Over the course of WILLOW's career (Willow Smith), we have seen mature greatly as an artist. She is always experimenting and pushing herself to dabble in multiple genres, sometimes on the same record. For some time, she was pursuing pop punk and post-punk sounds on efforts like <COPINGMECHANISM>. But when WILLOW came through with the lead single for empathogen, "symptoms of life" back in March, it was clear she was taking another artistic detour.
However, this path does not lead to a dead end. WILLOW shows across this 12-song foray into alternative, pop rock, and acoustic that she has plenty of room to grow. In some instances, like "down" for example, there is good chance that she was listening to some Billie Eilish to get some inspiration. But there is a lot more to like than ridicule on empathogen. The lead single still remains to be one of the project's best, with "the fear is not real," "false self," "home," and "run!" being just a handful.
Listen To Empathogen By WILLOW
Because of this deviation we talked about, WILLOW had some reservations, as many musicians do. But the great ones are willing to put themselves out there, and that was the mindset that she had shared with Popsugar. "This whole album is different from anything I've done, and I'm just so excited for people to hear it," she says. "You always take a little bit of a risk, but I'm a risk-taker, what can I say?"
What are your thoughts on this brand-new album empathogen by WILLOW? How do you feel about the direction that album went sonically, why or why not? Which track is the best out the bunch? Which track did she put on the most acrobatic vocal performance? We would like to hear what you have to say, so be sure to leave your takes in the comments section. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding WILLOW. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
empathogen Tracklist:
- home (feat. jon batiste)
- ancient girl
- symptom of life
- the fear is not real
- false self
- pain for fun (feat. st vincent)
- no words 1 & 2
- down
- run!
- between i and she
- "I know that face."
- b i g f e e l i n g s