Willow Smith is only 20 years old, and has released four good albums, shifting sounds more hungrily than a powered-up Pac-Man. Her latest project is to be her most exciting yet, taking lessons from pop-punk household names like Avril Lavigne and Travis Barker. The latter is featured on her latest single “Transparent Soul,” which stays in line with Willow’s introspective lyricism, but with a nu-metal bite.
The scaffolding of “Transparent Soul” is uptempo, punching drums and dreary, grumbling guitar plucks. The punk infrastructure makes room for Willow’s vocals to come through like a wrecking ball after the verse’s quick-lipped delivery. “Smile in my face and then put your cig out on my back,” she rapidly quips in the first verse. “If you ever see me just get to running like the Flash.” Willow is able to spot a poser from a mile away. The lyrics teeter between angst and enlightenment.
Inspired by her mom, who performed in a nu metal group Wicked Wisdom, Willow revealed that she was unsure about tackling the hard rock territory. “I never felt like I could sing that kind of music because I was always trained to sing R&B and pop,” she said in a statement. “I realized that it’s not my voice that can’t sing this kind of music. I was afraid to sing this kind of music because I wasn’t sure what people would think.”
The video, which was directed by Dana Trippe, is giving me Queen of the Damned meets The Matrix vibes. Check it out below.
