Popstar-turned-punk rocker Willow Smith has formally announced her new studio album lately I feel EVERYTHING, sharing its moody, electric guitar-y second single, Lipstick.
Following April's Transparent Soul – which, as many things do these days, features Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker – Lipstick sees Willow trade the former's ultra-catchy hooks and refined pop-punk-style production for a moodier, down-tempo arrangement, and one that ventures arguably further into hard-rock territory. Check out the single's official visual video below.
At only 20 years of age, Willow Smith has spent over half her life in the music industry. Her previous material has, of course, traversed many musical boundaries, but has stayed largely within the pop realm. However, with her forthcoming effort – which arrives July 16 via MSFTSMusic/Roc Nation – she's determined to “let loose”.
“I wanted to have fun and be young and not be so existential and worrying all the time,” she explains.
lately I feel EVERYTHING is also set to see Willow pay homage to some of the pop-punk and emo heroes that inspired her youth. “I thought this was a really dope outlet for a new energy I wanted to bring to my music,” she says.
Willow Smith has plunged herself deep into the guitar world with her recent punk-y self-reinvention. Last month, she joined forces with Brazilian virtuoso Lari Basilio for a stellar performance of Transparent Soul on The Tonight Show, and reunited her mother Jada Pinkett Smith's nu-metal band Wicked Wisdom.
She's also developed a close relationship with math-rock innovator Yvette Young, who designed the artwork for Willow's out-of-this-world St. Vincent signature model that appears in the Transparent Soul music video.
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Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.
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