Her new album is due out this summer via Roc Nation. Before that, she released a self-titled project in 2019, consisting of an eight-song set of cosmic, acoustic pop songs. Willow’s last album was released in 2020 and was a joint project with friend Tyler Cole. I can sound like Willow and I can sound like me and still make this kind of music and still feel that vibe.’ It just felt so good to feel out my limits with that in the studio.” “I had to find what was authentic to me, that journey of figuring out like, ‘Wow, I don't have to sound not like myself. “I was like, ‘Let me try and go through this fear and actually prove to myself if this is a genre I can do’,” Smith told Lowe. Initially, Smith was worried her voice wouldn’t translate well to the genre. In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Smith cited her childhood spent touring with her mom’s metal band, Wicked Wisdom, and listening to Blink-182, Avril Lavigne, and My Chemical Romance as helping to spark her new era - along with the boundless stretches of time the pandemic provided. “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.” “I am so grateful for this tune because it was created in such an introspective time (during the first couple months of quarantine),” Willow writes in a press statement. No doubt the pop-punk heroes of her youth, Hayley Williams, Gerard Way, and Patrick Stump, would be proud.
The artist suggested that genre-mixing was par for the course in 2021. In its accompanying video, she channels the nostalgic fish-eye performance vids of pop-punk’s golden era with her own chic twists: long braids, a massive spiked choker, and an abundance of chains and hardware. WILLOW set the tone for the sort of musical experimentation that might come with the new album. Over roiling guitars and Barker’s thunderous drums, Smith - who now goes by just WILLOW, caps included - belts in her best pop-punk voice about seeing right through the haters in her life. For anyone still unconvinced about pop-punk’s recent musical wave, let this be proof that it’s here to stay (at least for just a while longer). It’s the first single off her upcoming fifth album, expected this summer, and a major sonic pivot for the young star. The 20-year-old singer unveiled her electrifying new single and video from her brand new era, “Transparent Soul,” which features the legendary Travis Barker on drums. Willow Smith is back - and with a shiny new pop-punk persona.