Willow Smith, progeny of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, has not only proven her musical prowess in recent months, but her affinity for rock and heavy music. Starting with a pop-punk song of her own while sporting a particularly metal-looking aesthetic, Willow later fronted a reunited Wicked Wisdom as a Mother’s Day gift for her mom — while sporting a Mastodon tee — and absolutely killed it. She’s also spoken in the press about being bullied as a kid for being a Black girl who liked heavy music.
Willow has now brought it back home to pop-punk on a new song called “G R O W,” a collaboration with the queen of the genre herself, Avril Lavigne. The track, which looks at self-reflection and internal evolution, also features Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker (with whom Willow has collaborated before) and a newcomer to the scene, KennyHoopla.
Speaking to Kerrang! about working with Avril, Willow explained:
“If I was going to do pop-punk I had to go far and beyond. I had to go the full mile. The fact that Avril has been doing pop-punk music for so long gives her the power of just killing it. Like, there is no world where this is not going to be fire. So that was super-inspiring…”
Give “G R O W” a spin below.