Will Smith drops a full-length project tonight, but who knew?
And that is probably the dopest thing about these Smith kids. They know… and that seems to be the most important element in marketing and promotions.
They do what they want, and approach it with the most unconventional methodologies out: by throwing it out there to their fans, they create this exclusive cool kid vibe- that those in the know can easily rock with. Just think of Jaden Smith’s The Sunset Tapes: A Cool Tape Story, the critically acclaimed SYRE or his recent release ERYS. The care in not really to debut at number one, but to authentically express artistry.
We can look to Willow to do the same.
By now it is legendary that Willow, while at the top of the game, turned her back on commercial music. In 2010, when her mega platinum-selling single “Whip My Hair” dropped, she had the coveted co-sign of JAY-Z. She also had media swarming to celebrate the beloved Will Smith’s daughter. But that attention almost killed her. So she withdrew.
She withdrew but did not stop making music. She released Ardipithecus and The 1st on Roc Nation. And now on the heels of two successful seasons of The Red Table Talk with her mother, Jada Pinkett Smith and Gammy Adrienne Banfield-Jones, she is dropping her third album, Willow.
Little is known. But what we do have is the tracklist that Willow put out on social.
The tracklist features titles that totally make you want to lean in. All umbrellaed under her womanist and naturalist persona, we hope that this will be the break-out project we’ve been waiting for…. and if it is now… it is at least another marker on the creative spirit arising in this young queen.