Say what you will about 2020, the year that we'd all like to forget that just keeps holding on to punish us more, but one thing that has come from the upheaval of society has been the resurgence of pop-punk into the mainstream. Case(s)-in-point: MGK, YUNGBLUD, Nessa Barrett, JXDN, and KennyHoopla are just a few of the names on your go-to playlists, each of whom have a similar connection -- blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.
The latest artist he's lent his blasting beats to is no newcomer to the entertainment industry, but Willow Smith is finally dipping her Docs into the scene that has been inspirational since her pre-teen years on her new single "Transparent Soul."
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"I am so grateful for this tune because it was created in such an introspective time (during the first couple months of quarantine)," Willow said in a statement on release day. "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."
The now 20-year-old daughter of actors Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith told Apple Music's Zane Lowe this week, that her love of Rock and pop-punk began after seeing her mother's band Wicked Wisdom at a young age which led her to embrace bands like blink-182, My Chemical Romance, and singer Avril Lavigne. "Just hearing my mom sing that music and the energy that I experienced when she was on stage and that whole vibe, it was just so intoxicating to me," she says, "but I felt like I could never do it. I felt like my voice wasn't made in that way."
Already a hitmaker with numerous records under her belt, including the 2010 smash "Whip My Hair," Willow decided to go for broke during the pandemic. "I was like, 'Let me try and go through this fear and actually prove to myself if this is a genre I can do,'" she says. "And I did that journey over quarantine and a lot of things didn't work. 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 can sound like Willow and I can sound like me and still make this kind of music and still feel that vibe.'"
Getting to work with her boyfriend and musical partner Tyler Cole who encouraged her to "just cut the bulls*** and just try it," as well as one of her favorite all-time artists, "pop-punk legend" Travis Barker, on this project was a dream come true. "I just respect him immensely," she says about Travis. "I'm just honored that he was even down to be a part of it."
Listen to Willow's new single, "Transparent Soul'," above and be on the lookout for her upcoming, fifth studio release scheduled to hit shelves and streaming services this summer.
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