Willow Smith is one of the most prolific people in #younghollywood today. Actress, model, musician, activist are some of the titles that describe this amazing young talent. Recently, Smith sat down with Nylon Magazine to talk “Lately I Feel Everything,” and more in an exclusive interview.
Take a peek below at a few snippet highlights from her interview.
If you haven’t heard, Smith’s newest project, “Lately I Feel Everything,” is a compilation of punk-rock royalty. Smith was able to team up with musicians such as her idol Averil Lavigne and Blink-182’s drummer Travis Barker.
When Smith reached out to Lavigne to collab, she said, “Sure!” And when she reached out to Barker, and he said yes, Smith was over the moon.
“I was like, ‘Yo, I’m sh***ing my pants,’” Smith told Nylon. “Like, this is crazy. How is this even possible? Just infinite gratitude to both of them because they’re honestly pop-punk royalty.”
The resurgence of pop-punk is well-underway and Smith is helping to lead the efforts.
“I think that there are a lot of things happening socially and politically, and I think that people just want to scream and growl and express themselves because this time in life and in America and on Earth is not easy, and it’s very, very chaotic and sus,” she said in her interview. “I think that people just want to live and have fun and not feel like impending doom is always around the corner.”
In terms of her new project, Smith said that, “I just wanted to have fun. I also just wanted to not always have to be so deep all the time.”
In addition to helping lead the resurgence of pop-punk, on “Lately I Feel Everything,” Smith is able to convey who she really is through song.
The song she recorded with Lavigne, “Grow,” is a lyrical tribute to not only Smith’s talent but her spirituality. “We’ve both been through a lot in our musical careers, and we’ve had to do a lot of growing and a lot of evolving,” Smith explained. “And I just wanted to put a testament to that. … The lyrics of pop-punk songs that sound like that aren’t usually that insightful, so I wanted to mix my two worlds — like, this super philosophical and spiritual world with this, like, angsty world. I think we did a pretty good job on that.”
This seems like a pivotal project for the talented younger Smith. She is open, emotional, and raw…just like the music she loves.
To read the interview in its entirety, click here.
