly shows Willow’s vulnerability as an artist: the song is unmistakably from her POV.
The shift away from the ballad style comes with Willow’s Tierra Whack collaboration, “XTRA,” which masterfully fuses Willow’s grunge and Tierra’s rap sounds to create a rhythmic experience almost reminiscent of the nü-metal musical style that had once taken storm in the early 00s. “XTRA” is a hard act to follow, and yet, the next track listing manages it with flying colors.
“Grow” (stylized as “G R O W”), is Willow’s highly anticipated collaboration with pop punk icon Avril Lavigne, which also brings back Travis Barker on drums. A number that really achieves its full potential as a duet, “Grow” shows off a smooth synthesis of two strong female voices in pop punk, a rare treat. The song itself is as upbeat as it is uplifting. It may, admittedly, feel a bit like the finale song of a classic DCOM or perhaps the theme song of a short-lived sitcom (where the theme song was better than the show itself), but somehow it works. Put in your headphones, press play and “You’ll find that you’re your own best friend/ And no that aint a f*cking metaphor.” This song is all about growth, healing, reflection, self-love, inner work. It speaks to all of us out there working on ourselves, really trying our hardest to become better human beings .
The album comes to a close with “Breakout” (stylized as “¡BREAKOUT!”). The song is the perfect closing act. It’s critical for an artist not to underestimate the importance of the album’s last song. Willow seems to understand this well. “Breakout” gets you up out of your seat and on your feet. You are thrashing around. You are taking your hair down and throwing it back and forth. You absolutely convulsing to the point where if someone were to walk into the room at any given moment, upon the sight of your movement they would immediately pick up the phone and dial for an ambulance (but then remember that we live in the capitalistic nightmare that is the United States and chances are you don’t have health insurance and who can really afford medical bills so they put the phone down and hope for the best instead).
It’s “Breakout!” It’s anthemic, it’s empowering, it’s a lot of fun, okay? Willow delivers lines for you to sing along to and feel like a supernatural being, “I can change the world/ I’ll heal my mind,” and then shifts into the sharp and charmingly edgy “Ni**as talk sh*t cause they know I just do/ Whatever I want, I don’t need to ask you,” and later hits you with a genderbent spin on a classic Kanye lyric, “No one woman should have all that power/ Hate people, I just talk to flowers.” She does it all, and does it well. Listen to it.
Although the album performed modestly commercially, peaking at 46 on the US Billboard Hot 200 chart, it received critical acclaim, making Billboard’s 50 Best Albums of 2021 Staff List. This in mind, along with the recent success of “Meet Me at Our Spot” from Willow’s other alternative musical projects, I’d say it’s relatively safe to assume we can expect more music like that of “lately I feel EVERYTHING” in the near future. In the meantime, keep streaming LiFE, follow Willow on Instagram, and ¡BREAKOUT!
Chidima Anekwe ’24
