Willow Smith made a huge splash in the music industry with her instantly viral hit, "Whip My Hair," five years ago. Since then, the 15-year-old daughter of Will Smith has released a handful of other songs in addition to her 3 EP. However, in the five years since her debut, Willow Smith has yet to announce a full-length debut album. Now, it appears the album is complete and has been shaved down to 14 tracks from its original 26. Willow sat down with DJ SKEE at Odd Future's Camp Flog Gnaw Festival to discuss her on-stage persona, upcoming material and public perception.
As AllHipHop reports, regarding the upcoming album, Willow said, "I originally had 26 songs for the album. Then I looked at it and I said, 'You know, now-a-days the kids have a short attention span, so I think I should go in the teen area.' So I cut it down to 14 [songs]. I usually don't plan when I'm going to do certain things, so it's taking longer than I expected. But it's coming. It's done."
The 15-year-old singer also mentioned the influence of the Riot Grrrl genre and in particular Kathleen Hanna of the band Bikini Kill. Hanna was recently the subject of the rockumentary, The Punk Singer. Regarding her influence, Willow said, "I just let it all flow out. I feel like I try to channel certain people at certain performances. Like, on this one, like, I've been looking at a lot of Kathleen Hanna, and just like Grrrl Riot (sic), and like Bikini Kill and just like, the Runaways, and all these different, like, punk girl bands. And I just love the way that they perform. Just like, how, like, outright--It's so emotional. I love it."
The singer concluded the interview by saying she wanted to avoid labeling herself and would simply appear as a reflection of her fans no matter what.
